T-Mobile US said on Wednesday it's offering cellphone users the chance to use an Apple iPhone 5s phone in a free one-week trial of its network with unlimited access. The company also said on that music streaming will no longer count against the data allowance included in consumers' subscriptions.
With "T-Mobile Test Drive," people can receive an iPhone 5s and unlimited service to take T-Mobile’s network for a seven-day spin at no cost whatsoever.
Starting this Monday, June 23, people can sign up for T-Mobile Test Drive at www.t-mobile.com/testdrive. A few days later, they’ll receive an iPhone 5s fully loaded and ready to go. After the test drive, people can just drop it off at any T-Mobile store.
T-Mobile also today announced that it has expanded Wideband LTE into 16 total markets, giving all T-Mobile LTE devices a speed boost with capable peak network download speeds up to nearly 150 Mbps.
The Un-carrier also expanded Voice over LTE (VoLTE) to more than 100 million people in 15 total markets. The Un-carrier expects to deploy VoLTE everywhere in the U.S. by the end of the year.
The company also said on Wednesday that music streaming from eight major music providers, including Pandora, Rhapsody, iHeartRadio, iTunes Radio, Slacker Radio and Spotify, will no longer count against the data allowance included in consumers' subscriptions.
Music services from T-Mobile partners - Samsung’s Milk Music and the forthcoming Beatport music app from SFX - will also stream without data charges for T-Mobile customers.
The company also launched a music streaming service called 'unRadio', in partnership with music provider Rhapsody, which is free of advertising and will be included for customers who have unlimited high speed service. The service will also be available for $4 a month to all other subscribers.
"This new music streaming service is so unlike traditional Internet radio, there was only one possible name for it — unRadio," said Mike Sievert, Chief Marketing Officer for T-Mobile. "We wanted to do something over the top for our customers, so we teamed up with our friends across town at Rhapsody to do what the Un-carrier does so well — turning convention on its head to benefit our customers."
Rhapsody unRadio’s features includes unlimited skips and allows users to choose their music by marking songs as favorites and automatically save it for later listening. Users can also create their own stations and are offered TrackMatch, allowing them to identify songs them hear while out at a bar.
Rhapsody unRadio will be available initially for iOS and Android and on the Web.
The move follows a January AT&T announcement of a discounted subscription to Beats Music for family plan members, and a similar partnership between Sprint and Spotify in April.