T-Mobile launches 30-day free trials in Atlanta, Austin & Boston

The program is currently limited to Atlanta, Austin, and Boston, and will only be available through the end of 2018, T-Mobile said. People who sign up will get a SIM card and Wi-Fi hotspot for 30 days, delivered via two-day shipping.

Trials also have a hard cap of 30 gigabytes, after which they can end prematurely. Video streaming is limited to 480p resolution, and while the hotspots can be used to roam, the amount of data used in such cases can't exceed 200 megabytes.

If a friend has already completed their trial, customers can borrow that hotspot and simply request a SIM card.

T-Mobile has tried hard to brand itself as the "uncarrier," willing to use unorthdox tactics to get a leg up on competitors. Some of these have been specifically Apple-focused — in 2014, for example, it gave people the option to borrow an iPhone 5 for a week, with a $700 hold on their credit card as insurance.

For several years the company offered a "Free Data for Life" plan to iPad owners, which included 200 megabytes per month. Grandfathered versions of the plan are still active, but T-Mobile cut off new activations in May 2017. Most iPads sold are believed to be Wi-Fi-only models anyway, since they're cheaper even without paid 4G data.