T-Mobile finally leverages their ubiquitous Wi-Fi hotspots to compete in terms of price, not features. Read our full impressions of the UMA service and pricing plans.
How it works
T-Mobile HotSpot @Home basically lets you use your cell phone as your home phone, without wasting your minutes. As unlimited calling plans and VoIP services become more popular, T-Mobile is using an innovative way to combine both of these services with a cellular network. Called Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), the technology allows a mobile phone to switch seamlessly between a cellular network, like T-Mobile's GSM network, and an unlicensed wireless network, which can be either a local Bluetooth network or, in T-Mobile's case, an 802.11 Wi-Fi network. So, when you are at home, covered by your home Wi-Fi, your calls will be placed over a VoIP-type network, but when you leave your Wi-Fi coverage area, your special UMA-capable phone will find the GSM coverage and move the call to the cellular network. You don't have to do a thing to perform the swap, and, under the best circumstances, you won't even notice the change.
T-Mobile has been fairly open about testing this technology for some time, and we have long looked to this service as an interesting way to compete with the other national carriers in terms of cost. The HotSpot @Home service runs about $10 as an introductory rate (increases to $20 later), which does not include the standard cellular plan you'll need to use the service. You'll need a wireless router, and T-Mobile has one available already setup for HotSpot @Home, but any wireless router should do. In fact, the phone will even be able to hop on to T-Mobile's HotSpots at Kinkos and Starbucks, if you happen to have one nearby. The biggest downside we can see is that the service is limited to only a couple of phones, the Nokia 6086 and the Samsung T409. Talking to company reps, T-Mobile stressed their excitement for the new technology, and claimed that new phone models would be available in the future. Still, it's a shame that existing T-Mobile phones with Wi-Fi built-in, like the T-Mobile Wing and Dash, can't simply be upgraded to work.
Pricing
Pricing for calls is a bit unusual. If you start a call as a Wi-Fi call, you get unlimited calling, without having to touch your minutes. If you step out of Wi-Fi range, because the call started as Wi-Fi, you still get unlimited calling time. If you start a call on the GSM network, you use your minutes. Even if you duck into a Starbucks to chat, as long as you are on the same active call, you are using minutes. Of course, you can always hang up and redial, because what matters is where the call originated. Still, the pricing may confuse users who expected unlimited calling from home. Imagine, for instance, starting a call five minutes from home, then talking for two hours once you arrive. You've just spent 125 minutes, which is almost half the allotment for the least expensive plan. If you're conscientious, however, you can certainly use the service to your advantage.
Service quality
Calls over the Wi-Fi network sounded exactly the same as GSM calls. True to their word, we didn't notice that our phone had switched from one to the other, except in one rare circumstance. Setting the router up at home, we had no problem with Wi-Fi calls. Unfortunately, our area doesn't get very good cell reception on any network, and when we left our house, the call dropped as we stepped out of Wi-Fi range and into a cellular dead spot. Still, we can't blame the service, because without the Wi-Fi access, we wouldn't have been able to make any calls.
This could be the most enticing aspect of the HotSpot @Home service. It isn't hard to find cell phone users who have problems with reception, even in their own homes. With HotSpot @Home, not only is reception no longer a significant issue at home, with Wi-Fi networks at work and wherever users frequent, the service offers customers more control over where they can make calls. We found the cell phone easily hopping from open network to network, without any intervention on our part, and reception was always better than Wi-Fi reception on our Powerbooks or Dell D420 laptops.
Value
Depending on your usage, the HotSpot @Home option could offer a great value. Choosing a baseline myFaves plan, with 300 minutes for $40/month, the @Home service, for the first few months its available, will only add $10 to your bill. You still have to buy the phone for $50 (with a contract), but T-Mobile is offering a wireless router free after a rebate. So, after startup costs, for $50 you get unlimited calling when start a call using Wi-Fi. You also get unlimited calling to your five favorite people. And, you get unlimited nights and weekends. That's a lot of unlimited calling.
Plus, you can cancel your home phone, if you dare. Sure, you'll need to pay for a broadband internet connection, but many folks already have both a land line and a broadband account. Compared to other VoIP services, even the eventual $20/month fee is a fair deal, especially when you consider that most VoIP services tie your phone to home, while @Home gives you access wherever you can find an open Wi-Fi signal.
For about $10 more, a plan on AT&T's GSM network gives you three times the minutes, but no unlimited calling except to other AT&T customers (though 5000 nights and weekend minutes would be unlimited for our usage). We prefer myFaves to these mobile-to-mobile deals, as we never keep tabs on which cell plans our friends and family are using. Admittedly, if you never make calls at home, refuse to set foot into a Starbucks or Kinkos, and continually find yourself out of Wi-Fi range, or if you don't have a broadband internet connection, the HotSpot @Home service may not be for you. For most people, though, we think it could represent a real bargain.
The rub
The only thing holding us back from climbing on board is the selection of phones. We haven't seen the Samsung T407, but the Nokia 6086 is simply not the sort of cell phone we'd buy. It is a very dated looking phone, with few features and a screen that harkens to the first color cell phone displays. Perhaps aimed at persnickety users who complain about newfangled devices with too many features, the phone does an admirable job making calls, but we would never give up our Treo, RAZR or Walkman phone for it. It is unfortunate that no phones we find interesting work with the service, but clearly the service is aimed at bargain-conscious buyers, looking to save money on cell phone service. For those folks, these phones might be just fine.
Will we sign up?
If saving money is your priority over features, we can easily recommend the HotSpot @Home plans. We think this service has huge potential for buyers who are fed up with creeping monthly costs and phones that pack more features than they will ever need. That audience could be huge, based solely on anecdotal evidence we've collected. For our personal use, we like phones with more features, including Wi-Fi, but also music, internet and multimedia capabilities. For business, we need 3G phones with e-mail and PIM features, as well as tethered modem support. When these phones come to T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home service, we might just find it irresistible.
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