T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home lets you makes calls via WiFi

T-Mobile HotSpot @Home configured Linksys router

(Credit: T-Mobile)

T-Mobile has just rolled out a service called HotSpot @Home that allows you to use a WiFi-enabled cell phone to make calls via a wireless network. You'll still use the phone with regular cellular airwaves while on the move, but once you're in range of a T-Mobile Hotspot or a pre-configured WiFi access point, the phone will know to automatically switch over. The best part? Call minutes made via WiFi aren't deducted from your plan. That's right -- as long as you're within range of a wireless broadband network, you'll have unlimited calls. An added benefit to this is that you're almost guaranteed great signal strength when you're in a place with good WiFi coverage. And since T-Mobile is providing special T-Mobile configured D-Link and Linksys wireless routers that offer optimal @Home coverage, you might as well say Sayonara to that old-fashioned landline at home.

Compatible handsets at launch are the Samsung T409 and the Nokia 6086, which cost $49.99 each with a contract. When you sign up with the service, you'll get one of the aforementioned wireless routers for free after rebate, but any 802.11b-compatible router should work. The service is an additional $9.99 per month on top of your existing T-Mobile plan, and an additional $19.99 per month on family plans that have up to five handsets. Personally, I think it's a pretty cool idea, though I don't know if such a service will make up for the fact that T-Mobile has yet to roll out a proper 3G service like the rest of its competitors. We currently have the Samsung t409 plus a Hotspot-configured Linksys router in house, and will let you know what we think of it soon.

[the-big-picture]

You still need broadband Internet access!

As sexy as all these new services are, it's so easy to forget that we still need that high-speed internet connection!

The way I look at it with the DSL+POTS that I subscribe to today, why not? POTS is proven and reliable, there's no possibility for voice breakup, and 911 dispatchers know precisely where I'm calling from. Panasonic cordless phones are rock solid, crystal clear, and have fantastic battery life.

Is it sexy? No--it's all very old. But it works very well and it's very cheap bundled with broadband. Some phone companies still don't even offer DSL without POTS, and the cable modem alternative is just as expensive without POTS.

Now if I were a university student, living in a dorm with campus Ethernet, that is a completly different story! I'd be all over this T-Mobile thing.

[kadebaird]

battery problem?

Is this going to have the same drain on the battery that surfing on a wi-fi connection typically has on a phone? That could be a serious issue inhibiting adoption.

[bknowledge]

One question?

Now this will be a good option to lower your cell costs if you are near several Wi-Fi hotspot i.e a major city. But why would I continually pay you 10 bucks to make calls over wifi on networks you don't control or pay for.

[snidely9447]

Nokia 6086 doesn't work w. BTooth headset

Like others have found, the 6086 doesn't work w. a BT headset when in wifi mode with out lots of noise and static. The Samsung T409 works perfectly. We kept the 6086 in the hopes that T-M and Nokia will come out w. a fix. It has voice dialing and quad band, which the Samsung doesn't.