Amidst the torrent of news surrounding the Jesus iPhone launch, T-Mobile announced the nationwide rollout of its HotSpot @Home service
What is HotSpot @Home? Well, if the URL T-Mobile is using to educate consumers about the service is to be trusted, it's theonlyphoneyouneed(.com).
To be a bit more verbose, T-Mobile will sell you a "special" cell phone. Then, for $10 a month (over and above your regular T-Mobile voice plan charges), anytime you are using your phone in a place you have access to Wi-Fi wireless internet (e.g., at home) all your calls are free.
Let me make sure you caught that by using a simple story problem. Let's say you had T-Mobile's $39.99 plan for 1,000 anytime minutes, and then you decided to add the HotSpot @Home service for an extra $10 a month. Let's also assume you have Wi-Fi at home and at work. Let's say for the month of July you made 1,000 minutes worth of calls in the car, 6,000,000 minutes worth of calls at home, and then 12,000,000 minutes worth of calls at work. Ignore the fact that there are only 43,829.0639 minutes in your average month (thanks Google Calculator). How much would your T-Mobile bill be for the month, not counting tax and those pesky usage charges?
Answer: $49.99. ($39.99+$10.00).
How is this possible? Well, T-Mobile has a snazzy Web demo to explain the concept, but the basic idea is T-Mobile uses a technology called UMA to switch calls seamlessly between Wi-Fi and cellular as you move in and out of range of Wi-Fi hot spots. With this technology, if you begin a call at home via Wi-Fi and then leave the house mid-call, the phone automatically switches over to the cell network so seamlessly that neither you or the person on the other end of the phone is the wiser.
As a person who hasn't had a landline phone for 7 years, this is quite compelling. I think it's very realistic to think that I will be able to downgrade my T-Mobile plan to $39.99 a month, add HotSpot @Home, and have plenty of minutes left over, as most of my calls are made at work or at home where the Wi-Fi is thick as as a morning fog in London.
David Pogue points out a couple of other reasons HotSpot @Home could help you save some serious coin:
- "T-Mobile’s billing system isn’t smart enough to notice handoffs between Wi-Fi and cellular networks. So each call is billed according to where it begins. You can start a call at home, get in your car, drive away and talk for free until the battery’s dead."
- "When you’re in a hot spot, T-Mobile has no idea where you are in the world. You could be in Des Moines, Denmark or Djibouti. So this is a big one for travelers: When you’re in a hot spot overseas, all calls to United States numbers are free." Wowsers, this is amazing!
Now for the downside. According to some, T-Mobile hasn't quite worked out all the kinks in the technology, specifically, in the hand off from Wi-Fi to cell network. Also, currently the HotSpot @Home service can only be used with two phones, both of which just a hair more exciting then the StarTac. To me this would mean parting with my most-of-the-time beloved T-Mobile Dash, which would be a hard thing.
Downside notwithstanding, HotSpot @Home is compelling enough for me to consider making the switch. Even if I determine now is not the time, this is a service that I will be keeping a close eye on for the next few months.
Here are a few other review of the service for those who are interested:
Comments