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We’ve spent a lot of time in this space discussing T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home service. It’s a consumer boon, enabling savvy T-Mobile subscribers to ditch their landline service, sometimes reducing the charge for home calling from $30 to $10. A similar technology has been in development for quite a while, and made some noise last summer after T-Mobile’s Hotspot announcement, and then again this year at CTIA. It appears Sprint will debut it on July 15 with their Airave router.

The idea is similar to Hotspot. The router acts as a signal booster, using your broadband connection as an aide. Calls made within the router’s range will be free. However, there’s a catch or two that makes it somewhat less than attractive.

First, it will cost $15 per month for an individual account, or $30 per month for a family. As previously mentioned, a typical landline — or commercial VoIP — will cost around $30 per month, so it doesn’t stand to save you much. Second, and this is just a rumor, but it might only work with a Simply Unlimited plan. Ouch, Sprint, ouch.

It will work with any handset, though, not just WiFi enabled ones like T-Mobile. The Airave unit will run $99.

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