Just another WordPress weblog

In the middle of last year, T-Mobile launched HotSpot @Home, a service that focused on making calls from your cell phone which are routed over the Internet, rather than T-Mo’s GSM network. This was greeted with much hoopla. There was the positive: No more wasting money on a home phone. And there was the negative: You had to buy a new handset to take advantage of the service. And it was $20 per month, which is around or just slightly less than many home phone services. Now, though, T-Mo has made efforts to vastly improve the service. In fact, if their test run works, you truly could use it to completely replace your landline.

Now they’ve reduced the rate to $10 per month. And not only that, but in Seattle and Dallas they’re testing a tweak to the program that might lead to its adoption in more homes — and hopefully cause people to switch to T-Mo.

All you need is a T-Mobile plan of $40 or more per month. Since most plans are at or above that level, you should be good. Then you gotta have a broadband connection, whether DSL or cable. And yes, you need their router, which will run you $50 with a two-year contract, $150 a la carte, though it is only a one-time fee.

Then you add the $10 for HotSpot @Home — now dubbed HotSpot @Home Talk Forever Home Phone. Plug your home phone — the one you’ve used forever — into the router, and it’s just like your old home phone. Except it runs on your cell number. I think — at least that’s the way it’s portrayed. Maybe it can be worked out that you can keep your home number. It would certainly make the service more appealing.

So now you’re paying $10 per month for home phone service. This is a superb deal, especially when you look at the alternatives. In the NY-Metro area, we basically have Time Warner, Cablevision, and Verizon. All offer home phone service for roughly $30 per month. But guess what? It’s VoIP-based. Yes, they’re basically charging you $30 per month for your phone number, because you’re already paying for the Internet service that the phone line uses.

For $20 less, you can get the same service from T-Mobile. In that sense, this plan should work out on a national level. Of course, many people will have a hard time adopting it. But once you explain the fiscal side of it, I have a hunch T-Mobile will see an influx of customers.

Share on Facebook | Add to De.licio.us | Digg This! | Technorati