T-Mobile Hotspot@Home Six Month Review (Verdict: Works a Treat)

Back in July, T-Mobile began offering its Hotspot@Home feature that allows unlimited minutes of cell phone use over a Wi-Fi network, with seamless transfers from a Wi-Fi call to the T-Mobile cellular network. I had always wanted to go without a land line, so I jumped head first into a new contract. Six months later, I've got no regrets.

Hotspot@Home is a service plan add-on, similar to unlimited text messaging, so I had to start a regular plan instead of using a pre-paid account. I opted for the cheaper "myFavs" 300 minute plan. In addition to the plan's 300 regular minutes, I got unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited calls to the 5 "myFavs" (who I can change once a month), and unlimited calls to anyone while I'm on my home (or any open/T-Mobile) Wi-Fi network. Calls even have unlimited minutes outside of a Wi-Fi network, as long as the call begins on a Wi-Fi network.

I really enjoy not thinking about cell phone minutes. In order to use all 300, I would need to talk between 7am and 9pm somewhere outside of my apartment, not near a hotspot. It would have to be a number I don't call much, as otherwise they might be one of "myFavs." In terms of a landline alternative, this plan works great. I never think about the minutes left on my plan. Last month, I used 29.

Occasional problems with the Wi-Fi compatible Nokia 6086 phone (you must use a special phone that works with Hotspot@Home) have been minimal. It connects just fine to every home wireless router I've encountered, so I don't recommend T-Mobile's "optimized" router. It doesn't like it when I try to connect to a network with a weak signal and I'll occasionally have to restart the phone when I've been switching networks a lot. The battery is sapped significantly faster on Wi-Fi signal, reducing my standby time from 4-5 days to 1-2 days. But I'm at home then, so plugging it in is no bother. And all these problems are outweighed by calls clearer than on a standard cordless phone anchored to a land line.

My favorite part about the Hotspot@Home feature is that it quells my irrational fear of blowing my minutes on tech support. I'd recommend it to anyone with a similar fear or simply interested in phone service sans the land line.

Hotspot@Home requires a $39.99/month or greater monthly service plan and runs an additional $19.99 a month on top of that.

– Brian Copeland

T-Mobile's Crappy Flash Site [TheOnlyPhoneYouNeed.com]

[#1 posted by exhilaration , January 12, 2008 12:16 PM]

Question: Can you use your laptop at T-Mobile hotspots using this plan? Do they provide you with the necessary login or can you pull it from the phone somehow?

[#2 posted by Zan , January 12, 2008 2:07 PM]

So you're paying $60 a month for this service?

I pay $30 for Sprint SERO service. It has free nights and weekends, and nights are 7pm-7am. Since I get home at 6pm and leave for work at 8am, that means there are only two hours a day which aren't free (since my office has land line phones). For an additional $5 a month, I can also get the "top 3" feature. I've never used more than 60 minutes of my anytime minutes a month.

So for someone who doesn't work from home, the T-Mobile plan is overpriced.

[#3 posted by zuzu , January 16, 2008 8:03 PM]

UMA/GAN is an awesome technology; basically seamless fallover between VoIP and GSM. "HotSpot@Home" however is a terrible marketing brand; way too confusing with their "HotSpot" service that has nothing in common with it other than the involvement of 802.11. It's a shame this service doesn't work with the iPhone... yet.

IIRC, the wireless router T-Mobile includes is a WRT54G, and there's nothing "optimized" about it other than that they pre-configured the QoS settings for VoIP. You could put DD-WRT on it to make it actually useful.

[#4 posted by uhhuh , February 23, 2008 1:16 PM]

Don't believe the hype.

I too have had the "HotSpot@Home" service and the Nokia 6086 phone since they were offered but neither has ever worked reliably. The seamless transition from Wi-Fi to cell service doesn't work and calls are constantly dropped when the phone tries to move between them (which happens frequently when you have strong coverage for both). A quick look at most message boards dedicated to mobile phones will tell you that the "HotSpot@Home" may be spotty@home but not hot. They will admit to a "known issue" but many hours with 3 tiers of tech and 2 phone exchanges make 1 early termination fee look like the only effective solution. T-Zero.

If you have a phone/service that works, keep it.

[#5 posted by Daddy Dave , August 5, 2008 10:25 AM]

Don't believe the hype.

I've had HotSpot@Home and a Blackberry Curve for a couple of months now. I also changed my land line phone to VOIP as part of the same deal. WiFi phone calls from the Blackberry work well if I'm within 20 feet of the T-Mobile router. It drops calls all the time if I'm in a spot in my house or yard where it can't decide whether to use WiFi or the cell phone tower 1/4 mile from my house. It doesn't live up to its promise in that regard. If my kids are making noise while I'm on the phone I can't get away and be sure that the phone will stay connected.

VOIP usually works very well but sometimes it is too noisy for the person on the other end of the call to hear what we're saying. Since it was a huge, huge, and terrible hassle getting our existing phone number transferred in the first place requiring a couple of weeks where our phone number didn't work, I really regret that decision. This technology isn't quite ready for Prime Time. Stay away until the bugs have been worked out.