T-Mobile introduces Hotspot@Home - First Take

Michael Gartenberg | June 27, 2007, 03:47 AM

One of the most exciting phones I have used recently doesn't look like much. When I use it in public, crowds don't gather to ogle it. Thanks to T-Mobile's Hotspot@Home offering, however, underneath it's benign appearance lies a set of technologies that change the dynamic of where a cell phone can be used.

T-Mobile has changed the core proposition of a mobile phone, namely as a phone you use when you're away from home. We know from our research that there's a trend of consumers replacing landlines with cellphones and that's especially true of younger demographics. The problem with using a cellphone at home is twofold. First, most phones just don't work well in many homes, service is not consistent or reliable once you get inside. Second, if you use your phone extensively at home, you may find that your current minute plan won't cover your usage. T-Mobile addresses both of these issues with Hotspot@Home.

Essentially, what the T-Mobile has done is delivered the first consumers UMA platform using the same phone to make calls over a cellular network outside of the home and leveraging consumers WiFi and Broadband connections at home. To that end, there are two hardware components to T-Mobile's offering. First is a phone that can work off of T-Mobiles Cell network and is also WiFi enabled to use GSM of over WiFi and a T-Mobile branded optimized router that gives priority to voice packets. While you don't need T-Mobile's router to use the service, it's the recommended solution. On the phone side, you'll need one of two new handsets T-Mobile is introducing, one from Nokia and one from Samsung. Regular WiFi enables phones or PDAs won't work.

To use the service just pop your T-Mobile SIM into the phone and connect to your WiFi network. If you're using T-Mobile's router, you have one button access to secure and encrypt the connection. That's it. Once you have connected, your calls will be routed over WiFi and you'll suddenly find your phone works in places of your home that it didn't work before. Your talk time will still come out of your minutes plan however. But that's not all. For an extra $9.99 a month (that's an introductory rate but will be grandfathered in so you won't see a rate increase over time) every call you make over WiFi (in the US) is now free. No minutes used. That's an excellent value, especially if you have more than one landline at home. Good news is these are services that can be added or removed at any time so there's no need to add or extend your contract (although if you want the phones for cheap, that will cost you a contract extension).

I've been testing the service here in the Digital Domain for the last few weeks and i must say, it works and it works well. Places where I could never get a cell signal (like my home office) now work fully. Out and about, I had no problems connecting at T-Mobile's Hotspots, getting into the car while on the same call and then going from car to home WiFi network. The call just stayed connected seamlessly which is as it should.

The weakest part of the service for me was the choice of phones available. Both the Nokia and Samsung look like they're state of the art for 2001 and neither will be mistaken for a fashion statement or status symbol. The underlying WiFi switching technologies, however,  makes these quite sophisticated in terms of what's under the hood and while they're not optimized for games, photos, email or the like, they do deliver on what's important, voice communication. Smartphone users will have to wait for new WiFi enabled devices that they can use with the service.

I tried both of them and while I found the Samsung was a little slimmer, I found the Nokia model far more reliable. It boasted much better battery life, was faster to connect to WiFi and never dropped a call or lost a connection, something that happened more than once on the Samsung. It also had a far superior Bluetooth stack as well as better overall volume and call clarity regardless of network connection. If you're going to try the service, my advice is go for the Nokia. I also tried using both the T-Mobile router and the stock router in my home. I found that the T-Mobile router worked much better than my existing router but when testing out and about, I got mixed results. Some worked seamlessly and others less so. Like most WiFi experiences, once you're on someone elses network (other than commercial hotspots) your mileage may vary.

Bottom line. While most carriers are focusing on delivering music or other secondary services, T-Mobile has focused on the core experience of a mobile phone, voice communication. By enabling the shift to a usage model that now extends back to the home, T-Mobile has enhanced the value of their overall offerings and provided some rather strong differentiation from competitive offerings. It's interesting to see a carrier take a totally different approach, instead of how to deliver a different game device or media player but rather how to deliver a better telephone.