Entered CNET Catalog: 06/26/2007
SKU: CNETT-MobileHotSpot@Home
Manufacturer: T-Mobile USA
Product summary
The good: The T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service lets you make and receive calls using both regular GSM cellular airwaves and preconfigured wireless networks. You can save money and get better reception whenever you make calls via Wi-Fi. HotSpot @Home comes with a choice of two wireless routers optimized for hot-spot calls. This service is compatible with all T-Mobile HotSpots as well.
The bad: The T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service is currently only available on two phones, and will not work with just any Wi-Fi-enabled device. Additionally, switching between cellular airwaves and a Wi-Fi access point could be a lot smoother.
The bottom line: Despite a few problems when transitioning between cellular airwaves and wireless networks, the T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service is a great idea. You can save money, get better reception, and possibly even get rid of your existing landline. However, we would wait until the service supports more phones.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 06/28/2007
Many of us use our cell phones as our primary means of contact, but sometimes poor cell phone reception prevents us from doing away with a landline altogether. T-Mobile's brand-new service called HotSpot @Home might be the solution to that. As long as you have a compatible cell phone, the service lets you make, answer, and receive calls via a wireless network. Calls made via Wi-Fi will not be deducted from your cellular plan, meaning you get unlimited calls as long as you're within range of the hot spot. Not only that, but the service will let you switch between GSM cellular airwaves and preconfigured wireless access points automatically. The HotSpot @Home plan is an additional $9.99 per month on top of an existing T-Mobile plan. If you opt for the family plan, it's $19.99 a month for up to five cell phones. The service is also compatible with all existing T-Mobile HotSpots, which are available in most Starbucks cafes and a few major international airports.
The HotSpot @Home service is currently only compatible with two phones: The Samsung T409 and the Nokia 6086. So no, your current Wi-Fi-enabled T-Mobile Wing will not work with the @Home service. This is because the Hotspot @Home service will only work with UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) phones that can transition smoothly between GSM and wireless networks. Hopefully T-Mobile will introduce more UMA devices in the future.
When you first sign up, you'll receive a complimentary wireless router that's optimized to be used with the Hotspot @Home service. Our review model was a Linksys, which is exactly the same as the Linksys WRT54G, except for a few software tweaks designed by T-Mobile. The T-Mobile version of the router also offers one-touch pairing with the phone of your choice, plus it is supposedly not as much of a strain on the phone's battery. We only used it for a limited amount of time and could not see much difference in the battery life of the phone, with or without the router. Of course, you can use your existing wireless router as well, as long as it supports the 802.11b wireless standard.
Setting up the service is a breeze. We installed the wireless router to our broadband network like the manual instructs, and then prompted our Samsung T409 to search for an available network. We found our SSID, entered in our security WAP keyphrase, and it was immediately connected. There was a definite increase in signal strength and reception. Without the wireless network, the T-Mobile cellular reception was rather low. The wireless reception, on the other hand, was almost full-bar strength. We tried the Samsung T409 with a regular wireless router, and it had the same effect.
Call quality was nothing extraordinary. Calls made via the wireless network and via good cellular reception sounded similar, with quite a bit of noise in the background and some minor interference. We could still hear our callers loud and clear, and vice versa, so this is not a deal breaker by any means. We could definitely see ourselves using this Hotspot @Home service as a landline replacement.
We also tried using the phone in and out of the hot spot to see if the call transition between cellular airwaves and the wireless network would go smoothly. We did so by abruptly ending the wireless signal by unplugging the router. Whenever we did so, calls would stall, and some would drop entirely. This is an unusual use case, however, so we won't take that into account. Then we just tried walking in and out of the wireless network, and even then there was a slight pause whenever there was a network transition. Since the Hotspot @Home service is new, we're guessing these are simply teething problems that may get resolved soon.
Overall, we're very pleased with the service. The GSM/Wi-Fi transition could be a lot smoother, and we wish that we could actually use the Wi-Fi to surf the Web (Web surfing is unfortunately stuck to EDGE speeds--a bummer), but we think the HotSpot @Home service is a very nice way to be rid of your landline and save money at the same time.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33out of 33 user reviews
Horrible , full of flaws, waning support from t-mobile
Pros: Nothing - was a great idea, if it had worked.
Cons: Doesn't work as advertised! Dropped calls, poor reception! NO SERVICE!
out of 33 user reviews
@home has been exceptional for me.
Pros: only $10 plus tax for all the calls I make. Calls are clear. Transition from GSM to UMA is seemless and almost never fails. Signal is great from the Linksys wireless router as my Blackberry 8320 will switch to UMA before I reach my driveway.
Cons: on some days calls do drop but this is not the norm. a few times in the past year the router had to be rebooted.
out of 33 user reviews
Does not work as billed
Pros: Nothing works, have spent hours on line and phone to no avail. Sorry that's as good as it gets.
Cons: Nothing sucks a bigger one!
out of 33 user reviews
Great price, but can be flaky at times
Pros: amazing price - just $10/mo. when you have a qualifying tmobile cell rate plan.
unlimited long distance calls, digital voicemail, easy to install.
Cons: phone just goes down randomly and often enough to be annoying. Seems like the voip is not yet perfected.
out of 33 user reviews
It is Super!!!! For 10 bucks a month. Home and Cell use
Pros: Works with cell and home phone for only 10 dollars a month extra with your cell plan I got a home phone number and can use my cell at home with absoloutley no extra minute charge... call in or out at home on my cell are not charged minutes.
Cons: It takes a little know how to set up... if your not Techie then just call tmobile and they are super.
Updated on Aug 17, 2009Oh I dropped ATT cell and landline for this. I would not have done that if it was not great. I was an ATT customer for 10 years so that should tell ya something. All these other bad reviews is most likely that they did not have the router configured correctly. If router is configured properly it will just work... kind of like ubuntu linux OS.
out of 33 user reviews
NO BETTER THAN 2 DIXIE CUPS AND A STRING
Pros: NONE - IT DOES NOT WORK
Cons: EVERYTHING - T-MOBILE PUT SOMETHING OUT ON THE MARKET THEY KNOW DOES NOT WORK FROM START TO FINISH. THEIR ADVERTISING IS FRAUDULENT. IF ONLY YOU HAD MINUS STARS.
They sent me a new router, knowing full well this wouldn?t solve the problem - the problem was I believed them. Why wouldn?t I, I had VOIP for years from other providers with no real problems. Well - same problems. You are on the phone and all of sudden the person on the other end cannot hear you - reset the router. You call them back or they call you and it drops again - reset the router. You do it a few more times - same thing. Like I said it may be minutes but more likely hours and in the end days at a time. It also takes your internet service with it. Linksys forum also has many postings, look up ?no blue light?.
So I call again - told my case was closed - really, no one called to see if it was working. Told you have to start at the lower level customer service all over again. Email CEO, get call from executive response team. Now they are angry, combative, abusive and threatening - yes, threatening to ?investigate? my phone calls or how I use my phone - I told them - have at it. Their executive response person Beckett spoke over me continually - actually yelling at me. I told her I did not want any more contact with her - find someone else. Oh - did I mention she thought it was funny I had this kind of phone service. Even though the phone continually disconnected while I was speaking with her - she tried to claim it wasn?t their problem and they still expected me to pay the bill. Anyway, Beckett had the audacity to keep calling me and I told her emphatically not to call. She said she would continue to call - oh, really - had to inform her this was harassment in writing. Then someone else called but the call kept dropping and they didn?t call back.
Senior tech Kevin calls and told me he had the same issue, but it wasn?t as bad these days - not as bad - are you kidding me! He was supposed to come to me and bring a new router - well he never showed up. Then a letter from t-mobile they are terminating my service and keeping my activation fees, the money for phones and equipment, but we still want you to pay the balance on your bill or we won?t release your number. Keep in mind I paid all along, believing they were honestly attempting to fix the problem - because they said so - like I said - LIARS. In April when the service became unbearable, leaving me without my internet service - I told them I would pay when they fixed the problem - therefore I was disputing my bill. American consumers have to stop being doormats - we have let this happen. Not me - not anymore. I reported them to the FCC, BBB, AG and small claims. An important fact is that you cannot call 911 should you need to when you have no service or it disconnects every minute. Well at least that would get the cops here, since they would figure we were making prank calls to 911. Totally disgraceful company.
out of 33 user reviews
Cheap and Unreliable
Pros: $10 a month. Can't beat that, even if it's the worst phone service in the world. And when it works, calls are pretty clear and you almost think it's Ma Bell.
Cons: It's not the worst phone service in the world -- but it's close. Makes going back to AT&T at three times the cost seem darn attractive.
out of 33 user reviews
Great, when it worked Horrible Service when it doesn't
Pros: Useful for lots of calls at home without using any monthly minutes
Cons: Technical support is awful. They don't really understand
the problem you are having and go through "firmware" upgrades
and proclaim the problem solved.
land line to share. Our set up (with three Nokia 8086 phones
in the household and three wifi computers) worked well until last week.
After 15 months, phones now will drop off the router and NOT
re-connect unless you turn them off for at least two minutes
them back on. The computers all work fine. T-Mobile says its the router. I think it is something new with their internet servers or recent cell tower upgrades in my area that boost the cell signal and make the phones drop off wifi as you walk around the house or both. Now, I have to BUY (my T-Mobile router is over a year old so - - no trade in) a new router to find out.
Unless the wifi connection problem is solved I have no choice but to drop the service the instant the contract is over.
out of 33 user reviews
I have had great service
Pros: I have had great service
Cons: I have had great service
out of 33 user reviews
Horrible customer service
Pros: You dont need a additional router for internet
Cons: Customer service is horrible and fake. You call for technical problem and they will give you an automated option that they will call you back in 2 hours and 30mins ????? alarming!!!
out of 33 user reviews
Super easy to set up and use
Pros: Easy set up; low cost monthly bill
Cons: You have to be patient in getting to the right T-mobile office who will arrange a porting of your number
out of 33 user reviews
Promised better coverage.
Pros: Gets warm.
Cons: Lousy router that drops home line randomly. To make cell phone work through hotspot you must be within two feet of router. Once home line is gone there is no way to get it back, just waiting.
out of 33 user reviews
absolutely terrible
Pros: $10/month but not even worth it.
Cons: the phone dies randomly, and every time it does i have to unplug the router and reset the phone. Not reliable at all. I can't even cancel the service now because i'm stuck with the 2-year contract.
out of 33 user reviews
The Best Phone Service Choice Ever.
Pros: I like the ease and sound quality of the vtech phones and t-mobile at home services. It's easy, and works perfectly and must I say SOOOOOO Affordable. I am so glad I switched. Plus you get all the perks!
Cons: I have windows vista and use my computer with a wireless modem so I had to call technical support to get up and running and had to wait over 45min for a rep. Once they got on they helped me with everything and more.
out of 33 user reviews
Not a reliable product
Pros: I liked the idea of unlimited calling.
Cons: My Home Hot Spot is not reliable. It has gone down numerous times. One has to continually look at the router light to see if you've dropped. T-Mobile help is very poor. Answer times are too long. Solutions don't work permanently.
out of 33 user reviews
Better than nothing but not much
Pros: 75% of the time you can place a call
Cons: That call won't last for more than 5 minutes
out of 33 user reviews
works with the curve
Pros: works well
Cons: no cons at all
I had tried every major mobile service and always had a problem with poor reception.
Now I have great reception in my house and yard!
I never have a dropped call in my home.
out of 33 user reviews
Best phone service ever
Pros: Minutes saver best plan on the face of the earth
Cons: occasionally drop calls during transition
out of 33 user reviews
WOW! Awful, absolutely awful.
Pros: Clever concept for areas with poor cell reception.
Cons: Doesn't really work, so what's the point?
out of 33 user reviews
Does not work for calls over 5 minutes
Pros: Save a few bucks per month.
Cons: Totally unreliabe and *very* frustrating
I was super-excited about the Wi-Fi calling ability of this phone. I even cancelled my old-school AT&T analog land line before the phone arrived! BIG MISTAKE.
For the past 3 months I have been struggling with: 1. dropped calls (so annoying) 2. static/noisy calls and 3. not connecting to the network efficiently.
My wife and I are so sick of T-Mobile's HotSpot@HOME service that we are cancelling and sending back their router. I tried calling tech support on 3 different occasions and NONE of their suggestions helped ("Try a different channel", "Place the router away from lighting", "Place it away from your computer", etc). I live in a high-rise apartment building and most of my other neighbors have wireless networks so I suspected interference (although my laptop always worked fine!), but again, there was nothing I could do or T-Mobile could suggest to make this a painless technology. The problem was not signal strength of the router (always had FULL bars showing on the phone) but the interruptions and drops.
I feel totally ripped off and I wasted lots of time & money on this false promise. My wife is a medical doctor and often has to make phone calls to patients for 10-15+ minutes. I cannot count how many times this stupid phone and the Linksys Router they provided disconnected half-way through the call (sometimes even 3 times in a row during the SAME call!). Their support engineers are pretty useless and all swear that they use this at their own homes without any of the problems I encountered right out of the box. They're all liars or really good salesmen (oxymoron?), not real engineers.
I usually don't write reviews on products (too lazy) but I had such a bad experience with this phone and the T-Mobile HotSpot@Home technology that it would be a sin for me not to warn the rest of the CNET community.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
P.S., Starbucks just cancelled their partnership with T-MOBILE and is going with AT&T. Now this T-Mobile HotSpot stuff is really for the dogs!!
out of 33 user reviews
Perfect if it really works as T-Mobile Advertises It...
Pros: Lots of free calls and Better coverage
Cons: Dropped calls, Doesn't stay connected, Doesn't switch over properly
out of 33 user reviews
HotSpot works great with the BlackBerry Curve
Pros: Endless talk time
Cons: Didn't get it sooner.
out of 33 user reviews
Best thing to come to cell phones!!!
Pros: Saved 800 peak minutes this month!!!! Unfortunatly I cant use the wifi at work but I use it all the time at home and if I'm out and about I sometimes can get a signal near a local store
Cons: none: well - I guess they need a larger variety of phones
I DONT HAVE A HOUSE PHONE!!!!!
Unfortunatly I cant use the wifi at work but I use it all the time at home and if I'm out and about I sometimes can get a signal near a local store. I cant see how this feature can stayat $10 a month. Between my favs, mobile to mobile and hot spots Im thinking about going to a 400 min a month plan. With my cingular plan I had a 900 min plan for $60 + $9 7PM nights and weekends and kept going over.
out of 33 user reviews
Great option for free minutes at Home and any Wifi connection...
Pros: Unlimited minutes whenever you can find a Wifi connection. Easy to use.
Cons: WOuld love to have more phone choices
out of 33 user reviews
Almost glitch free
Pros: Unlimited landlike quality via wifi connection
Cons: Connection w. wifi sometimes drops to GSM for no reason
I have used this,via wifi, heavily the last month. 2500+ minutes in home, office, Ft. Lauderdale airport, couple of shopping malls, and to make "local" calls to/from Costa Rica . (GSM roaming there is $2.99/min.!)
The Nokia 6086 worked fine and used it until last week. Like others have reported elsewhere, it doesn't play well with a BlueTooth headset. Starting a week ago, we switched to the Samsung T409. As others have found, no BT problems.
You have to sign up for a $39 or more plan to be able to get the 9.99 unlimited option. You can choose to simply have your UMA calling simply come out of your minute bucket. Call quality often approaches landline, even from overseas.
This isn't available on prepay plans or their $50/ 3000 min. regional plan.
out of 33 user reviews
Absolutely perfect phone for the home or office (over Wi-Fi)
Pros: Great call quality, UMA transfers seemlessly from Wi-Fi to GSM
Cons: Few bells, whistle and rather plain looking handset.
Which isn't to say I won't buy a newer UMA handset when T-Mobile rolls them out. I'm using the Nokia 6086, and boy is it plain. The screen and menus are clunky and even though the keypad is comfortable I'm not too thrilled with the volume key on the side of the handset. But if you're like me and look at it as a home phone you can take with you and opposed to a cell phone you use at home, you can't help but be impressed. I'll definitely be getting rid of my landline soon.
And to the point of being able to make 911 calls: T-Mobile asks you to register your address for 911 calls before you ever use the phone. I have the Nokia and my wife got the Samsung and both phones came with a warning label on the battery cover with instructions to setup your address before making wi-fi calls, which you could do through customer service or their website. We called them and were setup in less than 3 minutes. I can't imagine that anyone who had actually used either phone would even bring up 911 calling as a drawback.
Regardless, we're very happy with our new phones. Makes not having an iPhone a ton more bearable.
out of 33 user reviews
So Happy!!!
Pros: Signal Strength, Free Calls, Clarity
Cons: Limited Phone Choices
out of 33 user reviews
I am thrilled with the service
Pros: I can finally get cell service in my home.
Cons: don't have any yet.
out of 33 user reviews
Hotspot@home is worth it if your apartment/house doesn't have good reception.
Pros: Switches to internet automatically, has a strong signal and good sound quality.
Cons: T-Mobile currently only offers a limited selection of phones. Though they said they would expand the selection over the next few weeks.
out of 33 user reviews
I finally have service in my home!
Pros: Price for nationwide calls.
Cons: Phone selection.
I did not purchase one of their wireless routers since I already have one. This phone is working just great on a Buffalo AirStation router after entering my WEP code into the phone. Now it is saved and it will connect automatically. I also connected to the Hotspot at Starbucks which was adjacent the T-mobile store and it worked just fine there. All the WiFi calls are unlimited for nationwide calling.
At the time of purchase I was required to list a 911 address (my billing address). There was also a label on the back of the phone that stated that listing a 911 address was a requirement during activation. This address can be changed anytime on your online T-Mobile account settings. Since I plan on using this as a home phone replacement 911 service was an option I needed.
So far the call quality has been good. I cannot get a good GSM signal in my home, so this works out great.
out of 33 user reviews
Nicole, I have concerns regarding the review also
Pros: **********************
Cons: **********************
out of 33 user reviews
Awesome service!
Pros: Cheap add-on, works with any router
Cons: Battery drains faster
Dont know why anyone would need a landline now. Another perk of this feature is that it works internationally the same exact way! So, if you are abroad in Europe (or anywhere else really), just find yourself a hotspot & you can make your calls back to the states for free, just like you would at home. Thats simply an awesome idea & in reality, you could keep your same phone # if you moved overseas & just kept using a hotspot for all your calls back to the US. International calls would still charge the same though, so keep that in mind.
Anyways, I highly recommend this feature & T-Mobile is an awesome company for giving it to us & embracing it. Lets see AT&T (or any other provider) do that.
out of 33 user reviews
On review by CNET Editor
Pros: Assured in-home service
Cons: Limited device options
The Hotspot at Home service requires a
UMA capable phone, not just a WiFi enabled one.
It's not clear that the Dash and other WiFi
enabled "smart phones" implement UMA,
and do it to T-Mobile's specifications.
