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- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 40 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
2.5 stars
"Good, boring phone, but constantly drops the wireless router"
Pros: Good reception on the regular T-mobile network, pretty rugged
Cons: Constantly drops the signal from my HotSpot@Home router, SIM card issues, boring design with bad screen and few features besides WiFi.
Summary: I actually called T-Mobile to cancel my service because the service was so bad in my home. Instead, they ended up selling me on the HotSpot@Home wireless router service... basically they guaranteed great service at home, plus the added bonus of a 9.95 a month plan that gave me unlimited minutes on my existing plan if I was on the router, or even at a Starbucks or other place that uses T-Mobile WiFi.
That sounded great. The next step in getting me set up with this plan was choosing a WiFi compatible phone. Basically the choices were a Nokia or a Samsung flip, both very basic phones, or two "bell and whistle" PDA phones that were expensive and looked obsolete.
I have an iPod touch, so the PDA phone option was kind of pointless... I wasn't about to go back to wack-ass mobile browsing after I'd gotten a taste of true internet on a handheld device- I'd rather carry two things. So I flipped a coin between the two cheap flip options, and bought the Nokia.
While I wish T-Mobile had included a nice mid-range phone between the PDA's and the cheapo flips, this 6086 is a decent little phone- good reception on the regular T-Mobile network, which Nokia is known for. Pretty rugged, does well in my backpack pocket, floating around with keys and stuff. Standard for a phone at this price-point is a sub-par screen, few features, boring unsexy design, etc. etc.
On to what I bought this phone for- better reception in my home and a cheaper bill. The reception on the HotSpots Wifi is perfect- when it picks it up. This phone tends to drop it a lot... which can lead to some very aggravating situations- my personal favorite is when you're on a call, and the phone drops the WiFi. Of course, you lose the call too. Now you're trying to re-connect the WiFi (which takes around 20 seconds, if it works) while the person is calling you back... so you end up taking the call and using up minutes you should be getting for free.
Additionally, sometimes the 6086 won't pick the WiFi signal for hours at a time- no matter power off the phone, remove the battery, whatever. It gives you an error message, and that's it for the day. Of course, this is usually when you have a bunch of calls to make... more minutes that should be free down the drain.
Last but not least, it has an odd issue with the SIM card occasionally- not recognizing it, etc. This may be my fault- I've had the same sim card for like 4-5 years, and it's been swapped in and out of a dozen phones... maybe it's degrading.
All in all, I would say the Nokia 6086 phone by itself is nothing special- a decent lower-end phone that happens to have WiFi capabilities. Highlight is the good standard reception, and for some, that makes it a great phone. Lowlight is the dropping of the WiFi reception, which for me makes it a very frustrating phone- albeit the best solution available to me at the moment.
Hopefully, a solution may come from Apple sometime in 2008. T-Mobile in Germany has the iPhone, and that's usually a good indicator of "when, not if" for the US T-Mobile market. My bet is that the iPhone 2 will be available for T-Mobile users... and with it's standard WiFi, it's a perfect candidate for the HotSpot WiFi program.
Here's hoping.
Nokia 6086 (T-Mobile):
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