T-Mobile Expands Hotspot@Home

T-Mobile has officially unveiled its “HotSpot @Home Talk Forever Home Phone” plan, now on trial in Seattle and Dallas. It uses a dual mode cellphone that hands off to WiFi at home. Calls transition from your cellphone to the hotspot for unlimited calling.

You’ll need a broadband connection at home and a WiFi router, of course. T-Mobile is selling a Linksys WRTU54G for $49.99 (on contract), designed so you can jack in landline phones and get unlimited domestic calling for $10 a month added to a T-Mobile bill. The router detects when you’re using one of T-Mobile’s WiFi phones. A VTech cordless phone is also available.

The wired/Wi-Fi phone service costs $10 a month on top of T-Mobile’s HotSpot@Home and Talk Forever Home plans which cost a minimum of $40 per month. That makes a total of $50 for unlimited home calling on a single line with unlimited weekend and evening calling. It also requires a home broadband connection, of course, which can cost $20-$60/month, and the Linksys router.

The Hotspot@Home plan can provide service in homes that normally have cellular reception problems. T-Mobile’s dual-mode WiFi phones feature Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA). Voice over IP (VOIP) is used when calls travel over land lines.

T-Mobile USA also announce yesterday an unlimited wireless plan for $99.99 per month, that includes unlimited nationwide wireless calling and unlimited nationwide messaging.

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