Efficacy of T-Mobile HotSpot@Home

On 12-Sep-2007, at 23:55, Roy Morita wrote: > I just got rid of my landline completely at the end of July by > switching to T-Mobile's Wi-Fi plan, HotSpotHome.

OK, I'm curious. How's it working for you, are you happy with it,

Mostly, yes. I do have a strange problem once in a while. The phone drops the connection occasionally and the only way to get it back is to turn the phone off then turn it back on (i.e. reboot). Both my wife and I have the same Nokia phone and it happens on both.

One drawback of a cell phone compared to the regular phone is that the ring tones are not loud enough. Unless I remember to have the phone with me (I usually don't while I'm in the house), I sometimes cannot hear it ring.

I talk to my parents in Japan a few times a month. I'm always surprised how clear the connection is.

what sort of wifi base are you using (does t-mobile have a specific one?)

At the time I decided to go the wireless route, I did not know a Wi-Fi from a hole in the ground. I was completely ignorant about it (and I still am). I purchased the router from T-Mobile just because it was the easiest and quickest to do since I was ordering the phones anyway. It was $50 and came with a $50 rebate coupon. But I believe any wireless set-up will work.

Did you need a new phone,

Yes. You need a Wi-Fi capable phone. Although my Nokia has a camera, which I do not use, it's a very basic phone. Nothing fancy. Your choices are very, very limited when it comes to Wi-Fi phones.

what's your usable range,

The router I purchased does not have a wide range. Although I have no problem using the phone inside the house, I have to stay close to the house when I'm outside. I hope to upgrade the router in the near future.

do you have multiple cell phones or just one? If you have multiples, how does it work when two phones are in use? Anything I forgot to ask?

I have one and my wife has one. I guess that's another drawback, in a way, that we no longer have a common "home phone number". We have not tried using the two phones at the same time. It will be interesting to find out.

If you come up with more questions, feel free to ask.

Ryoichi Morita

>I just got rid of my landline completely at the end of July by
>switching to T-Mobile's Wi-Fi plan, HotSpotHome.
>
>http://www.t-mobile.com/promotions/hotspotathomelearnmore.aspx
>
>Since I live up in the mountains and T-Mobile's cell coverage or any
>cell for that matter is very weak, I never thought I'd be able to
>eliminate the landline. I'm very thrilled that I was finally able to
>do it.
>
>Needless to say, one of the best things is that it does not matter
>whether you are on a Mac or PC.

This is interesting, Roy, since although it's a T-Mobile plan, if
AT&T were to offer a similar Wi-Fi calling plan, the iPhone could
become the sort of thing you'd use constantly around the house as a
phone too.

cheers... -Adam

--
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS Publisher <http://www.tidbits.com/adam/>

> do you have multiple cell phones or just one? If you have multiples, how
> does it work when two phones are in use? Anything I forgot to ask?
>
>I have one and my wife has one. I guess that's another drawback, in
>a way, that we no longer have a common "home phone number". We have
>not tried using the two phones at the same time. It will be
>interesting to find out.
>
>If you come up with more questions, feel free to ask.
>
>Ryoichi Morita

Any update on this Ryoichi?

I live in a rather rural area that is *densely* forested, and a
long-time issue for us has been the lack of cell-phone coverage
there. Every network's coverage map says they work there, but reality
over the past decade has shown that while the phone says it has
signal, it is not enough to make or receive calls.

As such this wifi option from T-mobile is very appealing to me as we
could actually now have phones that work at home. (I will say that it
is frequently a blessing, as much as it is a curse to NOT have phones
that work at home!)



--

Chuck Goolsbee V.P. Technical Operations
_________________________________________________________________
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12101 Tukwila International Blvd AIM/iChat: chuckgoolsbee
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> >I have one and my wife has one. I guess that's another drawback, in
> >a way, that we no longer have a common "home phone number". We have
> >not tried using the two phones at the same time.
>
> Any update on this Ryoichi?
>
>

Hello, Chuck.

I tried it once just for a few minutes. I did not have or notice any problems then. I have not done any sort of extensive testing yet.

About the only problem I've had so far is with my wife's phone. As I briefly mentioned previously, my wife and I have identical phones. But hers keeps dropping the Wi-Fi connection. We had the phone replaced once. Although the replacement works better than the old one, it still drops the connection at least once a day. Now I'm beginning to think that maybe there is something wrong with the SIM card.

But overall, I've been happy with the way it works.

Ryoichi "Roy" Morita