T-Mobile HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home to Launch Next Week

T-Mobile’s new HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home will launch next week. You can read my earlier post for the details of the service, but in a nutshell, it is home telephone service. You install a wireless router which allows you to plug telehpones into it. You then have home service that uses your broadband connection. The router will allow you up to 2 phone lines. Each line will run $10 added onto your wireless plan that will get you unlimited calling in the US.

This is not bad if you currently have a wireless plan of $39.99 or greater through T-mobile which is a requirement to get the service. Right now Vonage costs $19.99, so this could replace Vonage or your current telephone service for only $10 a month. I am definetly going to sign up for this. Right now I currently use T-Mobile HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile service that gets me free calls through my cell phone when using my broadband connerction. So pretty soon ALL my calls from home will be free.

T-mobile has become a pioneer with offering free calls through your high speed internet connection. I sure hope these services take off since quality has been great and you can’t beat the price.

Keep checking this HotSpot @Home Talk Forever Home Site for details on the launch if you are interested in the service.

Voice Over IP Phone Service with No Monthly Phone Bills

Here is a interesting new VoIP service making some headlines. It is called magicJack.

magicJack is a device that you plug into an internet enabled PC that allows you to make phone calls to anywhere. It uses your original home phone. The draw here is that there are no monthly fees unlike other VoIP phone services. Here, you pay an initial $40 for the device and reveive unlimited calls for the first year, after that you’ll get unlimited calls for only $20 for the following years. You also get a phone number and a list of included features (see below). majicJack supports Windows PCs with XP and Visita as well as Macs.

Personally I haven’t tried majicJack, but the cost does look enticing. After doing some research there are reports that the sound quality is good. There is no 911 feature, so I DO NOT reccomend replacing your current service with this. You could however use it just for long distance while paring down your current home service. This is also great if you have a child on college or relatives that you talk to frequently.

Here is a quick list of the pros and cons as I see them:

Pros:

• Unlimited calls for only $40 the first year then $20 thereafter
• Use your current home phone
• FREE FEATURES: Phone Number, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Voicemail, Directory Assitance

Cons:

• You must plug this adapter into a PC with a broadband connection
• You need to plug in a regular analog phone, so if you travel you may need to take a phone with you

Overall this looks like a good deal. They are offering a 30-day risk free trial. I am thinking on giving this a whirl and see how it goes. I am always on the lookout for a good long distance deal!

Sprint Wireless Adds Nationwide Unlimited Calling Plan

Adding to my earlier Post on Unlimited Cell Phone Plans, Sprint has added their own nation wide Unlimited Calling Plan. Sprint did have a trial unlimited plan going on, but it looks like this replaces it.

Sprint calls this the Simply Everything plan which gives subscribers unlimited voice calls, and also includes unlimited data, e-mail and Web surfing for $99.99 per month.

Here are the quick details on the plans from the other 3 carriers:

• AT&T Talk Unlimited – $99.99 Unlimited Calling Only (available: now)
• Verizon Truly Unlimited Calling – $99.99 Unlimited Calling (available: now)
• T-Mobile – $99.99 Unlimited Calling, Text Messaging, and Picture Messaging (available: TBD)

When you line it up against the other guys plans, Sprint clearly gives you the most features for the money. So you just need to make sure you have decent coverage in your area.

I don’t make enough cell phone calls to go this route. I currently use T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home where I get unlimited WiFi calls for $9.99 added to my regular phone plan. This suits me fine. Besides Sprint coverage is horrible in my neighborhood, so I couldn’t go after this deal if I wanted to.

T-Mobile Hotspot @Home Talk Forever Review

I wanted to do a quick review on T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home Talk Forever due to the fact that they have changed the name, pricing and also introduced new functionality. So I thought since it took me a while to figure out all the confusion, I would share it with you.

So basically the T-Mobile Hotspot @Home Talk Forever is now comprised of two services:

• HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile
• HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home

Lets start with HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile. This was the original Hotspot @Home service T-Mobile released last year. Basically it allows you to use a WiFi enabled phone to make free calls when you originate those calls from a WiFi router, be it your home router, T-Mobile HotSpot, or any place you can jump on WiFi. The calls could jump seamlessly from WiFi to the towers as you left a WiFi area and back. There are certain phones that can be used with this. (Do a filter on HotSpot @Home Phones)
You must also add on the Hotspot @Home Add-on plan (now called HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile Add-on) to your current plan to be able to get unlimited WiFi calls. The plan used to be $9.99 for a single user and $19.99 for a family plan. It was then raised to $19.99 for a single user and $29.99 for a family, now it is $9.99 for a single user and a family. So that means when you add on the $9.99 HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile plan anyone on your family plan with a Hotspot @Home enabled phone can make unlimited wifi calls. I think this is a pretty good deal, especially if you have teenagers. I currently have this service and love it. The calls are very clear and I hardly ever use minutes anymore since most of my calls are wifi calls. (See my original Hotspot @Home Review Post for more detail)

Ok, now lets discuss T-Mobile’s new HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home Service. You can think of this as more like Vonage or Comcast VoiP. This service does not use your cell phone but rather a router which a regular telephone plugs into. This new router (Linksys WRTU54G-TM) , which will cost $50 with a 2 year contract extension, basically replaces any current router that you have. It has wireless as well so you shouldn’t miss anything from your current setup. What makes this router unique is that you can plug in regular telephones into the back of it and make calls. The router supports up to two phone lines. These phone lines each have their own number. You do however need to add the $9.99 per line HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home Add-on plan to your wireless plan for each line that you want. So you must have T-Mobile wireless service to be able to get this feature. This is basically giving you an additional phone line with unlimited calling for $9.99. The service also comes with Domestic long distance, Call forwarding, 3-way conference calling, Voicemail, Call Holding and Call Waiting. This obviously beats Vonage’s $24.99 unlimited plan. This service is currently in Beta in Seattle and Dallas with a planned national roll-out soon. One thing I am anxious to see is if these lines can handle faxing as faxing has been as issue when I had Vonage. (UPDATE: I am not able to get faxing to work over T-mobile @home, so I signed up for this cheap fax service instead)

One thing to note, to be able to add either of the 2 plans you must have a current individual wireless plan that is 39.99 or higher, or any FamilyTime mobile plan $49.99 or higher.

The HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home Service is more for people that would want to replace their land-line phone with a cheaper alternative. Since I have the HotSpot @Home Talk Forever Mobile family plan I don’t think I would get this since we never use a land line phone anymore. So it is really up to you to determine how you use your phones. I also like the HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile plan since I only have one phone number. However if you have a small business at home adding a HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Home line might be an option for you. This is also a good alternative to Vonage if you are not happy with their service.

I hope this kind of cleared up the confusion with all the changes to these plans. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Unlimited Cell Phone Calling Plans

T-Mobile threw their hat in the ring yesterday announcing their own Unlimited Cell Phone Calling Plan. So it now appears the four big players have now released some sort of unlimited plan.


 Here is the breakdown:

• AT&T – $99.99 Unlimited Calling (available: 2/22)
• Verizon – $99.99 Unlimited Calling (available: now)
• Sprint – $119 Unlimited Calling, Text Messaging, Web, eMail and Picture Messaging (available: limited areas)
• T-Mobile – $99.99 Unlimited Calling, Text Messaging, and Picture Messaging (available: TBD)

All of these plans will require an extra data plan if you have a smartphone. If you really only use minutes and send text messages, which I imagine is most of us, the T-Mobile plan looks like the best way to go once it is released.

However, not many people need unlimited calling and are just looking for a better deal. If this is you, look into these alternatives as well:

• T-Mobile Hotspot @Home
• Sprint SERO Plan

T-Mobile Hotspot @Home Price Changes

Back in December I did a quick review on T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home (now called HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile Add-on) service where you can make unlimited calling on your cell phone plan using WiFi. They offered a price for $9.99 per month for a single phone and $19.99 per month for a family in addition to your normal monthly minutes plan. Apparently those were promo prices, since shortly after my review they went to $19.99 per month for a single phone and $29.99 per month for a family. Well it appears T-Mobile has thought twice about this change and have made things even simplier and cheaper. Now it is only $9.99 for unlimited WiFi calls for a single phone AND family.

This isn’t bad considering if you have a bunch phones on a family plan all those people can make unlimited WiFi calls for only ten bucks a month extra. Now this essentialy does replace your current home phone. Plus it lets you keep your teenagers from plowing through their minutes while at home or near a T-Mobile hotspot. One question people ask is that does this service give you access to all the T-Mobile hotspots? The answer is yes, but for phone calls only. All T-Mobiles Hotspot @Home phones are preprogrammed to automatically connect to T-Mobile hotspots for placing and receiving calls. If you want to use your laptop at one you will still need to pay for the service like usual.

 I have been using this service and I love it. The calls are very clear and I like having the flexibility of only one phone number. If you think to yourself, well I hate having that phone up to my head all day, try one of these:

The xlink connects to your home phone and your cell phone via bluetooth. This allows you to use your original home phone to make and receive calls on your cell phone. I love this thing. Both my and my wife’s phone hook up to it (it supports up to 3 cell phones at once). So when we are at home we can use your cordless phone instead of having to use the actual cell phone. Plus when an inbound cell phone call comes in it rings all of our cordless phones so we don’t have to race through the house trying to find where we left the cell phone. The xlink makes the connection to your home phone seamless, you just pick up your phone and start dialing. Call waiting/caller id all work with your existing home phone like normal. This in addition to the Hotspot @Home Service makes us not miss our old SBC line at all.


I am happy to see that T-Moblie is differientiating themselves from the other wireless carriers by offering these types of services. I have been a long time customer and plan to be for much longer.

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