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PRODUCT REVIEW
T-Mobile's home hotspot: what's hot and what's not
By James Booth
Welcome to Jimmy's Hotspot. Everyone is here, enjoying unlimited calling without burning up wireless minutes. Jimmy's gonna step out. He needs to walk and talk, because his new T-Mobile phone is his mobile phone and his home phone.
With T-Mobile's Hotspot@Home service, you can stop burning your wireless minutes at home. They have introduced the first mobile phone that also works on WiFi in your house, or at any of thousands of WiFi hotspot locations around the country. You can get WiFi and unlimited calling for just an additional $10/month. What you see in Figure A is what you get; a WiFi router and a WiFi enabled T-Mobile phone.
FIGURE A
 
The T-Mobile Hotspot@Home package. Roll over picture for a larger image.
P.S. You'll also need a broadband Internet connection.
How Hotspot@Home works
T-Mobile's Hotspot@Home service consists of essentially four components: a WiFi router, one of T-Mobile's WiFi enabled phones, an applicable T-Mobile service plan of course, and your broadband Internet connection.
UMA (unlicensed mobile access) is the technology behind the Hotspot@Home service. It allows you to use your mobile phone just as you normally would, with the difference being that you can connect via wireless broadband Internet WiFi, as well as via the GSM cellular network. Using UMA, the system can hand calls off between cellular base stations and WiFi routers. What this means for the user is unlimited calling and improved in-home coverage.
As of right now, T-Mobile only offers two Hotspot phones, the Samsung t409, and the Nokia 6086. If the service gains in popularity it's likely they'll add more models.
What's hot
There's an awful lot that's hot with the Hotspot@Home service. Number one on the temperature gauge is how easy it was to set up. If you already have a broadband router, setup is as simple as plugging the Hotspot@Home router into your own. I didn't even have to run the setup CD; the phone and router automatically recognized one another and connected to the T-Mobile network. Figure B shows the Nokia 6086 Hotspot phone searching for a WiFi signal.
FIGURE B
 
The Hotspot phones automatically look for a WiFi signal to connect with. Roll over picture for a larger image.
The installation CD will walk you through every step of the process for those unfamiliar with network setup.
The phones are capable of connecting via any WiFi source, your home, the coffee shop, college campus; anywhere you have access to a WiFi connection. And with the QuickConnect option, you can set up lists of preferred WiFi locations so that when you're in range you can place calls via WiFi. For user convenience, the phones are also pre-programmed with all of T-Mobile's Hotspot locations.
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