T-Mobile Opening Door for Free Wi-Fi-Based Calls

Lost amid last week's iPhone mania came this story from David Pogue, who sharply observed that there were indeed other cell phone-related companies in the world, some even doing interesting stuff on I-Day. This curious news comes from T-Mobile, which is going to offer Wi-Fi-based calling called HotSpot@Home for $10 a month.

The idea is pretty nifty: T-Mobile provides a special phone and a Wi-Fi router for your house, and whenever you're at home (or near any other Wi-Fi network) all your calls go over the internet instead of T-Mobile's wireless towers. The phone, says Pogue, switches seamlessly between cell and Wi-Fi networks, without a hiccup, even in the middle of a call. Service quality, he says, is great. And all the calls you make on a Wi-Fi network are free.

I like this idea for one main reason: It means you'll always have perfect service in your house (where, as Pogue notes, you will tend to be 14 hours a day), regardless of how poor the T-Mobile coverage is in your area. Poor call quality at home is a major reason why users haven't dumped their land lines in favor of cellular already, so this could finally allow users to get rid of those pricey land lines.

Pogue argues fiercely for other savings that will offset the extra $10 per month the service costs, but these seem less important to me unless you're making thousands of minutes of calls each month or trying to call home from an open Wi-Fi network in Cambodia. Still, if you do disconnect your home phone service in favor of this cellular/Wi-Fi hybrid, you'll more than make up for the added price.

Pogue has far more details on the plans and arguments why this is a "game changing" technology for the cell phone world, so do check out the full article. It's compelling enough to make me consider T-Mobile next time I shop for a new phone. Don't miss the end, though: The $10 per month pricing will eventually jump up to $20, so don't ponder for too long!

One thing I didn't see: Just how good is this "special phone" you get? I'd at least want a Sidekick out of the deal, but I doubt that's in the cards. 

LINK: IPhone-Free Cellphone News