Call home cheap by Wi-Fi

I took glancing note of the recent national rollout of T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home service (unlimited Wifi calling using special phones that switch off seamlessly between GSM and Wi-Fi), but only just realized that it offers much more than just free calling in the vicinity of your home wireless network. More, even, than free calling though other wireless networks.

What finally caught my attention was the ability of these UMA phones to call any USA phone number though any open wireless network worldwide, for free if you subscribe to T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home service (currently $10/month, $20 for family plans), and using regular plan minutes if you don't subscribe. When in Paris last month, I was impressed with the ease with which one of my friends was connecting all over the place with his small notebook. He travels within Europe a lot, and used to make extensive use of Internet cafes for keeping up with email, eBay, and the like -- so it was significant to see him relying on Wi-Fi now instead.

So while I'm not giving up on my various European SIM cards quite yet, I am planning on getting one of the T-Mobile UMA phones. I'm due for an upgrade, and I'm also planning on adding another line to our family plan -- so it shouldn't cost more than $50. I'll hold off on paying extra for the free Wi-Fi calling plan, but will use my regular airtime allowance to make calls back home when I'm traveling abroad. It will also be handy to make and receive calls within the States from more remote locations where regular cellular service is spotty, yet where there may be public wireless networks. When abroad, however, I will have to be a bit careful, since if I receive any calls when not connected to a Wi-Fi network, I'll get charged the international roaming rate. A quick fix would be to reset the phone's operating frequency option to US-only.

For more on the HotSpot@Home service, take a look at the discussions over at HowardForums . NY Times article on the service is also a useful concise summary.

Posted by David on July 19, 2007 10:36 AM