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T-Mobile trials HotSpot @Home Talk Forever Home Phone in Seattle, Dallas
Well, goodness, try saying that five times fast. T-Mobile has officially unveiled its rather longwinded "HotSpot @Home Talk Forever Home Phone" plan add-on for folks that aren't quite ready to put their landlines out to pasture quite yet, though there's a catch: much like the original, it's beginning life as a trial in just a couple of test markets. Lucky folks in Seattle and Dallas will be able to march into their local T-Mobile outlet and pick up the long-rumored WRTU54G for $49.99 on contract, at which point $10 a month tacked onto their T-Mobile bill will allow them to jack in their old-school landline phones and get unlimited domestic calling. In the event they need a landline phone (o rly?) or are looking to upgrade their 70's vintage AT&T Slimline, stores will also be offering this lovely DECT system from VTech to complete the package. There's no word just yet on when we might see the hardware outside the test markets, but with landline popularity waning the way it is, we'd suggest they get a move on.
T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home Talk Forever: same service, lower price
Don't get us wrong, it's great that T-Mobile has lowered the price of its unlimited WiFi calling service both at home and at T-Mobile Hotspots everywhere from $19.99 down to $9.99 per month (forgetting for a moment that it was $9.99 per month as an introductory price, anyway), but in changing the name from HotSpot @Home to HotSpot @Home Talk Forever, we'd been hoping for something just a little more compelling. Previous intel had indicated that we'd be seeing the introduction of T-Mobile's first SIM-sporting routers, allowing the use of traditional landline phones in conjunction with the service -- but at this point, it looks like it's going to be at least a little longer before the hardware launches, and it's unclear whether there'll be yet more trademarked service branding introduced when it does.
T-Mobile adding BlackBerry 8820 with WiFi next month?
We're hearing rumblings that T-Mobile's going to drop a WiFi-enabled version of the BlackBerry 8800 -- better known in the public vernacular as the 8820 -- on March 5th. Yeah, it's just a rumor at this point, but the move would make total sense for several reasons: one, the 8820 already exists so RIM doesn't need to do any custom magic for T-Mobile; two, T-Mobile already sells the 8800; three, the 8800's little brother, the Curve, is already sold in WiFi form on the carrier; and four, Hotspot@Home could always use another compatible handset or three. We'll find out in a few weeks -- but in the meantime, we might suggest holding off on that 8800 purchase.[Thanks, T]
Details emerge on T-Mobile's Hotspot @Home "Talk Forever" setup
We've learned that T-Mobile is prepping to roll out trials of the next episode in its HotSpot @Home service, entitled "Talk Forever." What's the diff? Unlike plain vanilla HotSpot @Home, Talk Forever will require custom WiFi routers manufactured specifically for the service; that kinda sucks, we suppose, but in return, the new routers can feed traditional landline phones of your choice by supporting up to two SIM cards internally. Trials will be rolling out in Seattle (T-Mob's home town) and Dallas in February, and it seems that the carrier will be offering the service in both landline / mobile combo and landline-only configurations. Now, here's where it gets a little weird: we just Googled "HotSpot @Home Talk Forever" and stumbled upon www.tiltyourworld.com, a site that appears to be some sort of Talk Forever training site for T-Mobile folk. But guess what? The exact same site was used for training AT&T folk on the Tilt a few months back! What gives? Anyway, follow the break for a quick breakdown on the goods.[Thanks, anonymous tipster]
