[Tylast]

Anyone getting the Hotspot @ Home service from T-mobile with the Pearl2? Honestly, I can't see T-mobile NOT offering this service when the P2 comes out.

[ndub33]

Coverage in my home is pretty inconsistant, as I live in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. @Home with a Berry device seems like a liklehood , when availible.

[dinlong]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8100/4.2.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I personally can't wait for this to become available with a BB device. Any one ever find out when the P2 might be coming out?

[AlwaysOn607]

No service at home now. I need this!

[CarlosO]

I won it on the 3rd. Works like a chram the phones just sucks. So is there a Pearl 2 coming out? The guy at the T-mobile store told me the Curve would be the next phone to come out with the @home service. But those guys can be full of it from past experiences

[SanFrancisco]

Hmmm.... I have never heard of this. Sounds interesting.

I guess this is T-Mo's response to the current trend, more and more people are getting rid of home land lines and going totally wireless. I have been, for the past 6 years or so.

I heard on the news the latest stat, but forgot what it was, but a huge number of people are going wireless at home.

So it seems that this is T-Mo realizing that trend and trying to tap into the market early, before anyone else does?

I only briefly viewed the flash presentation, but it looks like this will enable people to use more than one phone inside the house, on the same number. Currently we cannot, I have only the one phone in the house, the Pearl. It's a little weird at first, but after a month or so one does not even notice that the only phone "on" in the house is the cell phone.

Also, I like the Wi-Fi aspect of it, go to any T-Mo hot spot and you get unlimited calling. There's lots of those in San Francisco [downtown].

Is there also the ability to use 3G with this, to where one can use the phone as a modem for the desktop or notebook? If so, that would be HOT HOT HOT because I would love to get rid of my ComCast broadband bill, which is quite high. If that is a feature, count me in. I would probably buy any phone available that would allow me to use that feature and then later get the Pearl 2.

But, is that a feature? I'll have to go back and look. If it is, that would be big news [and a real threat to AT&T and ComCast].

Those seem like the main features unless I am missing something.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by CarlosO

I won it on the 3rd. Works like a chram the phones just sucks. So is there a Pearl 2 coming out? The guy at the T-mobile store told me the Curve would be the next phone to come out with the @home service. But those guys can be full of it from past experiences

Whoa, what are you saying? What do you mean by you "won it on the 3rd?"

Are you saying that this service works like a charm? How so? Give us details.

Also, does it give you the ability to set up a PC network at DSL or broadband speeds? Or is that feature wishful thinking on my part?

[Tylast]

One of the Videos lead me to believe that it would work on any Wifi 802.11b access point that I already own. I would only need to have the software on my phone & an account to make it work.

Think you're going to have to keep your ComCast broadband. The software on your phone is just using VOIP over your existing broadband connection.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by CarlosO

I won it on the 3rd. Works like a chram the phones just sucks. So is there a Pearl 2 coming out? The guy at the T-mobile store told me the Curve would be the next phone to come out with the @home service. But those guys can be full of it from past experiences

OMG... I just read the flash ad again. Did you show up to a T-Mo store in your bathrobe to win the free service, phone and router? What a hoot. That's a damn good prize.

[SanFrancisco]

Ok, I get it now. This simply creates a Wi-Fi setup in one's home, I guess through one's broadband connection. Then any calls made are through the Wi-Fi connection and calls don't count against the minutes in whatever plan one has.

In a sense it like setting up a little cell tower in one's home.

When you leave the house, the phone works as a regular cell phone, unless you can get a Wi-Fi hotspot connection, in which case the calls are "free" and unlimited.

I see that the phone is not doing the connecting when at home, it's the Wi-Fi setup. I wonder though, if the phone is relying on the broadband setup to get a signal, is the signal at broadband speed in such situations? If so, then when on the road could the Pearl 2, for example, be tethered to a notebook and one the Pearl will give the notebook broadband connection/speed?

I guess this is good for people who don't have a signal in their house? This Wi-Fi network setup creates one through the home's broadband connection.

Interesting. Clearly T-Mo is marketing the phone as a replacement for land lines, the "only phone you need" as they say.

[PhillyGuy]

I'd get any BB with WiFi for this service. Lousy coveage in my house/yard. Pearl 2, Curve, or the 88xx.

[djxedxd]

Only prob for me would be if 911 works correctly through this thing. This is the only reason I keep my land line because I have a 6 year old daughter and god forbid anything ever happened the cells just not ideal for this.

[karaokesuperstar]

Originally Posted by djxedxd

Only prob for me would be if 911 works correctly through this thing. This is the only reason I keep my land line because I have a 6 year old daughter and god forbid anything ever happened the cells just not ideal for this.

Or you could just have a regular land line phone as a back up, by law, 911 is a free service call for land lines, you don't have to subscribe to a land line to be able to call 911. Think of it as the OTA channels, no need for a cable box.

[djxedxd]

Huh intresting. I did not know this I thought you had to be with a phone company to even beable to use m911. Ill have to check this out. If its all good peace out land line.

[Tylast]

The NYT has a good article on the system. One thing about the article is that it sounds like the person is talking from experience. They said that the billing didn't switch over. The T-mobile website says the billing DOES switch. I bet that will get fixed ESPECIALLY since you could start at home & run around the city until the battery dies & NOT get charged!

[jeremyckitching]

No need for me. Inside my house I am usually always at either 4 or 5 bars. Plus, I don't really use the phone part that much so it isn't worth it to me.

[rmitchell]

Originally Posted by djxedxd

Only prob for me would be if 911 works correctly through this thing. This is the only reason I keep my land line because I have a 6 year old daughter and god forbid anything ever happened the cells just not ideal for this.

911 service over UMA/Wifi is based on the address you program into the system. T-Mobile will request the street address of the hotspot most often used to make calls over wifi. This becomes the initial address reported when you call 911 over wifi.

[cassinator]

Would have been cool if verizon had something like this. I switched to tmobile because verizon just gets such crap reception in my neighborhood. Granted the phone I had wasn't wifi compatible but would still have been nice to have that option.

[PhillyGuy]

Originally Posted by rmitchell

911 service over UMA/Wifi is based on the address you program into the system. T-Mobile will request the street address of the hotspot most often used to make calls over wifi. This becomes the initial address reported when you call 911 over wifi.

I was looking for that on the TMO website. You're right, you have to register the address with the provider and they will have to confirm it with you. With that stated, the switching back to cell when you leave the WiFi is critical.

[theBorg]

Originally Posted by djxedxd

Huh intresting. I did not know this I thought you had to be with a phone company to even beable to use m911. Ill have to check this out. If its all good peace out land line.

It's definitely true. In the Telecomm world, this is called "Lifeline POTS," meaning that any house that has a (wired) phone line must always be able to dial 911 even if they are not a customer. I used to design chips that drive the interface to phones in the home and had to support this and many other federal regulations.

This is one of the sticky points for VoIP services since data lines don't provide power for the router in the home.