[Wishdemon]

Hey all. I've been trying to figure out which of the two services (@home or t-mobile hotspot) I should add...

I want to have the ability to use wifi for my calls and not count against my minutes at home because I never have service there. I was wondering if there is any plan that combines that ability with doing the same at a t-mobile hotspot?

What is the difference between the two? Is it that one is at home and the other is at starbucks and other locations but they still offer the same service?

Or is that the @home version only offers UMA that doesnt count against your minutes while the hotspot lets you connect via wifi but any calls are still counted against your plan?

Thanks in advance!

[NJBlackBerry]

Moved to the WiFi HotZone forum.

[flar]

With no addons you can use UMA to place and receive phone calls on any WiFi network that you can connect to and also at any T-Mobile Hotspot location (even if you don't have a way to connect to it with a laptop or other WiFi device), but it counts against your minutes.

With the Hotspot@Home addon you can then use UMA with no limits and it does not cost you minutes. Plus you can use the Hotspot locations to browse on your phone (but not on your laptop).

The Hotspot addon lets you browse at Hotspot locations with a laptop or any WiFi device. It should also let you browse with your 8320 (but you may have to first log in as you would with your laptop). But, it will have no effect on your UMA - you should be able to use UMA, as you could even with no plan, but it will cost you minutes.

The only way to avoid costing you minutes is to get the H@H plan and then you won't get charged for minutes anywhere you use UMA over WiFi...

[Wishdemon]

Thanks for the reply, and I understand UMA over wifi, but I'm trying to figure out which plan do I need to add to have both the ability to use UMA at home and at tmo hotspots without it counting against my minutes...

Thanks again! Sorry for postin in the wrong spot, shoulda known better!

[flar]

Originally Posted by flar

With the Hotspot@Home addon you can then use UMA with no limits and it does not cost you minutes. Plus you can use the Hotspot locations to browse on your phone (but not on your laptop).

I believe this paragraph answered your question, no? I don't understand what you don't understand any more...

Short answer - you want the Hotspot@Home plan.

Maybe I needed to say "If you have Hotspot@Home then any call made over UMA/WiFi no matter where you make it (domestically) is free and does not cost minutes"?

How about this list:

Normally (without H@H):
Curve can make UMA calls over WiFi on any accessible WiFi network.
Curve can make UMA calls at any T-Mobile Hotspot location.
Curve has no other privileges (other than UMA) at T-Mobile Hotspot locations.
All UMA calls cost minutes regardless of where you make them.

With the Hotspot@Home(H@H) addon plan:
Curve can still make UMA calls at all above locations.
Plus, Curve can also now access data at T-Mobile Hotspot locations.
Note Plus, all UMA calls are free (no minutes) regardless of where you make them.

The T-Mobile Hotspot addon plan has no effect on UMA usage or cost.

[Wishdemon]

Yeah, you pretty covered it...thanks again! I think I was really tired when I posted the other one!

[dbh1]

So assuming I'm paying the extra $10/mo, I have the following questions:

1) Are t-mobile international hotspots treated the same as domestic ones?

2) Can I either
a) tether through the curve onto the t-mobile hotspot's wifi for free?
b) use my tmobile account for free (or some type of discounted) laptop wifi access?

3) When using a t-mobile hotspot for voice over UMA, do I need to
a) set up the wifi location or does it just work the second I walk into a starbucks based on the built-in profiles?
b) if I need to set it up, do I also need to do sometype of browser based login (i know the curve allows for this, but prefer avoiding extra steps).

4) is it still true that if a call starts as UMA and switches over to the cellular network without dropping (how often does that happen?), the entire call is free. If so, would this also be the case when roaming internationally?

Thanks.

[DaveAnderson]

Everyone keeps saying $10/month, but for me it is $19.99. What's up with that?

Services: HotSpot@Home Add-on $19.99 (per month)

[dbh1]

It was $10 per month, they upped the price to $20 a few weeks ago. May be worth begging the rep.

[monkeypaw]

Originally Posted by dbh1

So assuming I'm paying the extra $10/mo, I have the following questions:

1) Are t-mobile international hotspots treated the same as domestic ones?

2) Can I either
a) tether through the curve onto the t-mobile hotspot's wifi for free?
b) use my tmobile account for free (or some type of discounted) laptop wifi access?

3) When using a t-mobile hotspot for voice over UMA, do I need to
a) set up the wifi location or does it just work the second I walk into a starbucks based on the built-in profiles?
b) if I need to set it up, do I also need to do sometype of browser based login (i know the curve allows for this, but prefer avoiding extra steps).

4) is it still true that if a call starts as UMA and switches over to the cellular network without dropping (how often does that happen?), the entire call is free. If so, would this also be the case when roaming internationally?

Thanks.

1) International ones are different. It says that H@H free minutes do not apply and if you look up the locations, they list per minute roaming fees. Calls are probably at the outrageous couple dollars a minute. But other wifi connections can be used. Either here or a different forum, people say those calls do not show as roaming. But turn off the GSM/Edge or the phone may connect to the cell network.
2)Tethering is possible without any add-on software. Think the instructions are in the FAQ on this forum, or you can Google "Blackberry USB Modem" Mine works USB cable and bluetooth, on both Edge and Wifi.
3)It's set up on the phone already.
4)No idea if those are still billed that way. If the phone connects through a foreign cell system, you'll be charged roaming. The foreign cell provider is going to charge Tmobile, and they're not going to eat that cost. They'll tack on the huge markup since it will be a roaming call.

[mak618]

Originally Posted by flar

With the Hotspot@Home(H@H) addon plan:
Curve can still make UMA calls at all above locations.
Plus, Curve can also now access data at T-Mobile Hotspot locations.
Note Plus, all UMA calls are free (no minutes) regardless of where you make them.

The T-Mobile Hotspot addon plan has no effect on UMA usage or cost.

With just Hotspot@home service you cannot access data at T-Mobile hotspots. What this days is that a new web page opens asking you to login with your tmobile hotspot details

[sgtcasey]

edit

[John Clark]

Can't you tether through the BB with your BB on UMA at a TMo Hotspot? Or did TMo get smart and block that through their hotspots?

[secrecyguy]

Originally Posted by flar

I believe this paragraph answered your question, no? I don't understand what you don't understand any more...

Short answer - you want the Hotspot@Home plan.

Maybe I needed to say "If you have Hotspot@Home then any call made over UMA/WiFi no matter where you make it (domestically) is free and does not cost minutes"?

How about this list:

Normally (without H@H):
Curve can make UMA calls over WiFi on any accessible WiFi network.
Curve can make UMA calls at any T-Mobile Hotspot location.
Curve has no other privileges (other than UMA) at T-Mobile Hotspot locations.
All UMA calls cost minutes regardless of where you make them.

With the Hotspot@Home(H@H) addon plan:
Curve can still make UMA calls at all above locations.
Plus, Curve can also now access data at T-Mobile Hotspot locations.
Note Plus, all UMA calls are free (no minutes) regardless of where you make them.

The T-Mobile Hotspot addon plan has no effect on UMA usage or cost.

A correction... I think the reason you said that the Curve can not access data at T-mobile's HotSpots without HotSpots @ Home is because of the post I made before.

Well, it turns out that you can access T-mobile's HotSpots using data without having HotSpots @ Home.

I will know for sure when I get my Curve beginning of November. But two people confirm that it can be done.

I think the reason it wasn't true before is because T-mobile must have made a change in their HotSpots so it can be done now.

So to make long story short...

With the Curve only, you can access voice and data using T-mobile's HotSpots without either plans.

But if you get HotSpots @ Home, you can make free calls.

With T-mobile's Hotspots, you can access data using your laptop.