T-Mobile USA goes nationwide with FMC service

T-Mobile USA Inc. expanded its fixed-mobile converged service from its test market in Seattle to the national stage, leveraging its hotspot network as well as in-home routers to enhance its coverage.
UMA-based technology allows seamless handoffs between a Wi-Fi network and T-Mobile USA’s GSM/GPRS/EDGE cellular network. The HotSpot@Home service is currently available on a pair of handsets-both retailing for $50, the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. SGH-t409 and Nokia Corp.’s 6086. The service also requires a home Wi-Fi router and a two-year contract. T-Mobile USA has partnered with D-Link and Linksys for optimized routers, which are currently offered at no charge after a mail-in rebate.
Single lines can make use of the service for $10 per month, and up to five family plan members can add the service for $20 per month. HotSpot@Home offers customers the chance to stretch their wireless minutes, since they can make unlimited local and long distance calls from their home Wi-Fi network or the carrier’s hotspots, without dipping into their cellular plan’s bucket minutes.
Regional telecom operator Cincinnati Bell also recently introduced a similar dual-mode service in the greater Dayton, Ohio area, dubbed CB Home Run, which relies on an in-home router and the company’s local network of 300 hotspots. Cincinnati Bell also offers the Nokia 6086 for its service. The unlimited Wi-Fi calling service can be added for $10 per month to Cincinnati Bell wireless plans of $40 per month or more.