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evilghost
Premium
join:2003-11-22
Springville, AL
 ·Windstream
1 edit | From a user
Actually, as a Hotspot@Home user I'd be more than happy to explain this to you.
By default, any HS@Home capable handset can use the service, however, calls made over the VOIP/WIFI network are billed against your airtime minutes/plan.
The "charge" for the HS@Home service permits unlimited calls to continental US numbers.
Additionally, when placing calls over their VOIP network the call audio fidelity is significantly superior to that of the cellular network. I'd go as far as to say my ears are unable to distinguish the differences between a land-line phone and the call quality of the VOIP service.
I've been using the service for about a month now and have no jitter, dropped calls, or transition issues from WiFi to cellular.
The 6086 supports WEP, WPA-PSK, and WPA2-PSK. I've created a static lease reservation on my Buffalo WHR-G54S router running OpenWRT (»www.openwrt.org) and have set QoS prio on the phone's IPs to take precedence over any other traffic.
A call over the HS@Home network uses about 37 to 40 Kbps, a very light amount of traffic to sustain.
I'm not a T-Mobile shill or employee, but as a user of the service I felt qualified to comment. | |
TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
| said by evilghost  :By default, any HS@Home capable handset can use the service, however, calls made over the VOIP/WIFI network are billed against your airtime minutes/plan. The "charge" for the HS@Home service permits unlimited calls to continental US numbers. Unlimited calling, but charged to airtime minutes, and $20/mo doesn't sound like much of a deal. If you are on the phone a lot at home, you may also have to increase your wireless plan costs to add more minutes.
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evilghost
Premium
join:2003-11-22
Springville, AL
·Windstream
2 edits | No, you are incorrect. If you pay for the Hotspot@Home service it does not bill against your airtime minutes when using WiFi. It does bill against your minutes if when using WiFi you are not enrolled in the HS@Home service and pay the monthly fee.
UMA equipped phones can use the UMA service "HS@Home" regardless, the only difference is the method of billing (airtime versus the monthly fee for the HS@Home add-on). | |
TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| said by evilghost :No, you are incorrect. If you pay for the Hotspot@Home service it does not bill against your airtime minutes when using WiFi. It does bill against your minutes if when using WiFi you are not enrolled in the HS@Home service and pay the monthly fee. OK. Thanks for the clarification. Those 2 statements seemed conflicting.
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Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL | reply to evilghost
is your cell phone data free at the same time as well? | |
evilghost
Premium
join:2003-11-22
Springville, AL | reply to TKJunkMail
No problem, bold was for emphasis of differences to better clarify, hope you didn't infer tone/yelling from that. | |
evilghost
Premium
join:2003-11-22
Springville, AL | reply to Joe12345678
Negative, data is still routed over GPRS/EDGE and billed at the same rate. If you don't have cellular coverage data doesn't work. | |
greendragon
Premium
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN
| I can't wait for the day when we can use the technology like hotspot@home for calling and data, but be able to do it at any wifi hotspot.
I'd pay more than 19.99 to do both and do it everywhere.
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03 | reply to evilghost
I have to disagree. I use data services on my phone over wifi all the time. | |
greendragon
Premium
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN | Yes, but can you use WiFi to call someone without using your minutes?
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03 | Have you read ANYTHING in this thread? If you pay the fee for HS@home, you get unlimited minutes while on wifi. | |
greendragon
Premium
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN
| Ok...
Calling someone using hotspot@home for $19.99 a month = no minutes used
Calling someone using hotspot@home not paying 19.99 a month = minutes used
I get all that
When you use the data service, eventhough you pay for hotspot@home, means that you use the cell network not the wifi network for data. So, hotspot@home is good for voice calls, but makes no difference for data service.
I would like to have a plan like hotspot@home work for voice and data for one price and not use minutes or pay cellular data charges when using a wifi hotspot.
Did I make myself clear this time?
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
1 edit | said by greendragon :Did I make myself clear this time? Yes, however, I believe you are mistaken:said by greendragon :When you use the data service, eventhough you pay for hotspot@home, means that you use the cell network not the wifi network for data. So, hotspot@home is good for voice calls, but makes no difference for data service. Until last week, I lived in a home that had no cell service from any provider whatsoever. In that home, while my phone was connected to wifi, the phone would use data services. There was NO cellular network for it to use, so it had to have been using wifi for data. | |
evilghost
Premium
join:2003-11-22
Springville, AL
·Windstream
| I've read different, so, here's my testing from my Nokia 6086 and the tcpdump packet capture of two instances, a VOIP placed call, and the second being data activity on the phone to TZones.
VOIP call (snip)
Data to T-Zones Only (snip)
So you are exactly 100% correct aaron83_01, sorry for the misinformation. Perhaps I read it incorrectly and what they were saying was that data wasn't unlimited on Wifi, only voice, and I created the improper assumption that it used GMRS/EDGE. Thanks for correcting me. | |
greendragon
Premium
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN
1 edit | Ok, so is Data limited when using wifi? (I would think not) or is it just when using the cell network? Does this work from any wifi spot or does it have to have a connection to T-Mobile somehow?
This is actually sounding pretty cool.
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03 | That I have no idea, and I don't know what T-mobile says about it, either. I only knew that data worked on wifi because like I said, I had absolutely no cell service at my house (from any carrier), and I could still use it. | |
hammer_md
join:2004-05-07
Barrington, IL | data (sms, web, etc.) works over wifi and is pretty darn fast, but standard pricing applies. | |
datahead
@comcast.net
| reply to PolarBear
Data works over the wifi, but you are charged standard rates.
To clarify some other areas of confusion, the $19.99 unlimited calling plan is optional. If you just want to get better coverage in your house without paying anything extra, you can just use the UMA phones for wifi calling. As some have mentioned before, any minutes you use this way will just count as regular minutes off your plan. | |
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