I’ve had the Tmobile@Home service for about a month now. Although I’ve written a few posts on the subject, the first one I wrote has grown to be quite popular on the internet, I suppose because T-Mobile themselves linked to it via thier Tmobile@home service’s “Press Page” a while back, but also because a lot of great readers have offered up their experiences and asked great questions via the comments section of this single post! On behalf of all of the readers of this blog, thank you to all those who have contributed via a comment or question.
Over the past month I’ve received lots of questions, some repeatedly, about the Tmobile@Home service. I figured it would be best to just put them together into a Frequently Asked Questions about Tmobile@Home service post. Tmobile hasn’t done the greatest job of answering questions on their site, based on the questions/feedback I’ve gotten from folks. So, here’s my attempt.
Frequently Asked Questions About the TMobile@Home Service
- Do you have to get a separate SIM card for the Tmobile@Home service?
Yes. Tmobile isses you a separate SIM card. The Linksys router (that you *must* purchase to get the service) has a slot in it for 2 SIM cards, as the router can handle 2 separate phone lines. I only use one, hence I have the one SIM card in there. The Tmobile rep installed it for me at the store, however I took a look at it after I got it home.
- What has been your experience with the @home service so far?
Generally, excellent. Actually, let me be more specific – I’ve had the service for about one month now. I myself am NOT a big phone guy. I’m a geek. I prefer email whenever possible. I have experienced only one issue with the TMobile@Home service – while speaking with my wife this morning on the phone (I called her from work), all of a sudden after a minute or two of talking, I couldn’t hear her. She could, however, hear me, as I found out when I eventually hung up and called her back. My wife uses the phone like 20 times a day. She loves talking on the phone. And she has one of those mother’s who call 4 times a day for no good reason, just to chat and to “just seein what you’re up to!” During the month of use my wife has reported that she did have 2 dropped calls (in addition to the one today that I was on with her). The second one was with a cell phone user who was driving, so she thinks it was on the other person’s end and not the @home service.I had a conference call using the phone with a client. I do freelance web development (need a website? Anything web? Help me out and hire me : ) I often use a service called Adobe Connect, which allows me to share my computer screen with others in a virtual meeting room. During these calls, even though Adobe Connect has a VOIP feature, I always use a regular phone/conference call to communicate audibly. I have done 2 such conference calls in the past month with clients, lasting over 2 hours each, in which I’ve been sharing my PC’s desktop through the Connect service to the other participant’s computer, and all the while blabbing away on the phone (via speakerphone). The @home service has worked flawlessly during these calls. And the VTECH phone’s speakerphone feature is excellent.
Now, is the service perfect? No. It was the first 2 weeks we had it. But like I said, my wife has now reported 2 dropped calls, I experienced one. That number may or may not be satisfactory to you. I look at it this way – we each have cell phones if an emergency arised. Your mileage may vary.
- Do you work for Tmobile? Are you getting paid by Tmobile? Are you a Tmobile Fanboy?
I jumped on the mobile phone bandwagon quite late in life. Even though I’m a HUGE technology junkie, I didn’t get a mobile phone until February of 2007. Well, I take that back – I originally did get an AT&T cell phone back in 1999. After a week or two of static, dropped calls, and no cell coverage no matter where I went, I returned the phones (my wife’s too as she had the same complaints) to the Circuit City we purchased them from. It took almost 8 years later to try again. The Tmobile cell phones have worked flawlessly wherever I’ve been (I travel for work on occasion), with good reception. No complaints. Would I change carriers if I got a better/cheaper rate from someone else? If it was cheaper I would certainly look into it. I have loyalty to no company. As they have none to me. But unless it was significantly cheaper I wouldn’t change. So…after all that…no, I don’t think I’m a fanboy and I can definitely tell you I am NOT getting paid by Tmobile or anyone for writing these blog posts. I wish I could. If you work for Tmobile and are willing to bribe me, there is a PayPal donation button at the bottom of all my posts! : )
- If you’re not a Tmobile fanboy or employee or agent, then why are you bothering writing these posts?
A few reasions:- When I first looked into buying the @home service there was literally no good info on the web. To this day there still isn’t, other than the comments/discussion that my posts have generated.
- I believe in giving back to the web community. I make a lot of purchases based on user reviews, blog recommendations, etc. So why not give back in some way?
- I *do* make a little money (maybe a dollar a day, but usually less) from the number of times that people click on the ad links I have included in the posts/on my site. It helps defray my hosting costs. It doesn’t make me any money though. I wish it did, and I will be looking into how to try to make some more money that way. If I did, I would write more, so everyone would win.
- On occasion, if people have emailed me directly asking questions about the service, I *have* asked them to include me as a referrer when they purchase the Tmobile@Home service. When this happens, I get a $25 credit on my TMobile bill. I only ask people to do this after they have told me they are definitely going to go and purchase the service. I do not push people or beg. I have a *little* dignity.
- Do you need to have a Tmobile wireless account to get the @Home service?
Yes. You can’t get the @home service unless you have a Tmobile mobile phone plan already, and there are further restrictions – has to be $39.95 or more a month for a single line, or $49.95 or more per month if on a family plan. Incidentally, I have a family plan for my wife and I (so 2 phones), with 1000 anytime minutes. I pay $49.95 per month (~$60 total with taxes), plus of course now the $10 for the TMobile@Home service.
- Will my mobile phone automatically use the @Home service when in range/in my house?
No. This is unfortunately something that I’m hearing that TMobile reps are telling people, and it just isn’t true. You need to purchase the separate HotSpot service to get automatic VOIP switching. I do not have it, nor see any need for it, so I can’t offer any review/guidance on the HotSpot service.
- What do you think of the Linksys router that Tmobile sells?
It’s of very high quallity. It looks cool (for what that’s worth!). I’ve had LinkSys products in the past and they were great routers. I’ve had other brand routers that were terrible. The wifi coverage is good on the LinkSys and my wife’s Ubuntu linux laptop that I set up for her seems to connect almost instantaneously to the LinkSys router. It was fine but slower in connecting to the D-Link I had previously. But I have one major gripe/disappointment with the LinkSys router – why are manufacturers still making/selling 802.11g routers? Shouldn’t it be an 802.11n router? I had to downgrade from my D-Link Wireless N to to the Tmobile/Linksys Wireless G router, which I didn’t like having to do. Not a huge deal for me though.
- What do you think of the VTECH Dect 6.0 phones that TMobile sells?
I like them – the sound quality is awesome, and the speakerphone feature works fabulous. The reason I bought the base/phone set from TMobile when I purchased the @Home service was because it included a flashing voicemail button feature, which works great. It *does* take a few minutes after someone leaves a voicemail for it to start flashing though, which sucks. Also, the phones themselves are pretty light and feel like they could break if dropped too much. I have two young kids, a 3 year old and a 4 year old, so I assure you within the next few months I’ll find out how durable the phones are. I have since purchased an extra handset phone of the same model# directly from VTECH, since, in Tmobile’s infinite wisdom, they currently won’t sell you an extra handset! And as of a month ago the only place to buy an extra handset was direct from VTECH. Fortunately, shipping was quite fast.All that said….would I buy the phones again? No. Because from reader reports, any DECT 6.0 phone with a voicemail indicator seems to work with the @home router, and you can get better deals by buying the phone plus extra handsets all at once instead of buying the base/handset combo from TMobile and then buying extra handsets directly from the manufacturer. I posted a review of the VTECH phones here.
- Do I have to buy new phones to use the @home service?
No. In fact, numerous readers report/confirm that you don’t have to use a wireless phone at all! You can route the line from the Linksys router back into your phone jack and it’ll feed the rest of the phones in your house connected the internal phone jacks of your home. That’s pretty cool. I haven’t tried it myself though, and my house is fairly small and I’ve already purchased the VTECH phones so no need for me to try. Read the user comments on the posts and you’ll learn how this is all done.
- Does T-Mobile provide the DSL service? (faq contributed by B Woodman – thanks!)
No. T-Mobile only provides mobile phone service (which you must have or else you can’t get the @home service), the Tmobile HotSpot@Home service, and the @Home service. No DSL or broadband. If you have DSL currently then odds are you also have a landline phone through the same provider who is providing your DSL service. If so, then you need to figure out your strategy BEFORE committing to the T-Mobile@Home service. You MUST have broadband internet service in order to use T-Mobile@Home, and in some places I’m told that if you cancel your DSL then you also lose your phone. In my area, Verizon switched me automatically to “Dry Loop DSL” (basically DSL without the phone service) automatically once I ported my landline phone # to the @Home phone. But the price went up $12 per month for the DSL. I wrote a post about this here.
- When T-Mobile says $10/month “plus taxes & fees”, how much are those add-ons? Or, in other words, what is your total monthly bill? (faq contributed by B Woodman – thanks!)
I haven’t gotten my first bill yet. But I’m confident it won’t be more than a dollar or two tax on the $10 @Home service. Considering I was paying >$60 per month for my landline, I’ll take it!
If you don’t want to go with the VTECH phone, check out the other DECT 6.0 phones that Amazon.com sells.
Well, that’s all for now. I’ll continue to update this as questions come up and I find/have answers. If you have anything you think I should add please leave a comment.
27 Comments
Mark,
Another Q & A to add to your FAQ.
1) Does T-Mobile provide the DSL service? Or do I have to continue buying it from my local telephone company (Qworst in this case)? I haven’t seen anything on this particular aspect of it.
2) When T-Mobile says $10/month “plus taxes & fees”, how much are those add-ons? Or, in other words, what is your total monthly bill?
Thanks,
B Woodman
As a follow up to your comment above about downgrading from your D-Link router, have you noticed any reduction in overall speed i.e. accessing the Internet or transferring files? (I currently have a 108Mbps rated Netgear router so I’m concerned about ‘downgrading’ to the 54Mbps rated Linksys.)
Graeme,
No – no speed reduction whatsoever. I don’t use the wireless but my wife uses it constantly, and it actually feels somewhat faster on her laptop but I doubt it. Then again, her laptop runs Ubuntu Linux and not Windows, and linux has a hard time with Wireless N so it always was in G mode anyway.
mark
Thanks for FAQ. I am looking at TMobile@Home and you help answer a few questions.
Marc
OK—– One question answered, another one asked…..
Do you have to use TWO routers/modems/etc? One from your DSL provider (Verizon in your case, Qworst in mine), and the second for the T-Mobile VOIP? Or does the T-Mobile VOIP router handle both functions?
Being an electronic tech (and fellow geek), I hope that there are people at the T-Mobile offices (where I will eventually go to sign up for service – and yes, I will mention your name. You’re welcome. What other info of you do I need? You can respond privately to my email) who are technically minded enough to provide me with a wiring diagram or two. If they’re not up to it (sales dummies!) is there anywhere else I can go to find a diagram for a typical setup?
Thanks
B Woodman
Ok, just tried the approach supposedly allowing use of phone jacks in the house (i.e. plugging a phone line directly from line one in the router to phone jack)….no go. SO, I conclude you must have a wireless base plus a sufficient number of extra handsets to cover your needs. If you need more than 6, I think you are out of luck as I have not seen any wireless set that can support more than that.
If I travel out the country, can I bring with me my router and connect to a broadband internet and make a call back to US free
I have no way of confirming this, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t work. The internet is the internet, and the SIM card in the router is the key to the service so I would think it would. Perhaps someone who reads this and has tried it can verify?
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Hey thanks for the great posts on the @Home service. I have taken the plunge and now have it installed. I am waiting for a port of my old home number to @Home, but TMob has given me a temporary phone number so I can test things out.
Now, I am configured with a Verizon FiOS and the router they provide coming from the fiber –> coax –> VZ router. I then have the VZ router –> TMob @Home Linksys router –> computer. The problem is, I would like to have the @Home router on another floor, away from the VZ router (because that’s where my answering machine is and it is the base for my wireless phone system). Any thoughts, anyone? (The cheapest solution I could find was a Linksys wireless bridge WET54G down by the answering machine, but it’s $80-90.)
Hi Jason,
My situation was similar. My router and phone base are on my computer desk, which is down in my basement/family room. I wound up taking the easy way out and just buying the DECT6 VTECH phone set from Tmobile, and also buying a 3rd handset directly from VTECH. Whenever a voicemail is received the ‘VOICEMAIL’ button on all of the handsets lights up so no matter where I am in the house I know I have a voicemail. So there’s not really any disadvantage to not having the base on a main floor.
mark
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I am 1 day into this service. Had a problem dailing out around 4pm. Called T-Mobile and everything went excellant!!!!!! They just had to update the SIM card.
Not sure what happened but it works now. I do have a question about my Answer Machine. It works fine but is take a while for my phone to hang up after the message is left. Any Ideas on a fix?
Answer Machine? You mean a real answering machine? I didn’t think those would work at all. Even if they do, why? T-Mobile provides voicemail service as part of the @home service. You should just use that.
There *can* be a delay (though I’m finding that since the firmware upgrade the wait time is gone) between the time a voicemail is left and the time the phone’s ‘voicemail’ indicator will flash.
mark
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Yes, I am talking about the Home answering machine not the Tmobile. The T-mobile one will not work due to the type of fax machine I have. Although I can’t use the fax it is conected to 3 cordless phone 2.4 ( They work perfectly) and I have 3 more Uniden 2.4 conected though the faxes aux plug.
I have a question….
Can your home phone number and your cell phone number be the same with TMobile @ Home. Like can I have a Blackberry as my cell phone and get calls and emails on it and then also use that as my landline? I really want my cell phone and my landline to be the same phone number. How can I do this? Do you know?
Tammy,
I do not believe you can have them be the same number. I’ve never verified that with T-Mobile, so you should give them a call to verify, but I’d be shocked if you could get the same number for both.
In my situation, when I signed up for the service I was given a temporary number for my @Home service (separate from the mobile numbers) until my landline number was ported over.
I suppose you could look into call forwarding. I admittedly don’t use any of the features included with @Home other than the voicemail. I’m not sure if call-forwarding is included but if it is then you could have everything funneled to your cell.
mark
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If i am using the internet will i still be able to send/receve calls from my house phone with T-Modile@home
SAM,
Yes, there is no degradation in quality of the phone service whenever the internet is being accessed at the same time as the phone is being used. For example, I’ve run large online conference calls, with video being streamed from my machine through the internet to clients, while at the same time my wife on her laptop upstairs checking email, etc., and all the while I’m using the telephone for the audio portion of the online meeting/conference. Works perfectly.
If you couldn’t use the telephone and the internet at the same, this service would be useless.
mark
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Mark,
Thanks for all of the info. I’m looking to make the jump over to T-Mo and wanted to get your info for the referral fee.
T-Mobile Hotspot is a complete rippoff! They designed their month to month unlimited service to make it easy for T-Mobile to fraudulently bill you on a continuous basis after you have terminated the account. Unfortunately, even when you inform them that they are to cancel and not resume beyond the month, it falls upon deaf ears and they continue to bill you. If you have it on a bank card, the crooks at T-Mobile think they have it made because the bank automatically pays the charges. In fact, T-Mobile will keep billing your bank card and this nonsense is very hard to stop. There ought to be a law prohibiting such unethical billing schemes. If someone wants to have repeated periodic billing, it should have to be affirmatively requested, and not be the default. It is far too convenient for T-Mobile to say, we didn’t know you canceled and continue to rip you off. ie: steal your money; bill for services not rendered; bill you for services never utilized; bill for services never requested; bill for services never authorized. As it stands right now they have charged me for over $200.00 in services I never received. Since I overlooked the charges in my statement until this month when the automated larceny hit it has over drafted my account for over $100.00 plus another $70.00 in overdraft charges. This is 100% felony fraud!
Vasaya,
This blog is about T-Mobile@Home, not the Hotspot service.
That said, in case you are confused further – the @Home service requires a 2-year commitment. So unless you get out of your contract with them (and I do know of one fellow who was able to do it by simply showing that the service wasn’t working with his personal routing equipment), then you get charged $10 a month and it appears as an additional charge on your regular mobile phone bill. And you can’t choose to pay it in a different way from your regular mobile phone bill (ie, you can’t charge your mobile phone to your credit card and the @Home service to your ‘bank card’).
Automatic electronic payment has to be authorized by you in advance. They can’t do it unless you provide them the info and permission.
If you cancelled you should have had a confirmation number or known if they were continuing to bill you as soon as the next bill came.
I hate to play t-mobile support rep, cus I’m not and could care less, but your whole comment sounds awfully fishy and doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t want others to get the wrong impression….
mark
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Mark,
I have some additional information to add to FAQ #5 that I just got from a T-Mobile National Account Rep. That is, if you’re on a family plan the @Home line(s) count toward the maximum allowance of five lines. For example, if you currently have four mobile lines on your family plan you can only add one @Home line; if you have three mobile lines you can add two @Home lines.
Follow up comments on line item #6. I have both the @Home (landline type) and the Hotspot @Home services ( to use with your cell ). In my case, the Blackberry 8320 will connect to the @Home router when my blackberry comes within range. So as long as you have a T-Mobile cell phone that has the “@Home” feature, then this is not a problem. Also, it is not necessary to purchase the Hotspot @Home $9.99 plan for your *cell phone* unless your looking to get unlimited “Mobile Phone” calling (to USA only) over your home Wifi or any Wifi where you can gain access. The main benefit of this feature without adding on the plan would be to improve the mobile signal within your house, office, or anywhere signal is a problem and Wifi is available. It’s like having your own personal cell tower in your home. Hope this helps.
I just got the @Home service a few days ago, and I’m thrilled about the cost, even though I had to bump up my minutes plan from $29.99 to $39.99/month to qualify. Couple of questions, though:
1. After I fulfill the contract duration commitment, will I be able to reduce my minutes plan back to the $29.99 level, without giving up the @Home service?
2. Has anybody figured out how to hook up a Dishnetwork TV receiver? Tmobile told me I had to switch receivers (for an ethernet-enabled one).
Thanks for the blog!
Ray,
In regards to question #1:
I have no idea, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on being able to downgrade back to the $29.99 plan and keep the @Home service.
Great article. Bookmarked!
Hello!
What are the terms of the T Mobile @home contract?
When I signed up, it was a 2 year contract and I remember the early termination fees (ETF) to be on a sliding scale.
I am not sure of the exact numbers, but it was something like, if you cancel within the first year, ETF is $200; cancel between 13 months to 18 months, ETF is $100; cancel between 18 months to 24 months, ETF is $50.
I have moved recently and cannot find my contract to confirm the above.
My cell phone contract is over, and wanted to buy out the remainder of my @home contract, but T-Mobile customer service keeps insisting the ETF is $200 irrespective of when I cancel during the 2 year period.
Can someone help by posting the contract terms.
Thanks in advance!
I know it is a year since the last post on here, however I was seeing if anyone knew if you cancel your wireless number accounts from tmobile, and then the @home stand alone on the bill, or do you have to terminate that contract as well. This sort of goes with the #5 thing. We had the accounts and signed the @home contract, now we are going to switch to AT&T but dont want to pay the $200 and would rather pay the $10 for 7 months or so left, but I dont know since you needed a contract originally if it would be required after the fact. Thanks.