A reader (thanks John!) was kind enough to send me a link to an article proclaiming that T-Mobile is going to stop selling the @Home service.
The article reads like it’s a done deal, and sure enough it is. Further research confirms that T-Mobile is stopping sales of the @Home service once the inventory of equipment runs out. I’d hate to be that guy that buys it now. T-Mobile claims they will continue to offer the service to existing customers.
My advice (for what it’s worth)
If you already have the service…then start looking for another service and/or consider using your mobile phones 100% and dropping landline altogether. That said, if you are not experiencing any problems with your @Home service then you should be fine keeping it. But make no mistake – they will eventually shut the service down. They, like many other companies, are striving to put out a femtocell product/service onto the market. I knew this up-front (not about the femtocell technology but about the short-lived nature of VOIP in general). I just figured it’d be 4 or 5 years. I was wrong.
T-Mobile *is* still selling new @Home subscriptions. But claim they are no longer putting any money into it. So if you’re happy with the service, then I suggest sticking with it until a better deal/technology comes along, or until T-Mobile forces you off it, or if the service starts getting flakey. But have an exit strategy in mind now…
If you do not have the service…then I wouldn’t buy it. Look for alternatives. If you have Verizon FIOS, I hear the phone service is very good. I’ve had FIOS TV and Internet for about 5 months and, while I feel the TV service is sub-par compared to Comcast’s, the internet is awesome.
As for me…About 6 months ago I moved to a new “dream home” that, unfortunately, has turned out to be a nightmare (well, not that bad – the house itself is fine, but the neighborhood is just not to my wife’s tastes). So my place is up for sale (please, hold the condolences!). Our plan is to move back to our previous neighborhood and if they have FIOS service there (they didn’t 6 months ago) then I’ll look into adding the phone service. But I will first seriously consider just dropping landline service completely. No need for it anymore.
For those of you who need a landline because you’re still sticking to those old fax machines, good luck!
If, like me, you’ve had the service for a while (I’ve had it since June 2008), then we can at least rejoice in how much we’ve saved. I used to pay about $45 per month solely for basic home landline service. So, $45 * ~19 months = $855. Deduct the cost of the new DECT 6.0 phones ($99 – I went deluxe!) and router ($50) and it’s still a substantial savings. And that is as of today. I expect to probably have my service at least until the contract runs out in June.
If anyone tries getting out of their contract with T-Mobile early, I’d like to hear what happens (i.e., do they let you out or are you stuck paying the early termination fee). Please let us know if you give them a call.
Some additional links announcing T-Mobile@Home’s demise:
http://voip-phone-systems.tmcnet.com/topics/voip-phone-systems/articles/72203-t-mobiles-monthly-home-phone-service-bites-dust.htm
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/12/11/t-mobile-discontinuing-home-landline-service/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBoyGeniusReport+%28Boy+Genius+Report%29
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/01/07/t-mobile-to-discontinue-home-service/
3 Comments
Mark,
Thanks for the shout out and the sound advice. I just finished speaking with T-Mobile about their plans and they claim they will maintain their existing @Home customer base indefinitely, but will stop selling the equipment and accepting new customers the end of January.
When pressed on what happens then if the router fails she said I could have it repaired through Linksys. So I would have to call BS on her statement about it being continued indefinitely. To further ensure I asked if I could obtain another two year contract in July when my contract expires and she said “no, not a contract but you could go like month to month.”
Therefore I think it is safe to say the service will likely be discontinued by years end or so.
Thanks for your valuable information on this product from it’s beginning. Good luck with the move I am sorry the “dream house” didn’t work out. As with goals, we never stop having dreams so move on, move up, stay healthy and happy.
John
ok i know this maybe off topic, but i have a simple question.
can i use a tmobile SIM card from my cell phone on a tmobile router. I do not have @home service but am looking to order it. But for now want to try the SIM from my cell phone on the router.
Will it deduct the minutes from my cell phone package, i have a family plan, or will it charge me separate per minute. thanks
Wow – I accidentally ran into this post. I was planning on canceling anyway at the end of November when my 2yrs are up. Wish I could cancel earlier – don’t really need it anymore. Had a lot of problems the first six months we had it, but none since.