T-Mobile USA has recently be trialling a service known as “Hotspot at Home” in Seattle for a few months whereby cell phones that have Wi-Fi on board can roam seamlessly between Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular networks.
Looks like the T-Mobile trials were successful, because T-Mobile has decided to deploy the service across the entire United States starting in early to mid-June of this year. Who do you think will benefit most, businesses or consumers?
Before we answer that question, let’s take a quick look at the details.
When the service launches next month, it will be limited to only a handful of Nokia Corporation and Samsung Electronics handsets.
Customers will pay $20.00 USD above and beyond their existing plan fees and will then be able to use their home Wi-Fi network or any of T-Mobile’s 8,000 hotspots spread across the U.S. Subscribers will have to pay an additional $5 per month to add more lines to the service.
T-Mobile will allow people to use their existing Wi-Fi routers at home but is also going to offer a free (after rebate) router of its own that will improve device battery life, among other things.
The benefit here is that once phones switch to a Wi-Fi network for calls, they will no longer be using their monthly minutes.
In addition, the Wi-Fi hotspots can provide coverage in the home or office environment where typical cellular signals may be weak.
At first glance, the service seems to be aimed at consumers. I’d argue that businesses, however, will be the early adopters here.
Frank Hanzlik, managing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, told The Wall Street Journal that because people spend so much time in their offices, businesses and not consumers will represent the largest potential customer base.
I think that enterprises are going to drive this trend aggressively, that’s where the low hanging fruit is.
-Frank Hanzlik
Other carriers in the U.S., namely SprintNextel and AT&T (Cingular), have also conducted fixed-mobile convergence trials. Neither has announced any intent to offer the service nationwide.
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