Mobility Watch

After some sporadic test marketing, T-Mobile’s UMA service, known as T-Mobile @Home is being rolled out in T-Mobile’s Seattle area stores.

UMA stands for Universal Mobile Access.  What it is, is a hybrid wireless service combining cellular and WiFi.  When you’re running around you access the cellular network, but when you’re at home, or near a T-Mobile WiFi Hotspot, your phone will go WiFi and save you some minutes.  And probably get you a clearer signal.

Yes, you need special handsets - like the Nokia 6136 or the Samsung T709.  T-Mobile is selling each for $50 with a 2 year deal.  The @Home service is an extra $20 a month for unlimited WiFi calling, on top of whatever cellular minutes you have in your T-Mobile plan.

It’s logical first step for T-Mo, since it has all those Hotspots in all those Starbucks locations in Seattle.  Whether this new offering lives up to the title of its website, http://www.theonlyphoneyouneed.com/, remains to be seen.

[via New York Times, Phone Scoop]

For years cellular industry watchers have loved to speculate about what’s up with T-Mobile.  When competitor Sprint merged with Nextel and Cingular swallowed up AT&T Wireless, some thought T-Mobile would be next - that its parent company Deutsche Telecom wasn’t willing to make the investments necessary to compete with Verizon Wireless, Cingular and Sprint Nextel.

No one’s saying that now - especially after T-Mobile put up $4.2 billion in FCC auctions last month for new bandwidth.

T-Mobile is busy making more headlines, laying out plans for a long term future in the U.S. marketplace.  Start with myFaves - T-Mobile’s new collection of calling plans, that give you unlimited nationwide calling to your “five favorite people”, no matter what cellular network or landline provider they use. There’s lots of fine print, including no unlimited calls to 800 or 900 numbers; and you have to have a handset that’s designed to be enabled for the program. 

Now it’s reported by sources close to T-Mobile that the company will announce Friday its plans for UMTS service.  T-Mobile will take its new frequency space bought at the FCC auctions to activate phones capable of super-high-speed data (we’re talking DSL speeds).  But the rollout will probably take a year and a half to complete.

And there are new handsets coming - like the HTC Excalibur (pictured), another would-be Motorola Q-killer, which is rumored to be rolling out on T-Mobile October 10.  And there are the rumors about a nationwide rollout of the UMA (mobile/WiFi) service T-Mobile has been testing in very limited markets.

Will it be enough to make us forget about T-Mobile dumping Catherine Zeta-Jones as its official spokesbabe?  We’ll see.

T-Mobile USA has kicked off a unique beta test, using phones that are half cellular, half WiFi.  The so-called UMA service is being tried by handfuls of customers in Oregon and Washington state.  Here’s how it works:  The T-Mobile volunteers receive Samsung T709 WiFi/GSM cellular phones, and broadband routers.  When customers come home, they use their cell phones to place calls but the calls are routed via a WiFi connection.  Instead of paying a per minute charge for the WiFi calls, T-Mobile charges a flat rate (reportedly $5 a month) for unlimited WiFi calling.

A few of these beta-test customers have told Engadget that the service works either very well, or not very well, depending on whom you ask.  Some say it’s reliable and a big improvement in coverage; others say there are frequent dropped calls, when transitioning from cellular to a WiFi connection.    

What’s in this for T-Mobile?  This technology extends voice call coverage without having to put up new cellular towers (T-Mobile’s wireless coverage is arguably not the strongest) and may entice people who have been looking to drop their wireline service to switch to T-Mobile.  Business customers would love it, too - having their employees who run up wireless minutes while at the office be able to make those calls via WiFi.  

Offloading some cellular calls to the Internet also creates more room in the airwaves for wireless customers - again, without T-Mobile having to invest in more cell towers and bandwidth. 

Reports indicate this service could be rolled out nationwide as early as this fall; but a lot may depend on how these beta tests turn out.

[via Phone Scoop, Engadget, Business Week]