Confirmation that T-Mobile HotSpot @Home can be used OVERSEAS?

[chokaay]

I've read A LOT of stuff on T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home service/feature on many forums, websites, and news articles. However, I still have 1 question that no one has been able to "confirm" 100% for me yet:


Can anyone confirm that T-Mobile HotSpot @Home CAN be used in foreign countries, WITHOUT roaming or other fees? (Basically, will it use ONLY your Anytime Minutes... assuming you DON'T pay an extra $9.99-$19.99/mo?)


If so, this could be used to significantly cut down on international roaming AND be much more convenient. Thanks in advance!

[redwildebeast]

from what i hear you will get charged because they can track the IP address and know where the call originated from. dont quote me but thats what i hear.

[chokaay]

Originally Posted by redwildebeast

from what i hear you will get charged because they can track the IP address and know where the call originated from. dont quote me but thats what i hear.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm... what if you pay $9.99/mo (or $19.99/mo for family plans) for unlimited WiFi talking? Would you still be charged then? (Hopefully not... because I'd GLADLY pay $19.99/mo extra for this option! )

Does anyone KNOW with 100% certainty? Or can anyone find out what the 100% certain answer is?

[chokaay]

OK, after asking 3 T-mobile Sales Reps, reviewing a printout of T-Mobiles @Home FAQ's sent out on 7/13/07, plus reading another poster's experience in Costa Rica, all of the above confirmed that:

YES! THE USE OF @HOME (WiFi/UMA calls) IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES WILL NOT BE BILLED AS INTERNATIONAL ROAMING!

It will be as if the call originated in the U.S.A., so NO MATTER WHERE IN THE WORLD YOU ARE, ALL CALLS TO THE U.S.A. WILL NOT BE ROAMING! ALL YOU NEED IS A T-MOBILE BRANDED @HOME CELL PHONE which will use your existing Unlimited N&W (if applicable), Unlimited M2M (if applicable), or Anytime Minutes (during peak times in the U.S.). If you want UNLIMITED @HOME calling to the U.S., then you can pay $9.99/mo or $19.99/mo for the @Home Add-On.

I AM SO HAPPY!!!



EDIT: T-MOBILE, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU HAVE GOT TO PUBLICALLY ADVERTISE THIS "FEATURE"! By counting @Home calls as U.S.-based calls (regardless whether or not customers have the add-on), you:

1) CAN EASILY GAIN ALL THE CELLULAR CORPORATE ACCOUNTS OF EVERY INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS! AT&T, Verizon, Sprint can't even TOUCH this deal with what they have now! All of them charge $1.99-$2.99/min to roam overseas (which is about what T-Mobile charges too), but with @Home, T-Mobile can now boast that INTERNATIONAL TRAVELERS CAN CALL THE HEAD OFFICE, HOME, OR ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.A. FOR FREE* (*regular airtime charges may apply)!

2) THERE IS NO ADDITIONAL COST FOR T-MOBILE! Aside from additional advertising costs, this costs T-Mobile ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! In fact, it actually SAVES T-MOBILE MONEY because now T-Mobile isn't being charged by foreign carriers for phone calls, angry and frustrated customers won't call into T-Mobile complaining to Customer Care how come their bill is so high, etc.

3) T-MOBILE'S REPUTATION AS AN INADEQUATE BUSINESS CARRIER WILL BE EXPUNGED (at least partially)! If businesses had a choice of letting their employees call from foreign countries and rack up huge international roaming charges 100% or the time (like for Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint), OR letting their employees call from foreign countries using @Home part of the time... maybe 70%-30% of the time, and then use traditional GSM in places with no WiFi/UMA signal/network available... maybe 30%-70% of the time, which would you think they would choose? (This is especially true if the company has foreign offices with their own WiFi networks that U.S. employees must visit often, like mine!) I think you get my point...

[GoodLuckBear]

Originally Posted by chokaay

OK, after asking 3 T-mobile Sales Reps, reviewing a printout of T-Mobiles @Home FAQ's sent out on 7/13/07, plus reading another poster's experience in Costa Rica, all of the above confirmed that:

YES! THE USE OF @HOME (WiFi/UMA calls) IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES WILL NOT BE BILLED AS INTERNATIONAL ROAMING!

There's lots of reasons they aren't advertising it, like diluting the messaging and confusing customers when trying to explain just how the the product works in the US.

Then there's the fact that like another poster mentioned, they can in fact tell that you're not calling from the U.S., which means that at some point they may need to start billing for it. It's not "free" there's still a lot of customer care, engineering, and IT support that goes into making calling in the US and international work.

Plus, you have pretty restricted range, since you're limited to the Wi-Fi router you start the call on, otherwise your call drops. There's no way for the call to transition to a roaming partner.

[sbhagat786]

I have used the Nokia 6086 on wifi signal in India for more than 20 ocassions and over 500 minutes Without any problems. The minutes used are through are shown as wifi minutes and there is no charge for it. You have to make sure that it connected to the home sid with the special pink colored radio signal buttons, and not the signal with bars. The sound quality is great. Only trade off is that it is not 100% reliable - there are ocassions when you get the network error.

[greenblood]

too bad currently NO WM phones support UMA/GAN, or any application for it
if not, SE X1 will add a new value on it...

[A_pheonix_boy]

hmmm i may be very lost in all this mess, but is WiFi @ Home the same as VoIp? Im very lost, excuse me for the tardiness.

[Mystictrust]

Originally Posted by A_pheonix_boy

hmmm i may be very lost in all this mess, but is WiFi @ Home the same as VoIp? Im very lost, excuse me for the tardiness.

In a way, yes. It goes through the internet to the closest UMA node and emerges at the nearest cell tower... so also in a way no. It counts as a regular cell phone call, so for all intents and purposes... T-Mobile really can't tell if you're using the phone overseas. All they see is your signal in some city in the US. I mean, well okay they know it was initiated through WiFi but that's about it, they don't know where from.

Someone may need to page our CTL rep to see if he has a better answer

[nodnarb1974]

I'm going to Mexico in June and so I talked to T-mo about this. The rep suggested that I turn off the Mobile network and just have the Wifi on so that it doesn't switch between the two. I think that I will call though and ask if a call starts on wifi and then switches if you get charged or if it's like the Hotspot@home service were as long as it starts on wifi it doesn't matter how long you talk.

I will post the answer once I talk to T-mobile.

Cheers