If that Hotspot@Home service from T-Mobile is what you’re hankerin’ for, you can sign up today. This is the combination GSM / WiFi service that lets you save your cellular minutes by seamlessly switching a cell call to a WiFi network. Michael Gartenberg has tested it for a few weeks and thanks to the WiFi aspect has been able to use his cell phone in places where he previously didn’t have a good signal. That’s the promising part: the not-so-hot part is the choice of phones. You can have any phone you like so long as you like the Samsung T409 or the Nokia 6086, both of which have that great retro-2002 look.
Phone choices aside: if you have good WiFi coverage at home, in your local town or at a nearby Starbucks (the phone will work there as part of the plan), this $10 monthly add-on can really stretch those more costly cellular minutes. T-Mo provides a re-badged D-Link router which is optimized for voice packets, but the use of that router is simply a recommendation not a requirement. With a little know-how, you should be able to configure your own router for voice packet priority.
Comments have been disabled for this post