By Sharla Sikes
T-Mobile, best known for its wireless service and Catherine Zeta-Jones as spokesperson, recently announced the nationwide availability of its $10 per month @Home service.
The @Home offer invites wireless customers to cancel their land line phone service and opt for T-Mobile’s wireless router. The installation carries a one-time $50 fee.
The monthly charge includes call waiting, caller ID, three-way conferencing, voicemail, and call forwarding. Subscribers will also be able opt into a number of traditionally wireless features, such as ringback tones.Â
T-Mobile acknowledges that there is yet a mistrust of eliminating a land line entirely, especially for families with young children, but aims to encourage customers to “cut the cord,” said the company, which is the U.S. wireless unit of Deutsche Telekom AG.
“We found that a lot of families don’t want to get rid of their home phone,” said Britt Wehrman, director of product development at T-Mobile.
Yet more and more phone customers are moving away from traditional phone services, which are taking a beating in the telecom market with VoIP services’ lower fees and wide range of features. Wehrman cites a figure of one in six U.S. customers have disconnected land line phone service, and hopes to capitalize on the trend’s growth.
“We’re happy to take advantage of that trend,” he said.
Available in the United States beginning July 2, @Home requires a two-year service contract, a touchtone phone and a broadband Internet connection, according to T-Mobile. @Home customers will be able to port their existing phone number into the new service. The telecom provider states the service may save consumers up to $50 per month.
The service was initially offered in Seattle and Dallas. After 97 percent of @Home subscribers reportedly dropped landline service, T-Mobile went ahead with its nationwide release.
“For years, the traditional landline companies have been great at consistently delivering one thing to their customers–a high monthly bill,” said the company’s president and CEO. Robert Dotson. “T-Mobile is now delivering the best priced home phone service in America for our existing and future customers. In addition, we are not only delivering the traditional features of a landline service, we are also including the innovative features consumers love in their more widely used mobile phones.”
I have been using the $30 a year Skype along with a couple of prepaid phones to get my monthly phone consumption under $40 a month. This gives me unlimited long distance from my computer.
I am suprised that the other Contract cell phone companies haven’t pushed hard to get users on Voip. The Voip and cell phone combination give you lots of options to get rid of your landline.