T-Mobile Adds More Cell/Wi-Fi Phones

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 7/7/2008

BELLEVUE, WASH. — T-Mobile USA's selection of Wi-Fi-enabled cellphones compatible with its HotSpot@Home Internet phone service grew to eight models with the addition of the Nokia 6301 and Samsung SGH-t339.

The Nokia 6301 and Samsung t339 became available at select T-Mobile-owned retail stores and online at www.t-mobile.com at $79 and $49, respectively, with two-year subscription and a qualifying rate plan.

The HotSpot@Home service, launched nationally a year ago with only two phones, lets owners of the cellular/Wi-Fi phones place unlimited Wi-Fi calls through T-Mobile's public Wi-Fi hot spots and through home Wi-Fi routers optimized for the service. The phones are designed to take traffic off congested cellular networks and encourage people to use their cellphone as their primary home phone without using up cellphone minutes and without suffering from poor in-home cellular coverage. Calls are handed off from the Internet to the cellular network when the subscriber roams out of cellular coverage. Unlimited Wi-Fi calling costs $10/month on top of a cellular voice plan.