Mobile Carrier Brings VoIP Home For Its Customers

The number of Americans who have a landline phone in their home keeps decreasing - mostly due to cell phones now being made available free for those living below the poverty line, and the up and coming generation that depends on mobile service exclusively.

Even many traditional landlines are no longer 'traditional' - many homes tap into their home's existing wiring but route calls out through their IP - using the internet to send and receive calls with their regular handsets. With VoIP service becoming a common 'bundled feature' provided by cable television and internet service providers, a large number of homes now actually have their phone service through broadband.

For those diehards who still maintain POTS (plain old telephone service), however, the high cost is starting to wear thin. In response, mobile phone carriers are stepping up to the plate with incentives for those who already have mobile service to leave POTS behind.

T-Mobile is one such company, offering home VoIP service as an add-on to existing mobile plans, at the staggeringly low rate of $10 a month. This move essentially demotes landline service to the status of an afterthought - perfect for those who are attached by umbilical to their mobile, but wouldn't mind having the convenience of a 'regular phone' at their home.

The $10 plan is available to be added to any existing cellular plan with T-Mobile, and covers unlimited calling in the US and Canada. Similar VoIP service from competitors Vonage and AT&T come in around $25 a month, making the T-Mobile plan the best priced VoIP for home service, if exclusive to T-Mobile customers.

The service does require a broadband internet connection and a T-Mobile @Home HiPort Wireless Router with Home Phone Connection, which is offered by the company for $50 with a two-year service agreement. (2 years service plus router: $290; compared to traditional phone service averaging $60 a month for unlimited calling in the US and Canada, the savings per customer is nearly $600 a year.)

Barely 9% of Americans still have landline only service, and only 79% maintain a landline at all, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive. 15% already use VoIP as a landline alternative. In contrast, 89% of adults now own a cell phone, and 14% use a cell exclusively, up from only 11% in 2006. With the advances being made with mobile VoIP options, plans like the one T-Mobile offers may become much more popular.

Saiju is a VoIP and business software expert specializing in business phone service and hosted IP PBX solutions.