[Janak Parekh]

http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-100...rt=dtx&tag=ntop

"T-Mobile USA on Thursday took a preliminary step toward simplifying the mobile worker's life. The Bellevue, Wash.-based wireless phone company announced that customers can now consolidate charges for its HotSpot Wi-Fi service on their monthly cellular phone service bills. The company will do the same for subscribers using its new General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) cell phone network in the next few months, it announced. T-Mobile said customers can add a monthly $19.99 unlimited access Wi-Fi service to their monthly wireless bill. The charge is at a 50 percent discount over the company's regular HotSpot rate plans. The service also will continue as a stand-alone offering by subscription or on a pay-for-use basis."

What I don't understand in the article, though, is the bit about "doing the same for GPRS subscribers". My GPRS service is already aggregated onto my T-Mobile cellular bill, so what new thing is happening? Could they come up with an aggressive pricing plan that combines both HotSpot and GPRS? I'd probably go for it if that were the case.

[Janak Parekh]

http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-100...rt=dtx&tag=ntop

"T-Mobile USA on Thursday took a preliminary step toward simplifying the mobile worker's life. The Bellevue, Wash.-based wireless phone company announced that customers can now consolidate charges for its HotSpot Wi-Fi service on their monthly cellular phone service bills. The company will do the same for subscribers using its new General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) cell phone network in the next few months, it announced. T-Mobile said customers can add a monthly $19.99 unlimited access Wi-Fi service to their monthly wireless bill. The charge is at a 50 percent discount over the company's regular HotSpot rate plans. The service also will continue as a stand-alone offering by subscription or on a pay-for-use basis."

What I don't understand in the article, though, is the bit about "doing the same for GPRS subscribers". My GPRS service is already aggregated onto my T-Mobile cellular bill, so what new thing is happening? Could they come up with an aggressive pricing plan that combines both HotSpot and GPRS? I'd probably go for it if that were the case.

[Vincent M Ferrari]

Suddenly my employee plan is starting to look obsolete.

$40 month, 20 megs of data, 1,500 anytime minutes.

I'm beginning to think that consumer plans are going to pass me by soon. 8O

[jgrnt1]

I bundled mine a couple weeks ago. I've had T-Mobile as my cellular carrier for about a month. I switched from AT&T TDMA when T-Mobile became the first GSM carrier in the US to cover enough of the country to make it useful for me. I have 2500 anytime minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes and nationwide long distance for $99.99/month. Two weeks ago, I inquired about HotSpot service and whether I could have it on a combined bill (my company reimburses my cellular bill). They gave me the $19.99 plan. There are over 2300 HotSpots in the country -- almost all Starbucks have them, as well as many Borders Books and a bunch of airports. I've always stopped at Starbucks when I travel. Now I bring my laptop and PPC. I've even stopped outside in the parking lot to download email, in the afternoon when I already had my daily allotment of coffee.

[ricksfiona]

Originally Posted by jgrnt1

I bundled mine a couple weeks ago. I've had T-Mobile as my cellular carrier for about a month. I switched from AT&T TDMA when T-Mobile became the first GSM carrier in the US to cover enough of the country to make it useful for me. I have 2500 anytime minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes and nationwide long distance for $99.99/month. Two weeks ago, I inquired about HotSpot service and whether I could have it on a combined bill (my company reimburses my cellular bill). They gave me the $19.99 plan. There are over 2300 HotSpots in the country -- almost all Starbucks have them, as well as many Borders Books and a bunch of airports. I've always stopped at Starbucks when I travel. Now I bring my laptop and PPC. I've even stopped outside in the parking lot to download email, in the afternoon when I already had my daily allotment of coffee.

This is a great deal! I'm so there! I think $20 is very reasonable.

[bdegroodt]

All I can say is :clap: Signed up yesterday. A no brainer in my opinion.

[don dre]

If only they could put hot spots somewhere that served good coffee. I wish they would avoid these corporate chains and establish some sort of revenue sharing plans where smaller operators could get involved. It might just be that I live in a city and have greater choice in coffee and book options but I need more options ot make it useful. If I had to travel though, this would be the best of the plans versus the overpriced boingo. I don;t undertand these places, if I'm staying at a hotel I don't need wireless...it probably means I rented a room at which point I can use wired access. I like T-mobile though as it seems they are aggressively experimenting to see what works.

[bdegroodt]

Originally Posted by don dre

If only they could put hot spots somewhere that served good coffee. I wish they would avoid these corporate chains and establish some sort of revenue sharing plans where smaller operators could get involved. It might just be that I live in a city and have greater choice in coffee and book options but I need more options ot make it useful. If I had to travel though, this would be the best of the plans versus the overpriced boingo. I don;t undertand these places, if I'm staying at a hotel I don't need wireless...it probably means I rented a room at which point I can use wired access. I like T-mobile though as it seems they are aggressively experimenting to see what works.

Didn't we already cover Cosi being a chain in another thread?

Your post pretty much answers your own question. You can't get economy of scale by going to Joe's Gut Burning Coffee House" as Boingo is showing us. You either pay up as the end user or you pay up as the coffee shop owner if you are a small shop.

Basically it goes like this - T-Mobile likes business phone lines because they spend lots more than an average consumer. T-Mobile needs ubiquitous coverage in any service they offer to achieve profit. Starbucks is about as ubiquitous a chain as any I can think of. T-M + Starbucks=Critical mass=Profits.

[daS]

Originally Posted by Janak Parekh

What I don't understand in the article, though, is the bit about "doing the same for GPRS subscribers". My GPRS service is already aggregated onto my T-Mobile cellular bill, so what new thing is happening?

I think that they are talking about adding Wi-Fi for customers that have GPRS-only (i.e. no voice) plans. These use PC Card adapters for laptops and are sold for corporate use where the company doesn't want to pay for employee's voice service.

[bdegroodt]

Originally Posted by daS

I think that they are talking about adding Wi-Fi for customers that have GPRS-only (i.e. no voice) plans. These use PC Card adapters for laptops and are sold for corporate use where the company doesn't want to pay for employee's voice service.

Ooooooh! I always wondered how you could pull this off. Seemed like there would be a conflict if a SIM was in a data card and was supposed to be in a phone as well. That explains it.

I bet if the GSM carriers actually allowed you to have multiple SIMs active at any one time, they could increase their data useage by a bit. I'd buy that. Charge me an extra couple of bucks to have a second SIM for data only. Like the cable company does for an extra cable box.

[anthonymoody]

bdegroodt,
Either I am not understanding what you're saying, or I believe you're incorrect. WiFi does not use SIMs, so this is not an issue of multiple SIMs, this is an issue of a single bill for your SIM (whether in a phone or in a GSM PC card in your laptop) AND WiFI access.

TM