T-Mobile Brings Cell Phone Service Home

New plan would combine mobile, landline accounts
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 28, 2008 4:10 AM CST
T-Mobile Brings Cell Phone Service Home
Millions of Americans have been chucking their old phones and landlines and relying solely on mobiles, but T-Mobile is trying out a service that will wed cellphone coverage to a home WiFi network.   ((c) gwdexter)

Cell phone giant T-Mobile is moving into the landline business. The company is trying out a service that ties cell phones to landlines that if successful in Seattle and Dallas could go nationwide within months, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company's new service uses a special router to tie a home WiFi network into its cell phone network. It allows consumers to use a cell phone account with any home phone, with multiple extensions and unlimited domestic calls, for an additional $10 a month.

The rise of cell phones has put landlines out of favor, with many people no longer bothering to have one and many who only use landlines for things like fax machines or modems. A user who has tried out the new service says it works pretty well but he won't be hanging up his mobile when he gets home just yet—the home phones can't share cell phone numbers. (More cell phones stories.)

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