Talk Forever Explained a little more clearly.

R

reddevilbloodymary

New member
Talk Forever is the new branding name for the old HotSpot@Home service. For existing customers on the current H@H plans nothing truly changes except the name (and possibly your charges if you got on after the original promotion ended and you call to have your feature converted over to the new one). The new name for all calls being made over VOIP will be Talk Forever. It encompasses more than just the current services people are already aware of.

Talk Forever Mobile is UMA calling from a UMA enabled phone through your router (whether it be a T-Mobile router or not). The difference between a store bought router and a T-Mobile branded router is on the design. A T-Mobile branded router is already optimized for UMA connections and trasmission where a store bought is not.

Talk Forever Home is VOIP which will be launching Nationally in April, in Dallas and Seattle Markets in 7 days. Home will REQUIRE you purchase a T-Mobile branded router. The current unit (and only one available for this service) is a D-Link that was specially designed for this service. It has two sim card slots for two seperate numbers along with two standard phone jacks to connect any home phone you wish to use. It is recommended not to use it in conjuction with 2.4 Ghz phones because of radio interference from the 802.11 Wi-Fi built into the router. The router also has 4 lan jacks on the back side right next to the phone jacks.

I am currently using a demo of the Talk Forever Home service and can testify to a couple of facts. The first one is that the router is definitely well designed in comparison to my old netgear router. The first thing I noticed was improved internet connection over my old router but then again I didn't like my old router to start with. Secondly is that all the calls so far have been crystal clear and connect with no issues.

Zo
 
good info. thanks.

just to confirm u are using the current issue of the t-mo dlink router that they started selling at the original release of hotspot@home?

sounds like a good idea? what about the extra charges a month? is it u just pay the 10 a month for talkforever and an additional 10 a month for adding an extra line to ur account?
 
im still wondering if when this service comes out in April, if Tmo cust will get a discounted price off the specified router. I just purchased the Tmo Linksys for H@H, would really suck to have to purchase yet another one.
 
No, I am using a pre-launch version of the new D-Link router that will be available on launch.



Since the Talk Forever Home requires a new line of service, you will be eligible for full discounts based off of your credit allowance with T-Mobile.

Zo
 
Thanks for the info - that is really helpful. Will the router fall back to cellular connections if the network goes down? Do you know how 911 calls are handled? These questions have prevented us from switching to VOIP (we have already used 911 twice in the last 6 years and might need to do so again).

But it sounds really promising - now all I need is a return of the 1000 minute family MyFave for $60.

David
 
T-Mobile will be offering a pair of VTech 6.0 Digital cordless handsets in the stores for sale as an add on if you need or want the handsets. The router will be classified as the primary device on the account and all warranties will be handled as a normal cell phone would be. If you purchase the VTech phones they offer they will be classified as accessories (since they are not required to make the service work) and will be handled under normal policies for accessory issues meaning that for warranty work you will need to contact the manufacturer after the standard in store exchange period. The router is the key to the entire operation of this service. It doesn't care what phone you plug into it.




The routers does not have a cellular radio built in. The sim card slots were designed into the router for account verification on T-Mobile's side so they didn't have to change things in their system to recognize the account.

As for 911, the service will literally not work unless there is a 911 address entered into the account. The downside to this for all VOIP services is that if you relocate the router to another location and use it there to call 911, it will send the address that is on the account since it has no way to actually determine what location it is at unlike a standard home phone or cell phone. If you do not take the router from the location you have told T-Mobile is your 911 address there will be no issues with 911.

Zo
 
Thanks for the info. Another question - does the D-link router support static DHCP? I have heard some people saying assigning a static IP to their phone led to fewer UMA problems.

David
 
That one I do not honestly know. Good question. I have to call customer care later on tonight when I get home about a question on the time displayed on the cordless phones so I will pose that question to them when I talk to them.

Zo
 
Yes you can. That was brought up in the training. For right now it will require removing one line from the family plan and placing it on it's own plan. They are working in the billing system to change the maximum cap on family plans for the specific use of being able to add a Talk Forever Home line (or 2 or 3) to a 5 line family plan. They could not give a estimate of when that will happen but they have said they are working on it since it was a concern that gets brought up repeatedly. In most people's situations there is probably one line that could be moved off of the plan, have the plan dropped one level down and then add the new line to it and save the customer a little bit of money in the long run over what they were paying before but of course everyone's account is different and must be reviewed carefully prior to doing that.

Zo
 
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