Sprint rolls out unlimited home calling

After a month or so of speculation, Sprint is ready to roll out its femtocell unlimited home calling service. Powered by Samsung’s Airave box, Sprint customers will now be able to place calls from their cell phones while at home without using any plan minutes, no matter what cell phone they use. A separate flat-rate plan will cover the cost of making these calls. To Sprint, this represents an upgrade over T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home, a WiFi-based calling system that was released early this summer. Airave works in a very similar manner to Hotspot @Home, in that they both use home Internet connections to power the calls. The difference is that T-Mobile uses a home’s WiFi connection to place a call via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), much like Skype. Airave, on the other hand, acts as a mini cell tower, taking the phone’s signal, converting it, and then sending it through the Internet connection. The difference: T-Mobile’s service requires a special WiFi-enabled phone, while Sprint allows any of their customers using any of their phones to place calls. The initial cost of the Airave box is $50, though Sprint is mulling the idea of offering a rebate on the box. It’s not our money, so it makes sense to us. Plus, people are more apt to purchase a service when they can get a rebate on the necessary apparatus. Look right at the cell phone industry for proof of that. While customers are not required to sign a second two-year contract after their initial one expires (you can then become a month-to-month customer, much like your apartment), they often do because of the subsidy offered on a new handset. After the initial setup, Airave will cost $15 per month for an individual, $30 per month for a family. This is 50 percent more than the cost of Hotspot @Home, but again, it represents an upgrade of technology. This technology also offers an advantage to Sprint: They potentially have a greater network capacity. A great deal of calls are placed within the home, and until now they’ve used the same method of connection as someone driving down the highway. Now those home callers won’t be using network space. Our favorite quote from the press release:

“I think you will see more of it,” [Ian] Gillott [founder and president of market strategy consulting firm iGR] said. “Because Sprint has done it, I don’t see why Verizon (Wireless) or AT&T wouldn’t. It brings up interesting possibilities.”

It must suck to be the two largest wireless carriers in the country and have to follow someone else in such a practical technology. Go Sprint! The service is being rolled out in Denver and Indianapolis, with Nashville on the radar in the very near future. We can expect a nationwide rollout in early 2008. [CNN Money]]]>