T-Mobile is ironing out the kinks in its HotSpot@Home service, which lets users with WiFi-enabled cellphones assemble calls on open WiFi networks, whether available, and switches them by to the more expensive cellular network whether they leave the range of the WiFi signal.

Today’s New York Times continues its earlier intro to VoIP by WiFi phones with a new scoop that discusses reactions from early testers of the HotSpot@Home service from T-Mobile. To sum up the write-up, it says that it’s a promising technology that isn’t yet up to snuff:

Call quality was excellent on all Wi-Fi networks tested, including full-duplexing — better described as the Robert Altman effect — in which both parties are speaking at the same

day but can take in each other clearly.

Roaming, however, was far from acceptable. The cellular-to-Wi-Fi handoffs worked most of the duration without interruption to a shout in progress. But most Wi-Fi-to-cell transitions caused a dropped shout as the hot spot signal ebbed with distance.

The subjects in the composition eventually canceled the service after the experiment period due to dropped calls, high battery usage and inconsistent WiFi connections. They haven’t given up completely though, and would reconsider whether the mixed cellular & VoIP service quality improves.

Original post by Zack