If you're a T-Mobile customer, your company just gave you a very unexpected gift at yesterday's UnCarrier event: a wireless router. Yes, a fully functioning, magenta-branded, ASUS-built router, which can do essentially everything your current router can do -- and if yours is old, this will likely do even more. The device, which would cost roughly $200 if you purchased it on Amazon without T-Mobile's tweaks, only requires a $25 deposit, which gets returned to you once you're done using it. The company is going all-in on its commitment to providing every subscriber and every carrier-branded smartphone with free WiFi calling, and the router -- called the T-Mobile Personal CellSpot -- is the icing on the cake. But, you may ask, why is this a thing that's happening in the year 2014, especially when most of us already have access to a router (and thus, WiFi calling) nearly everywhere we go?
It's a very good question, because the CellSpot isn't a necessity if you want to take advantage of WiFi calling at home, work or the local Starbucks. Chances are you already have a router that can handle that, but CMO Mike Sievert believes customers will enjoy it because it's a portable device that's easy to set up wherever you go. "Your office, home, man cave, cabin, any place you get broadband, you can now get T-Mobile coverage," he said. More importantly -- especially for those who still use their phones as, y'know,phones -- it also prioritizes your HD-quality calls over any other activity on the network; on most routers, your call might get dropped when your significant other starts binge-watching Breaking Bad, whereas the CellSpot ensures that your call gets saved at the expense of your family's Netflix marathon Read Full Article
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