In <MPG.27258b769ce5b3c3989a6c@news.justthe.net> Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> writes:
>Hey, Danny.
>Let me know if I'm missing the point here:
>You don't get a TMo@Home "number". Any T-Mobile line can be used with
>the service. You just need a UMA-capable phone, like my Samsung
>Katalyst.
Ah, you're thinking of the _other_ TM service, namely "hot spot
at home", or somesuch.
For a couple of years, ending about six months ago, Tm had
their version of a VOIP line. (I'm grandfathered in).
The way it works is they've got (or had) a TM enhanced and
branded Linksys wifi router which... had two additions
to the standard WRTsomethingor another.
First, it had two SIM slots inside. Second is that it had... two
"phone jacks" in the back.
Simply insert a SIM (or two), hook the unit to an internet/ethernet
feed, and plug a wired phone (or two) inth the back. Viola, you've
got yourself a pseudo landline.
WOrks ok with regular phones, answering machines, cordless units.
Does not (per their instructions - I never tested) work with
fax machines or modems.
And like with other VOIP phones, you can be pretty much
anywhere in the world when you plug it in...
Now getting to the UMA deal:
>You also don't need to use a T-Mo router. All you need is a WiFi
>connection.
Using the TM branded routers gives you a "QOS" priority
for the voice packets. I haven't done a direct packet
count, but I did swap back and forth between a default
Apple Airport base and the TM/Linksys for making UMA calls,
and the TM unit seemed... to be much better.
>The only oddity I found was this: your wi-fi must either be open, or if
>it's protected with a passphrase, it must be communicating on Channel 1,
>6 or 11 (the three most commonly used wi-fi channels). Most wi-fi
>routers and access points (even the cheap consumer devices) let you set
>the channel the device uses.
I've used UMA with passwords [a], but never noticed
the channel restriction. THen again, my own system
is on one of those three channels, and most public
sites are on 6. Hmm, will check...
[a] annoyingly the stadard UMA capable phones will
let you enter in a password, but can't handle
a splash/redirection page. Don't know if the "smart"
phones can manage.
--
__________________________________________________ ___
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
grumble grumble "t-mobile at home" problems 
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