T-Mobile offers landline replacement for $10

T-Mobile USA announced a new home phone service called T-Mobile @Home that enables customers to make unlimited nationwide calls from the home phone for $10 per month. The operator announced it will launch T-Mobile @Home on July 2, enabling T-Mobile customers to buy a router complete with a GSM SIM chip for $50 at any T-Mobile store or retail store that carries T-Mobile products, plug the box into an existing broadband connection and then plug in any landline phone to begin making calls using their existing landline number.

Joe Sims, vice president and general manager with T-Mobile USA, said the company is targeting families who don't want to cut the cord with using T-Mobile's existing Hotspot @Home service that offers WiFi in the home and cellular on the go. The company tested the cheap service in Dallas and Seattle and reports that virtually all customers (97 percent) who had a traditional landline phone service dropped the service since adopting T-Mobile @Home.

Certainly the move isn't one to make money as T-Mobile is taking a hit by offering the router for $50 and the $10 per-month fee is hardly an ARPU driver. But Sims says the offering is more about creating loyal customers and lowering churn. To qualify for the service, customers must be existing T-Mobile subscribers paying at least $39 per month for a single line and $49 per month for a family plan.

"There is tremendous loyalty and customer satisfaction in this. It will definitely reduce churn and increase longevity," Sims said.

For more:
- check out this press release
[1]

Related stories:
T-Mobile offers $10 a month VoIP. T-Mobile VoIP story
[2]T-Mobile adds to its HotSpot@Home lineup. T-Mobile story [3]