T-Mobile Uncarrier 7.0: WiFi Calling gets an overhaul, free wireless routers, free in-flight messaging, and more
T-Mobile kicked off their latest Uncarrier 7.0 event in San Francisco where John Legere and friends announced the latest development in their Uncarrier revolution. Of course, Legere took a minute to bash the competition and announce that August 2014 was the single biggest month in the company’s history, thanks to 2.7 million new customers before finally hatching his latest scheme: “WiFi Unleashed.”
WiFi Calling gets an overhaul
While WiFi Calling on T-Mobile really isn’t anything new, it seems they’ve been doing some work on making the entire process as seamless as possible. T-Mobile will be taking away the already little setup involved in WiFi Calling. Now, T-Mobile’s smartphones will automatically connect to a WiFi network out of the box, providing a seamless hand off between their LTE network and your own home WiFi. Place a call using WiFi Calling and you can jump in your car and never drop a call (unless you’re in a HSPA+ network, then all bets are off).
Free ASUS wireless router
Should you find your current wireless router sucks, T-Mobile will provide you with one of their own specialty ASUS-made wireless routers that feature an easy plug-and-play setup. The best part? They’ll provide every Simple Choice customer with the router free of charge (with a $25 deposit and as long as you have at least 1 WiFi Calling capable device). For those that don’t, T-Mobile will provide early upgrades via their JUMP program — eligible or not. What’s more is that moving forward, every single smartphone T-Mobile sells under their roof will now support WiFi Calling with zero setup.
Free in-flight SMS/MMS courtesy of Gogo
With network coverage in your home settled, T-Mobile takes to the sky. They’ve struck a deal with Gogo (the guys responsible for in-flight WiFi service) to give T-Mobile customers free texting/picture messaging and access to voice mails via their Visual Voice Mail app while flying. There’s no data and no calling, but at least it’s something.
Free routers will be available September 17th and you should have noticed a handful of updates going out to T-Mobile’s already WiFi Calling equipped devices today. I guess the only question we have is will this be enough to get you to switch from your current wireless provider, or will this been seen as nothing more than one of the many perks offered to T-Mobile customers?
A full list of T-Mobile’s WiFi Calling capable devices can be found here.