T-Mobile, cellular provider ranked number one in customer care, has been developing a home network solution for mobile customers for some time. Now, T-Mobile will provide VoIP service to customers for unlimited home calling at just $10 a month.

According to press release, T-Mobile is announcing the new program today, a program that is targeted at those customers who are reluctant to abandon landline phones. @Home will be a viable alternative to standard landline rates and comes in at a much lower price point than competitors in the VoIP market like Vonage ($25 a month for unlimited anywhere calling).

For a flat rate of $50, T-Mobile will give you your very own T-Mobile branded wireless router, which will be your equipment for the new @Home program. From there, you only need a wired or wireless handset to plug in and ten dollars a month. If you don’t have a landline phone (why on earth are you even considering this program?), T-Mobile will sell you a VTECH handset for an additional $60. What a deal.

T-Mobile already has a program similar to this in place that allows customers to purchase WiFi-enabled cell phones, pay a monthly fee, and use their cell phones over Wi-Fi whenever they’re at home. In that way, users can start shifting from landline-based phones, but will have superior in-house cell phone reception, and calls won’t exhaust plan minutes.

Obviously that isn’t panning out so well for T-Mobile. If it were, then they wouldn’t need to regress to a landline-based VoIP program to entice hesitant old-school phone users.

Wake up, T-Mobile! You are taking the completely wrong path to success. If the goal (as it should be in business) is to win more customers, there are better ways of going about it.

First, you certainly don’t want to effectively abandon your already existing WiFi phone service in favor of a land line phone service. You either look like you’ve got rocks for brains, or that you are waving the white flag since the first program didn’t pan out the way you wanted it to.

Certainly, you might keep a few customers who aren’t ready to go strictly wireless, but at what cost? Do you want to become known as the wireless service that is behind the times, helping all those afraid to transition to wireless to stay comfortable?

That’s probably exactly what is happening. T-Mobile strives to be behind the times, in my opinion. T-Mobile is consistently one of the last providers to receive handsets that are considered the norm by most providers.

Point-in-case: show me a handset that T-Mobile offers right now that utilizes the chic new touch-screen capabilities with a sexy interface. Verizon has a couple, AT&T has more than one (and, hello, the iPhone), and even Sprint is in the mix. What does T-Mobile have? Outdated Blackberrys and a fleet of handsets from the ice age. I won’t even go into the outrageous prices you pay for handsets you could pay much less for with other carriers. Can I please have a legitimately nice new handset when it comes out at a competitive price?

No. Because T-Mobile would rather market towards those resistant to change. While customers wait impatiently for outdated handsets that are far overpriced in comparison to competitors, the big wigs at T-Mobile are trying to keep the technologically-insecure from having to actually catch up with the times.

Here’s a word of advice. Part of making your way to the top is having good customer service. The other part is offering services and handsets that are appealing. Though T-Mobile may have the first two down, it is going in the completely wrong direction with @Home.

At this point, a buyout by a company like Alltel might be the best thing for T-Mobile. Obviously being successful and cutting edge isn’t on the agenda; if that’s the case, why not just open a nationwide string of T-Mobile antique stores?

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 4:05 pm under Opinion.

Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
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