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Following up on Peter's query about AT&T:

Is anyone else using a T-mobile hotspot@home phone with the campus  
network?

I tried a regular T-mobile phone in June, but found there was no  
service for miles around Laingsburg. (even though the in-store  
coverage map promised good signal all over zone 3 in Michigan)  The  
day I returned that one was the day they announced the Hotspot@Home  
phones.

Hotspot@Home is their name for a service that will switch over to a  
wifi connection. I ended up trying one of those and was impressed by  
the service. It worked great with my home wifi, and several other  
places I tried it. But that first week it just wouldn't connect thru  
MSU's network. I was all set to start capturing packets to debug it  
the following week, but it magically worked on campus that week. Then  
I went out of town for a week and when I returned it didn't work  
again.  Just tried again and it still doesn't work. I'm not sure what  
is going on.

What I liked about the service: for $10/month additional, you get  
unlimited domestic calls over WiFi. It seamlessly switches over to a  
GSM tower when you move out of WiFi range (unless you are in  
Laingsburg and the tower is ten miles away). The call quality is very  
good. Using WiFi, I get a great signal in my basement (home office)  
and in my server room here on campus.

Two things I don't like: the phones don't include a wifi browser, so  
if you need to agree to something before using wifi, you are stuck.  
And the annoying issue with MSU's network working intermittently with  
this service.