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T-Mobile HotSpot @Home Review

Basics Using It Video Wrap Up Comments 63

Out In the Real World Signal/Battery Pricing

Battery

Though the Nokia and T-Mobile literature both say the 6086 has 5 hours of talk time, we noticed that the battery went from a 50% charge to almost empty during the course of these tests. The tests were conducted over he course of several hours, but the sum total of the actual calling time during the testing was less than 30 minutes. So, either the battery life isn't quite up to par with the literature, or the battery life indicator is not accurate. Standby battery life was at least 4 days with both the cellular and Wi-Fi radios on.

Signal Strength

Wi-Fi signal strength depending on a number of factors, the most important of which was the distance between the phone and the router. Also, the presence of walls also cut down on signal. Walking around my house, Wi-Fi coverage ranged from 1 bar to 4 bars, depending on where I was.

Even when in strong Wi-Fi coverage, data calls to T-Mobile's T-Zones still went through the cellular network. The boxed "G" icon showed up in the status bar to let us know the data call was connected. So the T-Mobile HotSpot@Home service does not allow you to connect to the Internet via the Wi-Fi network. It is reserved for phone calls only.

Next page: Pricing

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