T-Mobile USA today launched a home phone service perceived by analysts as a new threat to landline operators and the latest example of evolving business models in the mobile industry. The wired phone service is being trialed in Seattle and Dallas-Fort Worth prior to evaluation that could see a future nationwide introduction. The service is only available to T-Mobile customers and users must buy a US$50 Internet router from T-Mobile and pay US$10 a month for unlimited local and long-distance domestic calling. Consumers can connect any home phone into the router via a traditional phone cord. The new home-phone service, called Talk Forever Home Phone, runs over the customer’s high-speed Internet connection in much the same way as VoIP providers such as Vonage sell phone services. The service is an addition to T-Mobile’s Hotspot@Home wireless product, which lets customers make unlimited mobile phone calls at home on a WiFi Internet connection for a monthly charge of US$10 on top of a regular mobile bill.

Jupiter analyst Michael Gartenberg told the Wall Street Journal that T-Mobile’s new service is “disruptive,” adding that the company has clearly made a significant investment in the technology behind it. “The challenge is going to be marketing this to consumers and explaining how it works,” he said.