About 5 days ago we leaked information about an upcoming ASUS-made Personal Cellspot. Like I said at the time, the device turns your home broadband connection in to a 5-bar signal in your home (sort of). You can read up on what we speculated then. What we didn’t know was that it was going to be a major part of the Uncarrier 7.0.
Update #1 – There’s absolutely nothing in the user manual or quick start guide to suggest that this is a Microcell/femtocell, or that it houses any ability to produce HSPA or LTE signal. I’m still trying to get clarity on this. The “like a T-Mobile tower in your home, or anywhere you choose. Use it to max out your personal coverage, even beyond the reach of any cellular network” marketing spiel would suggest that it does, but it could be misleading. Let’s be clear: All that we know for sure is that it’s been developed by T-Mobile and optimized for Wi-Fi calling and fast data. So it knows how to ensure you get good call quality and keep data at a steady speed simultaneously. I’ll update when I hear more.
Update #2 – From T-Mobile’s facebook page (as shared below in the comments): “I am very sorry but the phone will need to have WiFi calling capabilities to use this service and the phone has to have the ability to connect to a WiFi network to utilize WiFi calling.”
Customers on postpaid plans, and with good credit, will be able to pick one up for free with a $25 refundable deposit. If you’re on prepaid, or low credit, you can purchase one for $99. Or if you want additional ones on top of your free one, you can also get one for $99.
The quick start guide we’ve been sent highlights a few key specs, for those interested:
- Brand: ASUS
- Model: TM-AC1900 dual-band router
- 3×3 wireless-ac
- 1900 Mbps
- 1x USB 2.0 port
- 1x USB 3.0 port
- 2 channels – 2.4GHz and 5GHz
- 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
- 4x LAN ports
- Works with most USB HDDs/Flash disks up to 2TB and supports read-write access for FAT16, FAT32, EXT2, EXT3 and NTFS
Important to note, you will need to plug it in to your existing ADSL/cable modem for it to work. It doesn’t have a built-in modem. To set it up you can use either the PC/Mac setup or use your mobile device through your browser.
In the box you’ll get:
- TM-AC1900 router
- Network cable (RJ-45)
- Wi-Fi Antenna
- AC adapter
- Start Guide
As well as its Wi-Fi performance, it’ll also offer up full signal in your home. The support page has now gone live on T-Mobile’s website, but as of yet doesn’t have a high resolution image of the router. Also, you can download the full user manual here.