T-Mobile Launching Net Phone Price War

T-Mobile is giving an extra push to the millions contemplating ditching their landlines. The low-cost wireless carrier is launching a new dirt-cheap VoIP service, which lets T-Mobile customers hook up traditional phones to an Internet router and make unlimited local and long distance calls for $10 a month, the Wall Street Journal reports. Vonage, the most prominent VoIP provider, charges $25 per month.

Users will have to be T-Mobile wireless subscribers, and they’ll need to buy a special $50 router that has jacks to accommodate typical phones. The service could prove a major threat to purveyors of traditional phone service, like AT&T and Verizon. A recent survey shows that 12% of consumers already plan to drop landlines in the next year. (More T-Mobile stories.)