Verizon experiments with the home phone

Verizon Wireless today introduced a new touch-screen home phone system designed to wow consumers into keeping their increasingly less-attractive landline service. The Verizon Hub, commercially available on Feb. 1, integrates landline and wireless service, as well as voice-over IP (VoIP), over a broadband connection.

The touch-screen device features visual voicemail, contact list management and messaging options, including text message calendar alerts and audible turn-by-turn directions that can be sent to any VZW phone. Much like AT&T’s HomeManager, launched in September, the widget-driver user interface doubles as a digital picture frame and comes equipped with walled-garden Internet services such as local traffic and weather, directions through VZ Navigator, directory assistance and the ability to preview movie trailers and purchase tickets through Handango. Verizon also said that VCast music and videos will be made available specific to the Hub. The device, made by Open Peak, is also instantly updateable from a companion website on the PC or Verizon mobile phone.

Unlike AT&T’s HomeManager, a traditional home phone service, Verizon claims the Hub will work on any existing open broadband connection from virtually any broadband provider, telco or cable, anywhere in the United States. The Hub does not include a femtocell at launch, and a Verizon spokeswoman would not confirm if it would be integrated into the device in the future. It requires a Verizon Wireless plan to do the syncing features like sending GPS directions to the cell phone, but Verizon is considering opening it up to work with wireless services from carriers including AT&T and Sprint, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The new service is designed for the increasingly large segment of consumers who are contemplating ditching landlines, but it will also go against other VoIP providers, including T-Mobile’s Hot Spot @Home and Vonage, which was fined for violating three Verizon patents with its VoIP service back in 2007. Although the Hub service is cheaper than Verizon’s landline offering, it will cost consumers more than most VoIP services, plus the cost of the hardware. The Hub will be sold for $199 after a $50 mail-in rebate plus a two-year contract with a monthly charge of $35. If Verizon can convince consumers of the value of the service despite the high cost, it may have the best shot in today’s economic climate. This may be a tricky proposition, however, according to Yankee Group analyst Steve Hilton.

“It's a dumbed-down PC in terms of processing and functionality offered to a target segment that still believes the kitchen phone is a gathering spot,” he said in an email interview.