Verizon Offers Landline Alternative with Home Phone Connect

Phone Service Feature

December 06, 2010
Verizon Offers Landline Alternative with Home Phone Connect
By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

While a number of Americans have decided to forgo the landline in favor of wireless service for all communications, there are still some who are not quite ready to make that leap. Verizon Wireless would like to capitalize on the opportunity in this space and is testing a new service.


According to a Yahoo Tech blog, current Verizon (News - Alert) mobile subscribers can take advantage of a plan that starts at $10 per month and allows for calls with a standard telephone over the carrier’s wireless network.
The plans are only in the trial stage and limited at that. According to a report in NetworkWorld, Verizon is simply kicking the tires on its Home Phone (News - Alert) Connect service in select areas within New York and Connecticut.
For those able to give this service a test run, they simply plug in their old home phone into a wireless, AC-powered base station supplied by Verizon. This base station connects directly to the cellular voice network, allowing the user to make and receive calls just as they would over a landline. To add to the value of the service, the landline number can be ported to the carrier network.
Known as the Verizon Home Phone Connect service, it will offer many of the same features customers would expect from a landline, including 911,411 and 611 calls. Verizon also promises to provide call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, three-way calling, voicemail, last-number callback and codes for accessing account balances and automatic payment menus.
To ensure the new “landline” will continue to work in the event of a power outage, the base station comes with a battery pack.
The $10 a month base price means users will share voice minutes between the cell phone and the Home Phone Connect phone. At $20 a month, users can get unlimited domestic minutes for the virtual landline.
Verizon isn’t the first to attempt entry into the home phone market. T-Mobile tried to expand with its @Home service, which enabled calls to be made through the cellular network with a home phone and WiFi (News - Alert)-enabled base station with a SIM card inside. The service never really got off the ground and T-Mobile eliminated it this year.
Even Verizon made an earlier – and more expensive – attempt with its Verizon Hub. The fun – yet pricey at $200 – home phone with a 7-inch touchscreen was connected to the Verizon Wireless (News - Alert) network. The service lasted less than a year and never fully took off.
Given past failures in this space, will Verizon find opportunity? It is true that 25 percent of U.S. households have gone wireless-only, yet there are still many who want the security of the landline. Will Verizon find a winner with this new platform? We’ll have to wait and see.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf