Verizon Wireless Offers Alternative to Traditional Home Phone Service

By Josh Long

Verizon Wireless has introduced an alternative to traditional residential telephone service, allowing customers to make phone calls at home over the companys wireless network.

The Home Phone Connect” service is available throughout Verizon Wireless coverage area. 

For $19.99 per month excluding some additional charges, customers can make unlimited home telephone calls in the United States over Verizon Wireless network by plugging an existing telephone into the Home Phone Connect unit. Customers can ditch their landline phone but keep their home number. 

Verizon Wireless views the service as an option to any customer who may be looking to cut the cord but they dont want to give up their home phone number,” said Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Debra Lewis.

Verizon Wireless subscribers also can pay $9.99 to obtain the Home Phone Connect service and share a pool of wireless minutes with a FamilyShare Plan, Lewis said. The service includes Unlimited Mobile to Mobile Calling with other Verizon Wireless customers and Unlimited Nights & Weekend Anytime Minutes. 

Frost & Sullivan analyst Todd Day said the new offering could enable Verizon Wireless to expand its subscriber base where its co-parent Verizon Communications doesnt provide landline service. 

New York-based Verizon provides landline telephone service mostly in the Northeast and parts of California and Texas, but the company has divested a significant chunk of its wireline assets as millions of Americans ditch traditional telephone service in favor of alternatives like wireless and Internet-based calling. 

Day of Frost & Sullivan said the new offering has higher profit margins for Verizon Wireless a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group PLC than landline services.  Verizon Wireless can fetch $20 per device per month without having to incur the costs associated with building out a wired network,” the analyst said. 

The potential disadvantage for Home Phone Connect customers, Day said, is if Verizon Wireless network goes down because of a storm or some other reason. 

Now you dont have home phone service as well,” Day said.  That includes 911.”

On its website, Verizon Wireless shows a coverage map indicating where subscribers can purchase the alternative home telephone service.  But Verizon Wireless includes a disclaimer.

The coverage areas shown dont guarantee service availability and may include locations with limited or no coverage,” the company states.  Even within a coverage area, many factors, including your equipment, terrain, proximity to buildings, foliage, and weather, may impact service.”

Last week Verizon Wireless introduced Home Phone Connect nationwide after conducting some trials over the past few months, Lewis said.