Verizon Quietly Shelves Their Home Automation Service Wednesday Feb 12 2014 08:42 EDT Back in January of 2011 Verizon proudly unveiled their creatively-named Home Monitoring and Control home automation service, launching the service later that same year with a $10 monthly fee for Verizon customers. Several years later and Verizon has quietly killed off the service, though they're letting existing customer continue to use the platform. Verizon states they may explore update versions of the same concept in upcoming incarnations: quote: Verizon officials suggested that the telco may introduce a new home automation product, but wouldn't say if the company is considering adopting a wireless-based approach similar to AT&T Digital Life. "We are revisiting the service to more accurately reflect our vision for the connected home. As technology and consumer expectations evolve so must our offerings," Columbus said.
ISPs have long been eager to jump into the home security and automation game, the assumption being that since they provide TV, phone and broadband service, that providing these services is an easy and obvious money maker.In reality however, many consumers find they can build their own home automation platform for less money and without Verizon's help. Home security also is generally an upscale offering of limited appeal to most users, and overall ISPs have never been particularly good at unit GUIs or innovative hardware presentation. As a result, you'll be hard pressed to find an ISP willing to reveal subscriber numbers for home automation or security services -- because there simply aren't many to crow about. |