Verizon’s Home Monitoring and Controls, a complete Connected Home solution, is now a product. The service was announced last year and has been tested by a limited number of users in the first half of 2011. Now, it is becoming a real product that anyone can sign-up for and it starts at $9.99/mo.
What can you do with it?
The system can work with a number of sensor (webcam, temperature) and home accessories (lights, electronic door lock, heater controller…), but it is possible to watch your home through a webcam, turn lights on and off, control the temperature, and even open/lock doors. Of course, to do that you need to equip your home with a gateway device, which is the “main box” that controls everything, and with modules (light switch…) that interface with your appliances. If you use Verizon’s FiOS television service, it is also possible to control your TV.How do you get started?
Verizon has a few kits which are based on popular usage models: Home Monitoring and Control, Home Monitoring and Energy Control. The most expensive kit costs $220, while the cheaper one stands at $70. You can find more information on Verizon’s site.
How does it work?
Basically, you would use a smartphone to control the various smart elements of your house, via the gateway device. Verizon actually uses a Motorola portal server to run its service. I’m not sure if a Verizon phone is required, but it seems like it should work with an smartphone. There’s also a PC version if you prefer doing all that from a computer.
Similar solutions exist, but Verizon is trying to make the process (install and billing) easier as it is integrated to other services that you may already have (FiOS or smartphone). What do you think? Would you rather build this with 3rd party hardware and software, or do you think that going with Verizon would be easier? Also, would you pay $10/mo for this service?
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