This is new? The Verizon Hub.
Yes this is technically a new product from Verizon, only because for some reason none of the major carriers haven’t done this yet. Which is frankly pretty shocking. High speed internet has been readly available for over 5 years,voice over IP (VOIP) for home use has been common for the last 3, why is someone just now taking a next step from the old, voice only telephone.
The reason you have not seen this from a major carrier is that they are so scared that this ‘VOIP’ fad is going to cramp their bottom line. They are with few exceptions just trying to bury their heads in the sand and hope they come out ok. How much longer will two twisted wires coming into our houses make sense? I know I don’t use the ones that come into my apartment.
In the enterprise arena it has (only slightly) been a different story with a few companies realising that if you ask someone (a company) to spend lots of money on a new VOIP PBX they would probably like some new features. One of the most common was a nice big screen, generally the most popular use of this nice big screen was an integrated directory. This has all been around sine the late 90s. I remember he first time I saw a Cisco IP phone, i believe it was in 2000 thinking, “oh in a few years this type of thing will be everywhere” apparently not.
With all that, I am not all that impressed with the Verizon Hub. Again it’s only now because its being released. I feel the next logical step for these type of devices is to integrate one of two things, or both. The device should have been either used the cell network for its communication, maybe with an option for an external antenna, or it should have incorporated a femtocell inside the device so that your existing phones would work better in your house. The third option since these features are pretty much mutually exclusive would be to have both features and have the user decide how they would like to set it up.
Another reason I am not overly excited about it is that according to PhoneScoop (via engadget) the device will cost $200 after a rebate and a contract for $35/mo. At that price why not just buy the netbook of your choice and put it on the table next to your phone? You could even add a skypeout account to make calls if that’s important to you.