Can Fixed Line Voice Be Saved?

AT&T’s recently announced HomeManager joins similar products introduced by Embarq and Verizon over the last year, in an effort to enhance the value of fixed line voice service. While the products are definitely interesting, it is difficult to assess whether they offer enough value for consumers to spend $300, especially in tough economic times. It also begs the question of whether it is simply too little, too late.

AT&T’s HomeManager product consists of three devices  the handset, the screen and the base station. However, the customer must also have a separate router and home telephone service, as well as broadband service with a minimum of 768kbps, but a recommended 1.5mbps downstream speed. Although AT&T states that you do not need phone service from them (customers could use any voice service, including VoIP), features such as Unified Messaging and Mobile Backup are only available to AT&T customers. In addition, if a customer requires multiple handsets, they must be purchased separately for $69.99 each.

What surprises me most is that many of the features, such as call logs, address books, calendars, etc. could easily be offered via a simple software program similar to Call Manager offered by MCI Neighborhood for only $3.75/month. For this small incremental add-on, I get all of the features offered by AT&T (and more, such as text messaging and presence), without the requirement of a separate device. Similar features are also offered by Vonage and other VoIP providers.

Now, if HomeManager offered video telephony, it might be more attractive. But it doesn’t; and frankly, for just a little more money, I could buy Dell’s Mini9 with integrated webcam and get a portable device with a whole lot more functionality.

It is unfortunate that operators in the U.S. have not followed the lead of many operators in Europe, which have been offering value-added devices for years in an effort to win back customers (many quite successfully). They have also been market leaders in offering convergent services that leverage both the fixed and mobile products such as Telecom Italia’s Unica service.

AT&T claims it is “revolutionizing” the home phone, when in actuality it is simply catching up to everyone else. There is nothing revolutionary about HomeManager, except its exorbitant price, which will do nothing to encourage consumers to keep their home phone line.

Teresa Mastrangelo is principal analyst at broadbandtrends, a service of The Windsor Oaks Group LLC, which is an independent market research and consulting firm specializing in the coverage of network transformation activity related to broadband infrastructure and services, including IPTV, VoIP and NGN.

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