For those long-time readers, you might remember my rant/question about Comcast charging too much for their multimedia services (i.e., HDTV, phone, and internet) last year. Well, I am finally getting around to cutting the cord. We will be keeping Comcast high speed internet but our household is giving up cable TV and switching home phone service from Comcast to Verizon’s wireless Home Phone Connect service. So, I thought I would share the process and review the service along the way.
Adding the service to our existing wireless account was quick and easy. I was running behind and in a hurry….the process took less than 5 minutes. I had them port our number from Comcast. The Verizon sales rep informed me that the port could take up to 10 working days to complete the process. It is longer than porting a number from one cellular provider to another because you are going from a land-line to a wireless. While we could call out on the service immediately, it actually took about 5 days to become fully operational and could receive calls.
Contents:
Once I got the Home Phone Connect unpackaged, setting it up and getting it operational was quick and easy. Install the battery, screw on the antenna, plug in the power cord and the device is ready to activate. Finally, plug in your regular home phone and dial *228 (just like your typical cellphone) and you are good to go.
Features:
- Call Waiting
- Call Forwarding
- Caller ID**
- 3-Way Calling
- International Dialing***
- Voice Mail (*86)
- Account Balance (#BAL)
- 411, 611 & 911
Technical Specifications:
- Manufacturer: Huawei
- Model: Verizon Wireless Home Phone Connect
- Frequency: 1.9 GHz and 800 MHz
- Connectors Two RJ–11 interface jacks for telephone
- GPS Integrated GPS for 911 support
- Dimensions: (H) 1.5″ x (W) 7.0″ x (D) 5.0″
- Weight: 12 oz.
- Battery Backup – 1500 NiMH
- Provides up to 3.5 hours talk time and up to 36 hours standby time
- Input: Standard 110V
The Home Phone Connect device is simple to use. It is either on or off. A blue LCD indicator lights let you know if it is on/off, signal strength, battery charge, and whether it is in use.
The device is nice enough looking; clean and simple lines. It’s small footprint does not take up much room where ever you choose to place it.
The backside of the device allows for up to two phones to be connected. I connected our home phone base station to the device and we had connectivity throughout the house; the same as any other home phone service.
I assume the usb port is for Verizon to program and update the device.
Performance:
(Scary as this picture looks…this is not a fire hazard). We have good Verizon coverage/signal strength at our house; ranging from 5 bars outside, 4 bars on the upper floor, and 3-4 in our basement. I placed our Home Phone Connect device in our upstairs office where the indicator light(s) tell me the signal is good but not great (100%). That said, the call quality we have experienced has been excellent. It is comparable to the quality of service we received from Comcast voice.
An additional operational perk, is that the unit’s battery and cellular connection can be used for (3) hours (and up to 36 hours standby time) while power and other phone/cable lines are down. A definite plus living in a highly treed area where lines are down regularly.
Bang for the Buck:
Verizon’s Home Phone Connect is available with two pricing options:
- $19.99 gives you unlimited In-Home Calling to any number on any network in the U.S.
- If you have a Verizon Family Plan, $9.99 gives you Unlimited Mobile to Mobile Calling with other Verizon Wireless customers and Unlimited Nights & Weekend Anytime Minutes when you add a line to your existing Family SharePlan for monthly access. This means that during the day, if you make a call outside of Verizon’s network that time will be deducted from your monthly limit.
The move from Comcast to Verizon service reduces my basic phone bill from approx. $35 to $20. A pretty good monthly cost savings and enables me to further disassociate our household from Comcast. An additional plus is the fact that since its on the Verizon Wireless network, calling my home phone number no longer counts against my minutes.
Bottom line:
Product Information
| Price: | Free (w/2 yr contract) or $129 (w/o contract) |
| Manufacturer: | Verizon Wireless |
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| Cons: |
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I can not get the unit to send a fax is it me or you can not use it to faxes
You cannot use the device to send a FAX…Verizon should have mentioned that to you. However, you can use your smartphone to e-fax
I hate to post a comment on the Verizon Home Connect Phone after less than one day of use, but I have expereinced good quality
service even though I only get Moderate signal strength.
The time it took to set up an account and get the phone adapter
provisioned took less than 15 minutes and has worked well so far.
I will keep my fingers crossed this continues . If it does I can say
goodbye to Time Warner Cable’s ever increasing phone bill!
Just got it 6 days ago, if I call from another phone call will go straight to voicemail how can I fix that?
I have used this phone service for over a year. I hate it!
The sound of people talking is mushy and hard to understand. They replaced the phone system and is still not satisfactory.
It’s interesting how you get a vibrant ready to help happy person to help you at Verizon (sales only), but when you have been suckered into buying any of their services and need any kind of assistance for anything from Verizon, you often will be treated very rudely, and that’s after being on hold for an hour plus, and that’s if the line didn’t already go dead.
I hate it. Have had nothing but trouble with it. At first only one phone worked , went to store and they told me to connect it differently than the instructions. Did so and all but one phone worked , then replaced that jack and all phones worked for a day. Now can call out on all phones but incoming calls ring once then disconnect. What a piece of crap this device is.
A significant problem with this device is that it does not automatically disconnect when the far end hangs up, unlike a normal cell phone does. This causes serious problems when it is used with other devices that require a normal hand up at the end of a call.
Heads up, those of you considering VZ Wireless’ Home Phone Connect service. Walmart now has the exact same thing only the device is cheaper and the monthly cost is cheaper. I looked at the network map and it appears that Walmart’s service is carried on VZ Wireless’ network.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Straight-Talk-Wireless-Home-Phone/22084643
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