U-verse Voice Apty Named, U-verse Voice. Sort of Like Having A Residential PBX That You Manage and Control With Your TV Remote Control or Your Computer
Today, I had a demo of U-verse Voice, AT&T's consumer VoIP phone service.
Where AT&T's U-verse Voice stands out is in its integration under the U-verse brand name and its robust services.
You have to re-think the way you use your phone because your new world being delivered is through your big screen and / or on your computer- and not your phone.
The functionality of the phone (making and receiving calls) stays in place, just like it has since the day that Alexander Graham Bell told his assistant to come into the room.
I think the service is important for several reasons:
1. It gives AT&T a compelling reason for consumers keep their residential land lines even though trends show that while AT&T's wireless business continues to grow, the residential land line business is slowly declining.
2. If you have a home based business and need a land line phone, then this type of service lets you combine the best of both worlds with having a central portal in which to manage your calls both at home and away from your home office.
3. It further differentiates itself away from cable and satellite.
TV is the center of millions of American's digital lives. Now with voice being integrated as part of your TV service's user-interface, the nature of, and the way you think of and mange "voice" totally changes.
Yes, a phone is a phone is a phone. But now the phone itself become secondary to the real value of managing and controlling your family's voice services.
4. It becomes a precursor to having what will one day be some similar to a small-scale enterprise network in your home. (Think HomePNA and ultimately G.hn)
No matter where you work, chances are your company is on some type of enterprise network. The bigger the company, the more complex and carrier grade your network might be. Something similar is evolving in the home: you now have voice, data and video over one phone line that is being trafficked and managed by the phone company.
Coming soon: my own real world review.
I've decided to order my service and once its up and going, look for a future post (hopefully next week) once I have had a chance to play with it.
