Just two years after its launch, Verizon has dropped its DIY home security/controls system called Verizon Home Monitoring and Control. The company is not commenting on why it has canceled the service, but media speculation points to the dissolution of 4Home and challenges from other large brands offering similar products.
In launching the Home Monitoring and Control service, Verizon hoped to be the first successful provider of DIY home security and automation. However, Verizon's system charged a monthly fee outside of a professional home security subscription. Its competitors, including AT&T Digital Life, Lowe's Iris, and ADT Pulse, provide their security solutions as supplements to a professionally installed system, not as standalones.
Additionally, Verizon's lack of marketing as well as the complications of 4Home's sale to Motorola and subsequent acquisitions by Google and Arris, may have led to the platform's recent collapse.
The Home Monitoring and Control website was taken offline several months ago. The company will no longer sell systems to new customers, but promises to continue service and support for current subscribers.
For more information on the end of the Verizon Home Monitoring and Control platform, click here.
The fifth-annual Smart Energy Summit will address business strategies for home controls systems in the panel, "Who Pays? New Ways to Monetize Home Controls" on February 19.
