Communications Briefs

By Staff On Aug 4 2008 - 6:00am

Landline Losses Continue

New York — Residential telephony customers continue to migrate away from incumbent telcos, as AT&T and Verizon both announced further landline subscriber losses.

AT&T said its number of primary retail consumer voice lines dropped 8.7 percent during the second quarter, while voice revenue dropped 8.3 percent.

Verizon said it experienced a 3.9 percent drop in residential landlines in the second quarter, falling from 16.8 million in the second quarter of 2007 to 15.5 million.

InGrid Launches with Amazon

Berwyn, PA. — Home-security company InGrid said last week that Amazon.com would distribute its Internet-based security system.

A basic system, for $199, includes a base station, console, a phone handset and three window/door sensors. It is geared toward apartments and homes with 1,500 square feet.

A "home" system, for $299, adds a grid extender and a total of eight window/door sensors and is suitable for a 2,500-square-foot house.

Both systems are self-installable and use a base station that connects to a broadband Internet connection. It features an auxiliary phone port to provide connectivity in the event of a power outage. The base also charges the InGrid handset — a 2.4GHz digital cordless phone that includes built-in controls for the alarm system.

Both systems can accommodate up to 50 additional window/door sensors for $39.99 each and a keychain remote for $34.99.

Both systems work with monitoring from Guardian Protection Services for $29.99/month. Consumers can choose to self-monitor their systems, with alerts routed directly to them and not a call center, for $19.99/month.