Verizon at Home

[#1]

As we at Verizon gear up for the International Consumer Electronics Show (look updates here in the new year), we’d like to stop and talk a little about what’s changing consumer behavior and, in short, what’s behind all the gidgets, gadgets and widgets (as one colleague likes to say) that we’ll all be hearing about in the coming weeks.

Our own Shadman Zafar does a great job of summarizing three trends in this video, but here’s a little more background.

Shelf space is going to be huge at CES, with  your own likely to grow exponentially over the coming years. We’re not talking Ikea, we’re talking about the cloud. The cloud is going to continue the trend of physical belongings going away (CDs, DVDs, books and magazines) as we begin to store more and more in the cloud.

I came to this realization recently when we had to print a photograph for one of my son’s school assignments. Both my wife and I realized that it had been at least a year and a half since we’d printed a physical print. After all, if we want to relive memories of the kids building snowmen after the huge snow storms of 2011 or days at the beach, we can flick the images to our TV, iPad, Mac, iPHone or Droid.

The devices I just listed may be portals to our own and shared clouds, but low latency, high capacity, ultra-wideband networks are the infrastructure essential for the anytime, anywhere experience. Latency is important, because, as we all know, that little buffering wheel can be quite annoying.

These networks also give us a level of control and access that we’ve never before had, from online banking to entertainment to the automated home.

Taken in total – the ability to tap into the various aspects of your life (work, family, friends, play) on your terms – we realize that the borders that once kept these facets separate are beginning to be erased. Our access and interaction with them will become increasingly simpler and quicker. That’s what we mean by the borderless lifestyle.

Note: Shadman Zafar, Verizon’s senior vice president for product development, featured in the video above will be one of four panelists at discussing Consumerization at CES. Details here.

[#2]

I have been a Verizon cell phone subscriber for more than ten years and a  MD home  land line subscriber  all of my adult life ( age 86): before the AT&T Break Up and since the break up.  The news that Verizon will be charging a fee for payment on line is disturbing and gives rise to searching for an alternative company for my communications  needs.

[#3]

Dear ajsalam:

As you may have read by now, Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments that was announced earlier this week.

The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. The company continues to encourage customers to take advantage of the numerous simple and convenient payment methods it provides.

The president and CEO of our wireless group, Dan Mead, said: "We take great care to listen to our customers.  Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time."

We truly appreciate your using Verizon. All the best in 2012!

[#4]

I believe this was a very smart move by Verizon's leaders. After all they do promote the paper free options, and protecting the environment. This was almost like the Bank of America idea to charge a monthly fee for debt card use. We all know how far that went. BRAVO to Verizon for deciding not to go in that direction, while continuing to protect the environment.

Thank you. Even though I am not a wireless customer.