Last week Verizon Wireless introduced its Verizon Hub to the consumer market. The service connects over broadband and offers a number of different services, including unlimited voice, calendaring, unlimited texting, local traffic and weather, directions, local business connections, and movie trailers. The system also works with Verizon wireless applications VZ navigator, Chaperone and V-CAST. The company has added additional content from National Geographic and E! Entertainment news. The Hub device costs $249 with a two-year contract ($199 if ordered online) and additional handsets cost $79.99. In order to subscribe to Hub services for $34.99 a month, you must be a Verizon Wireless subscriber. The service is offered nationwide.

The service being offered is a premium version of the $10 a month landline service that T-Mobile offers. The problem is that many of these services are already offered on a cellphone, or can be obtained from other means such as the internet or TV - so why pay the extra $35 to obtain these services? The service is a good idea and offers convenience to the end user, but it has to provide some tangible benefit, such as free texting to any Verizon phone, low cost voice - such as what T-Mobile has done - or a wide variety of unique applications, as in the case of the iphone.