Vivint becoming a broadband provider?

Vivint prides itself so much on innovation that it has outgrown its new Innovation Center and is building a much larger one, as I wrote recently. Now here's something else that the Provo, Utah-based home automation/home security company apparently is innovating on: broadband service.

According to Gigacom Research, Jeremy Warren, Vivint VP of innovation, mentioned this week that the company is trialing broadband in Utah, but provided few details.

What is known, Gigacom says, is that Vivint's wireless broadband service costs $55 for 50 Mbps.

Here's more from the Gigacom story, which was picked up by CNN Money:

[Jeremy Warren] said that Vivint is testing the service in Utah where Vivint is based, and that it uses a mesh networking topology as opposed to a traditional tower-oriented network design that many Wireless ISPs deploy today. He said the company is taking advantage of off-the-shelf radios and using unlicensed and “semi-licensed” spectrum in a variety of ranges including the 5GHz and 2.4Ghz range used for Wi-Fi.

… He believes Vivint can deliver competitive broadband at a relatively low deployment cost. “We have a nationwide field service arm and know how to talk to customers and acquire customers and service them,” Warren said. He argued that customer acquisition costs are a big expense of building out a network, and Vivint can sidestep those costs because it already has a customer acquisition infrastructure thanks to its distributor network.

With cablecos and telecoms getting into home security and automation, Gigacom concludes, “Why shouldn't a security and home automation provider try its hand at broadband?”

Interesting question!