AT&T today announced a new home monitoring service that allows customers to view what is happening at their homes from a remote PC or a Cingular wireless phone. The service will allow customers to control home lighting and track conditions within the home such as motion or activity, temperature change, movement of doors and windows and water leakage.

The service has been focused in four cities—Dallas, Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio; and Detroit, but as of today is available across the U.S. through a special Web site and 1-800 number. It is a product of AT&T’s Business Development Group, which is working to develop new applications and get them to market quickly, said Brad Bridges, assistant vice president for corporate planning.

For $199 to start and $9.95 a month, customers get a basic package of equipment to get started and a software-based toolkit that lets them customize their set-up. The basic package includes a gateway, which connects to the broadband router, a pan-and-tilt IP camera, two power modules to enable device connectivity and a wireless door/window sensor. The in-home sensor connect to the gateway via 400 MegaHertz wireless connectivity. Other equipment can be added, including sensors for temperature or water, and additional cameras.

“We want to give them a starter kit to get up and running,” Bridges said. “But we do expect they will add on to that. And we think they have the creativity to come up with applications we haven’t even thought of.”

The system uses a combination of real-time and recorded video to enable remote monitoring. Monitoring equipment is controlled via an integrated Web-based portal through which users can access live video feeds and reports and set up customized instructions for the service to provide alerts or to take action under specific conditions. Users also can respond to alerts, such as a text message that a door was opened, by activating a live feed and turning on lights in the vicinity of the door.

“It is extremely easy to use and to set up how you want the alerts to notify you, whether by a text message or an email message,” Bridges said. “It’s your system--you configure your alerts and documents as you want.”

The system has the ability to tie together multiple responses to an event, such as a door or window opening at an unexpected time.

“The central controller can stream the events together--turn the lights on, start recording a video that is stored at central recorder and sent me a text message,” Bridges said. “That’s really the power of the service.”

The video can be viewed on a Cingular wireless phone or from any broadband-enabled PC, although it has been optimized for subscribers to AT&T Yahoo! DSL service. Broadband users who aren’t Cingular subscribers can use the service solely on their PC.

“It will work with other broadband carriers,” Bridges said. “But it is optimized to work on our systems. I don’t know for sure what Verizon or someone else might do, but it generally works on other broadband carriers.”

The monitoring system is not tied in with either of AT&T’s home entertainment services – U-verse and HomeZone – but that is likely to come down the road, he said. Similarly, the gateway for the monitoring service is likely to become part of a residential gateway at some point.

Because it is an AT&T Business Development service, the monitoring offer isn’t available through either normal AT&T or Cingular channels but only through a Web site, www.att.com/remotemonitor or by calling 800.237.4588.