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Comcast to Deliver Digital Phone Service; Will Use Its Existing Network, Not the Public Internet

Posted on: Monday, 18 April 2005, 15:00 CDT

The Patriot Ledger

BOSTON - Comcast Corp. CEO Brian Roberts unveiled plans yesterday to compete with traditional phone providers in the Boston market such as Verizon by launching a new digital service here next month.

Roberts, speaking at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast, said his company is ready to expand beyond its test markets with its Voice over Internet Protocol service, known as "Comcast Digital Voice."

"We want to push the envelope in many businesses we're in because we have such intense competition," Roberts said.

Comcast's service will be among the most expensive phone plans that rely on VoIP technology - a way of transmitting phone calls by turning conversations into packets of digital data.

But Roberts said the extra expense will be worth it, largely because the communications will be transmitted using Comcast's existing network and not the public Internet, which most providers of VoIP service use.

Comcast will use the lines that it currently relies on to transmit its digital television and high-speed Internet services. Roberts said the quality and special features of its new phone service will be better than what's offered through phone calls over the public Internet, and consumers can be guaranteed emergency 911 location service that resembles what traditional phone service offers.

Roberts also said he expects it won't be long before the company can offer video phone service, too.

"We think our VoIP is different than the other Voice over IP (plans) that you've been hearing about," Roberts said.

Comcast, the state's largest cable company, has been slow to enter the Voice over Internet Protocol business. But it has had a limited phone service business that uses a different technology. Comcast started some test marketing in its home city of Philadelphia, as well as communities in western Massachusetts, last year. At the time, company officials said it expected to bring VoIP service to Boston in 2005. Meanwhile, New York-based Verizon Communications, the primary provider of local phone service in this state, launched nationwide Internet-based phone service last summer. Eventually, Verizon plans to move calls through an elaborate, high- tech switching system that it's developing. But, for now, Verizon's calls move over the public Internet, like those offered by competitors such as Vonage.

Comcast plans to sell packages of unlimited local and long- distance service to residential customers for $40 a month for those who already subscribe to Comcast cable and high-speed Internet service.

For customers who only have Comcast for either cable or high- speed Internet, the price of the phone service rises to $45 a month. And customers without either cable or high-speed Internet service from Comcast will pay $55 a month.

That compares with Verizon's $30-a-month price for an unlimited calling option for customers who already have Verizon broadband, and $35 a month for those who have another Internet provider, such as Comcast. Verizon also recently launched a plan that costs as low as $20 a month for 500 minutes of local and long distance calls.

"They are entering an extremely competitive arena," Bobbi Henson, a Verizon spokeswoman, said of Comcast. "And their pricing does not look extremely competitive."

Marc Goodman, a spokesman for Comcast, noted that customers won't need a high-speed modem to make phone calls with Comcast's new phone service. However, consumers would need a high-speed Internet connection to take advantage of digital phone plans currently offered by Verizon, Vonage and others that use the public Internet.

Comcast plans to start its eastern Massachusetts launch of its "Digital Voice" service in Boston first, and then spread the service to nearby communities in the next several months, Goodman said.

Comcast also plans to offer its digital phone service in the Hartford market next month, and up to 20 major markets by the end of the year. All of Comcast's markets are expected to offer the service by the end of next year.

Jon Chesto may be reached at jchesto@ledger.com.

Source: Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass.

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