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Comcast Corp. to Test Internet-Telephone Service in Hartford, Conn.

Posted on: Friday, 10 October 2003, 06:00 CDT

Oct. 10--Comcast Corp., the state's largest cable TV provider, says the Hartford market is one of three places it will test a new service for connecting telephone calls over the Internet.

Scheduled for sometime next year, the test is regarded as a key tryout of an Internet-based phone technology that could pose a major competitive challenge to traditional phone companies.

Kevin Casey, Comcast's senior vice president for New England, said he can not be more specific about when the Internet telephone testing would begin.

But he said the company sees Internet phone calling as the first step in a broader strategy to bring more advanced services to customers.

Those advanced services might include video phones and links between the phone and television, Casey said. An example might be a feature that would use caller ID to flash the number of an incoming caller on the TV screen, allowing the consumer to decide whether to answer the call.

No information on packaging or pricing of the service was immediately available, though some comparable services have offered flat-rate calling plans designed to be less expensive than traditional local- and long-distance plans. Casey said work on creating the infrastructure needed for Internet telephoning remains in the planning stage.

Comcast and several other cable companies are already using their cable TV networks to offer residential telephone service to consumers. But the new service would use an emerging technology called VOIP, short for "voice over Internet protocol."

VOIP is aimed at slashing long-distance calling costs by bypassing the regular long-distance phone network and instead routing calls over the Internet for some or all of the journey.

"The beauty of voice over IP is that it's an enabling platform that lets us bring more advanced functionality to market faster and more cost-effectively," Casey said.

Other test markets planned by Comcast include Indianapolis and Springfield, Mass. The company is currently conducting a similar test in Philadelphia, where Comcast has its headquarters.

Using the Internet to carry telephone calls has been possible for several years. But use of the technology has been limited by technical difficulties that sometimes result in poor sound quality or lagging response times.

A successful test of VOIP by Comcast could ratchet up competition in a telecommunications market slumping from overinvestment and weak demand.

Part of the price advantage that Internet telephoning enjoys is that it is not subject to the taxes and fees imposed on traditional telephone communications. That may change if government regulators see large numbers of consumers and businesses moving their voice calling to Internet-based services.

But earlier this week, a federal judge in Minnesota barred officials in that state from treating a company that sends telephone calls over the Internet as if it were a traditional telephone company.

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To see more of The Hartford Courant, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ctnow.com

(c) 2003, The Hartford Courant, Conn. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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