VoIP competition --
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Time Warner VoIP
Details
Several markets ready for launch
Written by Karl Bode
According to sources we've spoken to, Time Warner's VoIP launch is very close, with several markets ready to go live in May. Time Warner has spent the past year making the rounds, trying to get regulatory approval for the upcoming launch of its "digital phone" service in its 31 markets - and beyond.
The service will require a replacement Motorola modem, which should include both the modem and the VoIP chipset in one unit, requiring minimal rewiring and desk real-estate. Instead of requiring a separate device, several companies - including Texas Instruments and Vonage- are pushing toward the all-in-one device approach, be it routers or modems with integrated VoIP chips.
The company's full-feature (unlimited local and domestic long distance) VoIP service should ring in around $50 a month, though Time Warner (Earthlink, Roadrunner) users who bundle should be able to get the service for $39.99 (these prices may vary by market). The service now provides Time Warner with the "triple threat" (video, voice, data) they've been eager to use in their war on incumbent bells. As mentioned recently, the company is even considering offering wireless service.
Time Warner has struck deals with both MCI and Sprint to offer the VoIP service in markets that aren't served by the nation's second largest cable provider. The company's trial in Portland, Maine, saw considerable success, some 8,000 of the region's 40,000 high-speed-Internet subscribers signed up for Time Warner Digital Phone service in a matter of months. Some reports indicated the service was attracting some 300 customers per week. Those trials were then extended to portions of New York State and the Carolinas.
As is usual with Time Warner deployments, their largest market - New York City - is expected to be the last to see the service after kinks in the system get ironed out. It's in that market that Time Warner will do battle with Cablevision, who recently announced they'd signed up some 30,000 subscribers to their Optimum Voice service in the last four months of 2003. |
