Self install VoIP kits from Comcast
Comcast is testing do-it-yourself kits in San Francisco and will offer them in Boston, Denver and its hometown in the next six months, Cathy Avgiris, senior vice president and head of voice services, said in an interview.
The plan may save Comcast a $200 to $300 service call to install phones for its cable customers, estimates RBC Capital Markets analyst Jonathan Atkin. The company, which has about 3 million phone customers, anticipates 11 million subscribers by 2010. It has hired 12,000 people in the past year and a half mostly to deal with surging demand for telephone service.
The kits may also give Comcast a cost advantage over phone companies including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., the two largest in the U.S. Verizon spent $880 on average for service calls to install television service last year, according to Atkin, who is based in San Francisco. He rates Comcast and Verizon shares ``sector perform'' and AT&T as ``outperform.''
Comcast tentatively plans to charge customers $250 for three cordless phones that link to their cable modems. The total time from opening the box to getting a dial tone is 30 minutes or less, Avgiris said.
Comcast's Internet-based phone service allows subscribers to listen to voice-mail over the Internet, download copies of messages and forward them in e-mails. The cordless phones also provide limited e-mail access and some Web services including sports and weather, according to Avgiris.
Those may be features Comcast will want to offer if the company decides to expand into wireless
``We want to own the customer's experience in the home and where possible extend that experience,'' said Avgiris.
Bloomberg news
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