Comcast rings up phone service for area

Comcast Corp. today formally jumped into the Colorado Springs area telephone market, adding the service to its menu of telecommunications offerings.

The rollout allows the Philadelphia-based cable television giant to start selling its “triple play” of television, telephone and Internet access to new customers at $99 a month for a year before the discounts expire and the price goes to $135.45 a month.

Comcast will sell telephone service to existing customers at $33 a month for six months if they get cable television services and for a year if they also get Internet access. After the discount expires, the monthly price goes to $44.95 or $39.95, respectively.

The service is provided through Internet technology over Comcast’s cable network, but the company said calls do not travel over the Internet. Comcast technicians install the service so it uses existing wiring, phone jacks and phones; installation fees range from $49 to $75.

The phone service includes unlimited local and U.S. longdistance calls, and a variety of calling features that include call waiting, voice mail and caller ID. Comcast phone customers also can listen to their voice mail messages through the Internet.

Comcast began testing its telephone system in May with some employees and began quietly selling the service to customers early this month.

“The response so far has been better than expected,” said Bill Mosher, Comcast’s vice president of marketing in Colorado. “We are finding that people in Colorado Springs, just like those in northern Colorado, are looking for choice in their phone service.”

The company now sells telephone service to more than 3 million customers in 70 cities, including the Denver area and several in northern Colorado.

Comcast is spending $16 million to upgrade its Springs cable system to offer telephone and other services. The nearly completed upgrade also has allowed the company to:

- Boost Internet access speeds from 4 megabits per second to 6 megabits per second.

- Convert the channels on its local system to digital broadcasting.

- Expand its video-on-demand system, which allows customers to watch programs when they want with the push of a button. The service includes some movies offered the same day they are released on DVDs, a pilot program Comcast is testing in Colorado.

- Add six high-definition channels to the 13 it previously offered.

“Once you complete investments like this, it gives you the opportunity to introduce new services like these at a very rapid rate,” Mosher said.

Comcast plans to soon roll out other new services in the Springs. One possibility — cell service through an agreement the company has with Sprint Nextel Corp. Comcast’s Pivot cell service is now offered to customers in parts of Oregon and Washington.

Comcast bought the local cable system last year from the bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0234 or wayneh@gazette.com

Adding jobs

Comcast Corp. said this week it is expanding the staff at its Colorado Springs customer service center by 85 employees by year’s end.

The center now employs 250, including 215 agents who answer customer calls, and will hire 85 more agents to handle calls for its new telephone service rolled out today and other new and expanded services, said Bill Mosher, Comcast’s vice president of marketing in Colorado.

The company opened the center at 4920 Centennial Blvd. late last year to handle customer calls from the Springs, Pueblo and Trinidad. The center handles billing, sales, repair and technical-support calls for Comcast’s television, Internet and telephone services.

The 56,000-square-foot center can accommodate up to 400 employees. The company also employs 300 people to operate, service and handle customer installations in the Springs. For more information, go to www.comcast.com/corporate/about/careers/careers.html