The same cable lines that carry television and Internet intolocal homes will soon carry yet another service — digitaltelephone.
Cox Communications, one of the nation’s largest cable televisionproviders, will provide the new service, Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP), to its 180,000 customers in Baton Rouge beginningnext week.
According to company data, 1.1 million of the company’s 6.6million customers subscribe to the service that will carry voiceover the company’s private data network rather than the Internet,differing the service from that of other digital telephoneproviders such as Vonage, said Sharon Kleinpeter, vice president ofgovernment and public affairs.
“Services like Vonage are more of a ‘second-line’ service,”Kleinpeter said. “Our service will be a replacement for traditionaltelephone service.”
Kleinpeter said the change from traditional telephone service todigital service usually is a seamless transition for the customer.Kleinpeter said the VoIP cable modem will connect to the telephonejunction box outside most homes, making all of the interior phonejacks part of the new service. She said the new digital signalsounds cleaner than traditional phone service.
Kleinpeter said, as a general rule, they try to undercuttraditional telephone providers by about 10 percent. Additionally,customers who subscribe to the company’s cable and Internetservices will receive special rates on the new digital telephoneservice.
Kleinpeter said broadband Internet service is not required forthe VoIP service. Cox will give current Internet servicesubscribers a replacement cable modem compatible with the newservice at no charge.
“It will actually save people money,” Kleinpeter said. “That’sone of the benefits of bundled services.”