TMCnet News
Time Warner seeks to retain phone costumers(News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 9--Without any fanfare, Time Warner for the past year has been installing backup battery power for its phone customers who threaten to switch to another phone service. The battery-backed devices won't work in most power outages -- highlighting a common problem with cable and Internet phone systems -- but they're apparently enough to keep some customers from canceling their phone service. Fewer than 1,000 customers with Time Warner's phone service have the devices, out of about 80,000 of its phone customers in a 16-county area that includes the Triangle, said Gary Frederick, vice president of the digital phone department in Time Warner's Raleigh division. "We do not market it. It would be misleading," Frederick said. "The reality is that in large, wide scale outages, there is no benefit in having this battery backup." A power outage typically knocks out amplifiers that are mounted on utility poles and required to transmit phone calls over Time Warner's phone system. But if the outage is localized to one house or neighborhood block, it could leave the amplifiers unaffected. In such a circumstance, the device with a rechargeable battery would allow the phone to be used for about four hours. The modems are available for free to Triangle customers who insist on them. A few hundred customers even have them without knowing, because Time Warner used the battery-backed devices during routine installation. In other parts of the country, Time Warner charges extra for the devices. "In cases where it's essential to closing the sale, we will offer it," Frederick said. "And we also wanted to test them." The potential for outages continues to vex phone systems that use cable or the Internet, which compete aggressively for customers with traditional phone companies, such as BellSouth, Verizon and Sprint. Time Warner's phone system uses its cable network. Internet phone services, such as Skype and Vonage, market themselves as a less expensive alternative to conventional phones. But they require high-speed Internet access. Cordless phones that need to be plugged into a wall outlet also won't operate without electricity. But basic land-line phones, as well as cell phones, generally aren't affected by power outages. |