Comcast Self-Install VoIP Kits Launching within six months...

11:37AM Tuesday Sep 04 2007

Comcast is now offering self-install VoIP voice kits, and is testing self-install wireless phone VoIP kits in San Francisco, with launch expected in Boston, Denver and Philadelphia within six months. The switch should drastically reduce Comcast VoIP install costs, giving them a leg up in the triple-play battle with phone operators.

Verizon incurs $880 on average per customer to get TV installed. While Comcast added 671,000 VoIP customers last quarter, Verizon lost 723,000 landline customers while adding 167,000 TV customers. "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. "It's for the customer who says, 'I want the service, and I want it now,'" said Avgiris."

Comcast VoIP is exploding -- the company added three million VoIP customers in just two years, quickly becoming the nation's largest VoIP operator.

The company has had to hire 12,000 people in the past year and a half to help manage VoIP demand, and will spend $450 million adding telephone customers in 2008.