By Kathryn Balint
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Time Warner Cable has begun offering telephone service to some of its cable TV and high-speed Internet customers, becoming the second major cable company in San Diego County to compete against SBC Communications.

The move fuels the fierce battle for customers among the giants of the telephone and the cable industries, particularly in the county. As traditional telephone companies such as SBC have begun offering satellite TV service, the cable companies have launched telephone service.

«Here is more evidence of a thriving, competitive, intense environment in telecommunications in San Diego,» SBC spokesman John Britton said. «We think choice is a positive thing for customers when companies are investing for the good of our state.»

Time Warner quietly began offering telephone service to its customers in Mira Mesa and Tierrasanta earlier this month. It plans to expand soon into Scripps Ranch and Clairemont.

The service costs $19.95 a month for the first three months and $39.95 a month after that for residential customers who already subscribe to Time Warner’s cable TV and high-speed Internet service. The monthly cost is $44.95 for customers who subscribe to only one of Time Warner’s other services.

Time Warner’s «digital phone» service offers unlimited local and long-distance calls to anywhere in the United States and its territories. The service also includes call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID and an unpublished number at no extra charge. There is no installation fee.

Unlike traditional circuit-switched phone service, Time Warner’s digital telephone service uses voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) technology, transmitting voice in much the same way that e-mails are sent. But instead of using the public Internet to transmit calls, Time Warner uses its own network, making its voice data more secure and more reliable.

Time Warner’s partner, MCI, connects digital phone subscribers to the publicly switched telephone network.

«We have gotten incredibly good response, but it’s been a very limited offering of the service,» said Judy Walsh, president and chief executive of Time Warner’s San Diego division.

«Now our customers in San Diego with digital phone can enjoy all these free standard calling features as part of their phone package. They can spend all the time they want talking to friends and family across the country, and they don’t have to worry about the cost,» Walsh said.

The service is still in the «test mode,» she said. Customers are asked to give Time Warner feedback on the quality of the service.

Once all of the bugs are worked out, digital phone will gets its official San Diego County launch, probably by the end of the year, Walsh said. It will take until the middle of next year before Time Warner can offer service to all of its customers in the county, she said.

In the meantime, Time Warner has started a list of customers interested in subscribing to its new phone service when it becomes available. Additional information is as the company’s Web site, www.twcsd.com.

Time Warner provides cable television and high-speed Internet services to more than 200,000 customers, primarily in the northern areas of the city of San Diego, Coronado and part of Poway.

Cox Communications, the other major cable company in San Diego County, began offering telephone service in 1998. It has a calling plan similar to Time Warner’s, offering unlimited long-distance calls in the United States, starting at $38.89 a month.

SBC’s equivalent calling plan costs $42 a month.

The cable and the traditional phone companies offer «bundled» services at a discount to keep their customers from straying. When a customer buys a package with TV, phone service and high-speed Internet access, it’s called a «triple play» in the industry.

«There’s no doubt the bundle has become the choice of consumers because they get the convenience of one bill and dealing with one company,» SBC’s Britton said. «You get value, no matter which company you’re dealing with.»

Time Warner began exploring circuit-switched telephone service in 1993 in Rochester, N. Y. The company later decided to offer VOIP service, starting in 2000 with trials in Rochester and Portland, Maine.

Time Warner officially launched its digital phone service in February 2003 in Portland, Maine. Since then, it has been rolled out in about 20 of its 30 markets nationwide.

The company plans to provide telephone service in all of its markets by the end of this year, Walsh said.