By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Time Warner now says it will bring residential phone service through cable Internet modems to Southwest Ohio by the middle of this year, company officials said Tuesday. It's a move that could set off a price war for telephone service locally.

The company's regional operation and its other three Ohio divisions received clearance late last year from state regulators to offer the service. Cincinnati Bell and other traditional phone companies protested.

"Our plan is to have it offered in all our Ohio markets by the end of the year, and to Cincinnati by the middle of the year, although some markets may get it before that," said Jennifer Mooney, Time Warner vice president of public affairs.

Called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, the new service would use the Internet to send and receive calls, breaking voice sounds into information packets, which uses less space on data lines than pure voices.

Users will plug a standard phone into the normal wall jacks, which will be connected to a separate cable modem that feeds all phone lines from where the cable line enters the house. Questions about reliability, security and other issues have yet to be answered.

Time Warner provides cable and Internet services to about 350,000 subscribers in 14 counties in Southwest Ohio and operates in Dayton, Columbus and Akron. The company plans to charge $39.95 for local calls and unlimited long distance.

Cincinnati Bell argued to regulators that Time Warner should be forced to offer customers a choice for their long-distance providers and shouldn't be permitted to bundle its phone services with no choice. It has yet to decide whether to appeal the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio decision. Commission officials said at the time of their decision that Cincinnati Bell could also apply for a waiver for such a "bundling" option.

Time Warner already offers Internet phone service in two other states and has regulatory approval to start the service in New York, with applications pending in three other states.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com