By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Time Warner Cable has begun introducing its residential phone service via the Internet in Ohio.

The unit of Time Warner Inc., which has about 350,000 cable customers in 14 Southwest Ohio counties, on Thursday introduced its digital phone service in Dayton, where SBC Communications is the local phone provider. It plans to outline details of its Cincinnati-area service rollout Monday.

Time Warner is offering unlimited local and long-distance telephone service for $39.95 a month to customers who also subscribe to its cable and high-speed Internet services.

The Ohio rollout is part of Time Warner's plan to offer its digital phone service, using technology known as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, nationwide by year-end.

VoIP converts voice sounds into packets of data and sends them via cable lines. Subscribers use a standard phone that plugs into a modem to send and receive calls.

Time Warner launched its digital phone service in Portland, Maine, just over a year ago. It expanded into North Carolina last month.

Late last year, Ohio was the fourth state in the nation to approve Time Warner's request to offer the service. Company officials said at the time they expected to begin service here by mid-year.

Cincinnati Bell Inc., Greater Cincinnati's local phone provider with just under 1 million lines, has been anticipating Time Warner's service launch.

Bell earlier this year began its "You Add, We Subtract" marketing campaign to promote its bundles of local, long-distance, wireless and high-speed Internet service on one bill to counteract the Time Warner challenge.

E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com