Comcast’s Peoria Play
Nation’s Largest Distributor Brings Brand To Former Insight Systems
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 2/24/2008 3:14:00 AM
Comcast is in the process of seeing if its services will play in Peoria.
Actually not just that city, but a number of municipalities in Illinois and Indiana that it now serves after the breakup of its 50-50 partnership with Insight Communications.
Comcast began last week to migrate phone and Internet customers previously served by Insight in the two states where the Philadelphia-based cable giant acquired former Insight customers.
The conversion affects 400,000 video customers in central Illinois and about 250,000 subscribers in Indiana.
One big hurdle in an ownership change has already been vaulted: the back-office systems have been converted.
Rich Ruggerio, vice president of communications and public affairs in Illinois, said Insight's customers were tracked and billed with Convergys' Icoms system. Comcast's systems in the region use billing software from CSG Systems and Amdocs.
That changeover to Comcast billing platforms has been completed and Insight customers are getting their first bills from their new provider, he said, adding the changeover was unremarkable.
The first services to switch over to Comcast are digital voice and Internet services, a process that began last week.
Consumers will have the challenge of changing their e-mail accounts to the comcast.net domain, but the service should remain the same, Ruggerio said.
Insight had improved its speeds to 10 Megabyte upstream and 1 Mb downstream; Comcast will add its Powerboost download-acceleration option to homes in the market.
Features will also be added to phone service, such as allowing customers to log onto Comcast's Internet site and view all their phone activity, or to play a phone message that has been left for them. The phone conversion should be completed by March 21.
Video will be the last service to make the transition, Ruggerio said. Comcast has not announced any changes in pricing and packaging for 1.2 million homes passed in the former Insight systems.
Channel lineups there are similar to Comcast's offerings, but there could be some alignment of tiers, he indicated. At this point, though, Comcast's attention has been on conversion logistics, not programming elements, he said.
Comcast has been rebranding some of its service vehicles, but building signs and employee uniforms won't be changed for up to two months, the operator anticipates.
The conversion is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter.
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