Emporia’s CableOne is now in the phone business, offering both local and long-distance service for $29.95 a month.
The company’s new digital phone service launched on April 23 and has 100 customers so far. Emporia manager Joe Michaels said this has been in the works for about a year and was rolled out in a few other U.S. test markets before coming here.
“We haven’t done a lot of advertising on it yet because we didn’t want to be backlogged on calls and frustrate our customers,” Michaels said.
“So it’s been spread mostly by word of mouth.”
That’s about to change. CableOne will roll out its formal advertising campaign by the end of this month.
Customers can keep their old phone and their old phone number.
Phone service would be provided through the cable connection and will not be blocked if the customer is on the Internet.
The plan includes unlimited calling within the continental United States, call waiting and call forwarding, three-way calling, call return, caller ID blocking and rejection of any anonymous calls. Customers can also add caller ID and voice mail for an additional $7.
Those interested can call CableOne at 342-3535.
CableOne provides service in the city of Emporia, the Green Acres mobile home park and some rural areas southeast of Emporia.