Comcast Debuts Overseas Calling

Cable operator offers international VoIP service.

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/1/2008 3:17:00 PM

Cable operator Comcast is now offering four different international-calling plans to customers of its voice-over-Internet-protocol phone service.

Comcast’s new “International Carefree Minutes” plans offer customers flat rates for calls made to more than 30 countries around the world.

The “Western Europe 100” -- which costs $4.95 per month in addition to a customer’s existing plan, or less than $0.05 per minute -- provides 100 minutes to call landline phones in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Comcast provides similar $4.95 plans for 100 minutes of calls to Mexico and Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. A Latin America 100 plan that costs $9.95 per month, or less than $0.10 per minute, provides 100 minutes of calls to landline phones in Brazil, Columbia, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua.

Comcast triple-play customers who sign up for Carefree Minutes will get one free month of an international calling plan providing 100 minutes of talk time during that month to the designated calling region at no additional cost.

“We want to make it easy for our customers to stay in touch with their family and friends, even if they live on the other side of the world, and our new international calling plans are another way we provide that capability -- and at a great value,” said Cathy Avgiris, senior vice president and general manager of Comcast Voice Services, in a statement.