Just a week after exposing serious insufficiencies in a 911 emergency services database, a report from a Syracuse, New York television station finds Time Warner Cable’s “Digital Phone” service has a new problem — incoming calls increasingly are not getting through.

Callers using Verizon, Frontier, or cell phone lines are getting recorded messages indicating “all circuits are busy” when trying to reach customers using the cable company’s Voice Over IP phone service.  Time Warner officials are well aware of the problem.

The cable company tells WSYR-TV the problem is on inbound calls only, and is being caused by an unusual spike in the volume of calls to the company’s customers.  When all incoming lines are in use, callers will hear a recorded message.

The company says it is working to expand incoming call capacity in the next week to ten days, and until then advises callers to simply keep trying — once another customer hangs up, a line will be available for your call.

Time Warner says they routinely expand call capacity based on predicted call volumes, but this winter the number of inbound calls went beyond expectations.  Time Warner bundles its “digital phone” service with cable and broadband packages, and has picked up a significant percentage of customers who have cut the cord of their traditional phone company.

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSYR Syracuse Time Warner Cable Phone Problems 1-13-11.flv[/flv]

WSYR-TV in Syracuse covers Time Warner’s latest glitch — problems with their ‘Digital Phone’ service.  (Warning: Loud Volume) (2 minutes)