Oceanic Time Warner Cable has announced the opening of 10 authorized retailers on Oahu and Maui. Meanwhile, the last of Hawaiian Telcom’s familiar Phone Mart stores closed on Wednesday.
The former cable-only provider, the state’s only cable company, competes against Hawaiian Telcom by offering digital phone service and cable Internet service — while Hawaiian Telcom, in addition to phone service, also offers Internet service and recently rolled out its own cable TV service.
Four of Oceanic’s authorized retailers are kiosks in malls, and six are in-store operations on Oahu at five Upnext Wireless stores and at Mobile Center USA in Waikiki. More locations are planned for UH-Manoa and at Honolulu, Leeward and Kapiolani community colleges, with details still being firmed up. Neighbor island locations will open at some point in the future.
"Partnering with selected local companies, the program will result in many new locations where customers can learn more about our broad range of services, test our products, and get all their questions answered," said Bob Barlow, Oceanic president, in a statement.
The kiosks are at Ala Moana Center on the first level near Foodland; at Pearlridge Center near Farrell’s; at Windward Mall near Kay Jewelers; and at Queen Kaahumanu Center near Zales Jewelers.
Oceanic’s in-store presence in the Upnext Wireless locations are in Market City Center, on Pensacola Street, in the Chinatown Cultural Plaza and in Waipahu, while Mobile Center USA is on Royal Hawaiian Avenue in Waikiki. A full list with location descriptions and hours can be found online. The kiosks are open during their respective malls’ hours seven days a week. The other locations’ schedules vary, and none of them are set up to accept Oceanic bill payments.
Given our digital age, doing business with Oceanic’s authorized retailers will be different from the days of walking into a Hawaiian Telephone or GTE Hawaiian Tel Phone Mart store, before cellular phones and digital technology pervaded our lives.
Those of a certain age will remember going into Phone Mart to check out the latest new sleek Princess Phone; the old-fashioned, ornately decorated phone; the modern-but-strange one-piece Ericophone; or the super-cute but too-expensive Snoopy phone. Did anybody ever buy that Mallard Duck phone — you know, the one that looked like a hunting decoy?
You’d pick up the handset on any or all of those phones and put it up to your ear, even though you knew there would be no dial tone because the phones weren’t connected to anything.
Insert nostalgic sigh here.
Even after Verizon Hawaii replaced GTE Hawaiian Tel and was then succeeded by Hawaiian Telcom, the Phone Marts with all their fancy gadgetry still offered cheap corded phones so you could have service in the event of a power failure. And you could pay your bill or otherwise manage your account there with the help of a live, usually smiling person.
Two former Hawaiian Telcom Phone Marts, at 1177 Bishop St. and in Pearlridge Center, have been converted to Hawaiian Telcom TV Depot locations.
"Their purpose is to service TV customers," said Ann Nishida, Hawaiian Telcom media relations manager.
The stores were mandated by the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs as a way for the fledgling TV service provider to help customers with equipment exchanges and returns and to help resolve any concerns about the service.
Customers wanting to make a self-service bill payment can use the depots’ phones and computers, or drop boxes, though drop-box payments won’t be immediately posted to customers’ accounts.
The drop box, for checks or money orders only, supplements "our other payment options such as automatic payment, recurring payment via credit card or in person at any First Hawaiian Bank branch," Nishida said.
Reach Erika Engle at erika@staradvertiser.com.
