Comcast is making it easier for customers to stay connected and manage their services by putting the answers and tools at their fingertips ? literally.   

The cable network has launched the SMS service Comcast4u and a revamped version of the Comcast Mobile application. The SMS service gives customers instant access to many of the most frequently requested account functions, while the mobile application lets users program their DVR remotely.

?Our overall strategy on the wireless side is to create ways in which our customers can access key services and features outside the home,? said Lynsey Silvesti, spokeswoman for Comcast, Fishers, IN.

?Remote DVR is one example of how we?re doing this ? another example is our High-Speed 2go offering, which is our 4G/3G wireless broadband service that we?re in the process of rolling out,? she said.

Comcast is one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communication products and services.

Comcast4u
The Comcast4u service allows customers to sign up to receive periodic alert messages about important service-related information.

Consumers can text a CALLME request to have a Comcast customer care representative call them back directly in just a few minutes.

The service is now available at no additional charge to Comcast customers in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, New Jersey and Northern Delaware.

It will roll out nationally over the course of the next few months, with most customers expected to have access by the first half of 2011.

Customers can easily sign up or deactivate at any time, as often as they like, and can set and manage their preferences from the Comcast4u portal at http://text.comcast.com.

Users simply register their mobile phone number and provide their Comcast account number to complete registration and personalize the services offered.

Comcast Mobile
IPhone and iPod touch users can now take advantage of an enhanced version of the free Comcast Mobile application to remotely program their DVRs.

The application serves as a single access point to some of Comcast's most popular services, including Comcast.net email, visual voice mail, address book sync, real-time TV listings and trailers of On Demand movies.

The enhanced application includes a new fully-featured TV program guide, which provides a customer's local TV listings line-up, to record programming at home.

Additional new features include push notification alerts, which automatically indicate when new emails and voice mails have arrived, as well as TV show reminders.

Customers also now have the ability to forward pictures and voice mails as an attachment, mark unwanted emails as spam and access external email accounts (POP/IMAP) right from their mobile device.

?We?ve offered rDVR service online, so the mobile version is an extension of that service,? Ms. Silvesti said. ?It?s really about added convenience for our customers ? so, for example, if a customer forgot to schedule a recording of a TV show and they are in their office or just on the go, they can set their DVR from their computer or mobile device.

?Looking ahead, we?re also going to be launching our mobile app on BlackBerry and Android devices,? she said.

Final take
Giselle Tsirulnik is senior editor of Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily
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