Cablevision Systems Corp. has began offering up to four phone lines per household to users of its Optimum Voice digital telephone service.

Customers with existing digital voice accounts will be able to add up to three additional lines for just $14.95 per month each. A Cablevision spokesman claims that this is less than half what traditional phone companies charge for an equivalent service.

This new add-on is targeted towards customers with home offices, and those who wish to set up seperate phone lines for their children.

“Optimum Voice has already attracted nearly a third of all residential voice customers in Cablevision’s market, and the availability of multiple lines further extends the value of this top-rated service,” commented the company’s senior vice president of product management, John Trierweiler.

A spokeswoman with Cablevision’s main telephone competitor, Verizon, meanwhile, called the new offer a desperate attempt by the cable company to offer a service that’s not nearly as reliable as Verizon. Cablevision is forced to slash prices because they know they can’t succeed any other way, she wrote in an emailed statement.

Cablevision quickly answered, however, with an equally scathing rebuttal. Apparently Verizon isn’t paying attention, because this is not a price change but rather an entirely new service that is now available to Optimum customers for less than than half as much as the phone company charges, a Cablevision spokesman said.