Cablevision’s Wi-Fi: Getting Muni Wireless Right?

Cablevision Systems is taking on the Kryptonite-like municipal wireless proposition, and it’s doing things large. Or maybe that should be “long.” Because Long Island is the site of the cableco’s brand-new Wi-Fi access network, covering train platforms, parking lots and public spaces in Nassau County and in some areas of Suffolk County.

You remember muni wireless, right? Citywide Wi-Fi mesh networks offering free outdoor access or a tiered model that included free best-efforts and subscription rates for guaranteed throughput? If so, then you also remember that the model spent most of 2007 crashing and spectacularly burning, leaving cities hanging and providers like Earthlink Inc. scrambling to gift the networks to the cities. It wasn’t pretty.

So why on Earth (not EarthLink!) is Cablevision wading in? Doesn’t history repeat itself? In this case, perhaps not.

That’s because of a few things. For one, the network offers real broadband: symmetrical access speeds of 1.5mbps, comparable to a T1. That makes it potentially able to handle a shared, congested environment — an important consideration, considering poor service quality is one of the reasons previous networks failed.

Also, Cablevision isn’t operating in a vacuum. EarthLink, its dial-up business aside, had no embedded base of customers in the cities where it built its star-crossed networks — making for little brand equity. Also, and here’s something: it was giving it away to the public, and it’s kind of hard to make money that way. Even its plan to use the network to serve public safety and other City Hall needs (this time for a price) didn’t prove enough to monetize the model.

Cablevision is making the service free for its existing customers and charging everyone else for quality service. It acts as a retention device (the well-worn “sticky service”) and sweetens the pot for those deciding between DSL from Verizon Communications Inc. and cable modem (and that’s a throw-down not likely to subside anytime soon). And, this strategy gives it a competitive edge when Clearwire Corp. and Sprint-Nextel Corp. go live with WiMAX broadband wireless later this year.

Cablevision also is the fortuitous recipient of a moment in time: Wi-Fi-enabled iPhones might make Optimum look tasty for consumers and professionals alike, especially those in the train-heavy Long Island environs who can use the waiting time to get things done, or update Facebook. Whichever. Meanwhile, 3G data cards are on the rise but using the embedded Wi-Fi client in notebooks is a lot easier, let’s be honest.

So bully for you, Cablevision, bully for you.

Source:

InformationWeek: Nation's Largest Wi-Fi Network' Launched By Cablevision

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