Cablevision announced it has dramatically bumped up the speed of its Optimum Wi-Fi network--to 15 Mbps downstream from its previous speed of 3 Mbps. The network now spans tens of thousands of outdoor access points and thousands of indoor locations across the New York metro area.
Cablevision has been offering Optimum Wi-Fi service, built by BelAir Networks, as a tool to not only compete with the likes of Verizon's programming and fixed broadband offerings, but also wireless operators. Cablevision customers have access to it for free. The cable provider said that the new data speeds--which also bump the upstream speeds from 1.5 Mbps to 4 Mbps--offer wireless data services dramatically faster than both 3G and 4G networks and more than three times as fast as the nation's average residential wired broadband service.
Cablevision said the service has been used by over 500,000 customers and that 60 percent of its customers use it more than 10 times a month. The network focused on high-traffic outdoor locations like downtown areas, commuter rail platforms and parking lots and parks. Additionally, in partnership with Optimum Business, Cablevision said it has activated Wi-Fi access points inside more than 7,000 businesses that subscribe to the company's high-speed Internet and phone services as a free value-added enhancement.
Top outdoor usage areas for Optimum Wi-Fi continue to be downtown areas and commuter rail station parking lots and train platforms, the company said. Cablevision said it has submitted formal proposals to both the MTA and NJ Transit, in response to requests for proposals, to extend Optimum Wi-Fi access to commuter trains across the New York metro area as well. Top indoor locations wired in partnership with Optimum Business are restaurants and health clubs. Cablevision has also expanded the reach of its own Wi-Fi network by interconnecting with Wi-Fi deployments by other cable providers Comcast and Time Warner Cable, so customers of all three companies can roam freely across these three Wi-Fi networks.
For more:
- see this release
- see this FierceCable article
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