Cablevision joins the wireless party, plans to cover NYC with WiFi

Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House all threw down in the new Sprint-led Clearwire venture yesterday, but it looks like Cablevision wants in on the fun as well: the company announced today that it's spending $350M on a new wireless broadband network in New York. Unlike the Clearwire partnership, Cablevision is apparently going to use straight-up WiFi for the service, but it's not revealing any details at the moment, saying only that it'll run at 1.5Mbps and eventually handle voice as well. The plan is to get up and running in NYC within two years, and existing customers will be able to log on for free -- and if this really is straight-up WiFi, we'd bet a lot of other people will be joining the fun as well.

[warrrennnnn @ May 8th 2008 8:16PM]

first ;]

[Chino B @ May 8th 2008 8:23PM]

Please low rank this f*cker.

[Matthew @ May 8th 2008 8:23PM]

Maybe time to update your logo Cablevision?

[pal @ May 8th 2008 8:32PM]

whoo hoo... free wifi for me.. :)
oh wait.. it's gonna take 2 years? I'm not sure if I'll be a cablevision customer till then.. or maybe I wouldn't even be in NYC ;)

pal :)

[J L @ May 8th 2008 8:35PM]

This is exactly what I'm talking about (I commented on the other post)

If the companies are smart, existing users will get either free or reduced price for this wireless stuff.

[pal @ May 8th 2008 8:35PM]

they call themselves Optimum now...
This is thier new logo..

http://img.optimum.net/images/header/logo_optimum_152_v2.gif

pal :)

[DT @ May 8th 2008 10:37PM]

I'm not your pal, buddy.

[Reader @ May 8th 2008 10:41PM]

I'm not your buddy, guy.

[Biofeak @ May 8th 2008 11:06PM]

too much south park =[

[schmitty338 @ May 8th 2008 11:33PM]

....one more:

...he's not your guy, Fwend!

[Jesse S @ May 8th 2008 8:41PM]

SWEET! I have Cablevision here in CT, and I love NYC.

pal, they're still called Cablevision. Optimum is simply the name of their consumer division. Lightpath is their business/enterprise/corporate division, etc.

[potato @ May 8th 2008 9:03PM]

Bad idea. We have city WiFi in Toronto, and it sucks, badly. WiFi simply is NOT designed for outdoor use. You can barely get a signal on the street, and unless you know where they hid the access points, it's impossible to find either.

WiFi was and always will be an indoor technology. Let WiMax do the outdoor stuff, plz.

[ShortFuse @ May 8th 2008 9:27PM]

30mbit / 5mbit + 5 Static IPs for $55/mo
and now with free wifi?
WIN!

[Biofeak @ May 8th 2008 11:04PM]

Amazing, i love my boost.

[Paul @ May 8th 2008 10:15PM]

It's already started. I can get free Optimum WiFi at the Hicksville
NY train station; thats on Long Island, it's a 50 min ride into NYC from there; Hicksville is a 10 min ride (by car) from Cablevision HQ.
I just sign in with my ID ( I'm a Optimum online user at home)

[Mike @ May 8th 2008 11:40PM]

You know, as bad as they fucked up the Knicks over the past few years, Cablevision still knows a thing or two about data. I get something like 40 HD channels (with good quality picture) and 15mbps down speeds. And when I say 15mbps down, I mean at night I can get downloads of 1.5 Megabytes per second.

I'm excited for this, but by then I'll probably have to move out of NYC :-(

[warrrennnnn @ May 9th 2008 12:55AM]

hell yeah, i'm the only rank change on here. joke post ftw. sorry eg. i had never done that before, see that winky face? yeah that means i'm doing it the fun.

[Christopher Wilson @ May 9th 2008 3:55AM]

It looks like they're doing NY state in parts where they service, not just NYC.

[Majortom1981 @ May 9th 2008 8:02AM]

They already have this up and running in parts of their service area. IN huntington village, port jeff (at the ferry terminal) in merrik and parts of NJ. (running for about a year or 2)

I have used it before and its rpetty nice. SSID is optimumwifi.

[Jnetty @ May 9th 2008 9:58AM]

What about Long Island Cablevision?
How about you update your HD channels Cablevision!
Update your DVR boxes also, they suck!

[rudy @ May 13th 2008 6:26PM]

Wonder what the speeds will be, I doubt it'll compete with my boost or even boost on a wireless router.

[Stephen J. Marmon @ May 26th 2008 5:58PM]

Cablevision is NOT in NYC, that is Time Warner. Cablevision has all of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, the two suburbs known as Long Island, plus much of CT.

[hemmy @ May 9th 2008 12:30AM]

Cablevision can be found currently in the Bronx and Eastern Brooklyn, and these boroughs are a part of NYC :)

CV used to serve 4 boroughs from what I remember. CV and TW's contracts with NYC are over this year and Verizon is making a big play. Things may change some more.

[PSM @ May 9th 2008 2:59AM]

Didn't know that about Time Warner's contracts. I'm in Manhattan so I have TW, and hate them with a passion. I'm sure it's just like the cell providers -- they all suck, just in different ways. But I wouldn't mind a little competition for the spot of NYC's cable provider. My parents live on the Island and have Optimum (Cablevision). They get more than twice the download and upload speeds that I get. That drives me nuts.