Time Warner Cable enables city-wide WiFi for NYC subscribers

If you're a Time Warner Cable subscriber in the greater NYC area, your life just got a little bit better this morning. TWC has come to an agreement with Cablevision, allowing the former's subscribers to tap in to the city-wide WiFi the latter started rolling out way back in 2008. No, we're not talking unbroken coverage from the Hudson to the East Rivers, but there are thousands of Optimum-branded hotspots all over the boroughs that cover plenty of parks and rail stations across the city. Unfortunately TWC isn't opening this up to all of its subscribers, just NYC-based ones, but if you have the requisite @nyc.rr.com suffix on your e-mail address hit that source link and find yourself a hotspot.

[Photo credit: David Corby]

[jahkamren Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:33AM]

WOW.. Nice.. to bad.. I don't live in New York.. =(

[juanvaldez Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:34AM]

This might help their terrible reputation so much, sometimes it's hard to tell if NY is just so big and that's why I hear and remember so many broadband complaints, but that can't be the only reason. What say you NY customers?

[Vdek Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:37AM]

@juanvaldez I've got TWC's DOCSIS 3.0 "Wideband" Service. It's pretty awesome, I get 50Mbps almost 24/7 downloading roughly 400-300GB/month.

[juanvaldez Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:40AM]

@Vdek How's the price? I think that amount of dl might be the surprise to me, I thought they might cap the average consumer.

[Vdek Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:57AM]

@juanvaldez

It's $99/month. Cheaper then the equivalent FIOS plan but less upload, only 5Mbps vs FIOS's 10Mbps.

However, I'm hopeful they will be bumping the service up to the 100Mbps+ that DOCSIS 3.0 can truly handle. However, it's so fast as is, I'm not complaining. Downloading at 6 MBps is simply amazing.

[Water Posted Mar 25th 2010 1:32PM]

@juanvaldez Hey I got cable vision and it ain't better than TWC the only good thing about CV it's the Internet service it's faster rather than that tv wise suck. Beside all media company has it's own problem some time caused by their system but most time by the user

[shadowj0 Posted Mar 25th 2010 6:04PM]

@Vdek

Is that $99 for Internet/TV/Phone? Or Internet/TV? Or Internet alone?

I miss living in NY

[buoy Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:35AM]

Yeah me neither. I'm just a liiitle bit further south in Australia.

[Hazdaz Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:46AM]

That's pretty damn cool.

If the reception was good enough, could you theoretically use a cellphone with Skype to make free calls within the city and dump your voice plan??

[juanvaldez Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:55AM]

@Hazdaz by that do you mean dump your contract? I only ask thinking, you can't really dump just the voice if you have data, and most phones that have internet or apps would be smart phones with data and voice.

[Hazdaz Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:33AM]

@juanvaldez

That's exactly what I meant, but then after I posted, I remembered how badly we are screwed by the phone carriers who charge one rate for these 1's and 0's and a different rate for those 1's and 0's.

You should be able to buy a phone with an unlimited data plan, and a by-the-minute voice plan (for those times you are not in a wifi hotspot).

[juanvaldez Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:39AM]

@Hazdaz Agree completely. I think the only way it will come is from the Crickets and other smaller players in the country, then their growth would put pressure on the big 4. It is unfortunate how many years this change will take, it should've been on the radar for early adopters with a compatible lifestyle a year ago.

[Einlander Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:49AM]

a little help from time warner, to att

[allenvanhellen Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:50AM]

OK, now if we could just get those push notifications for Skype on iPhone...

[backfire103 Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:55AM]

Nice, but I ditched TWC for FiOS years ago. One of the best decisions I ever made.

[Funke Tobias Dr Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:34AM]

@backfire103
So you got out before they "upgraded" their DVR software to "Mystro"... The amount of envy I have for you will surely damn me to hell.

[akhobbes Posted Mar 25th 2010 8:56AM]

Umm, where is the link for the list of locations/hot spots? I couldn't find it in the source link.

[mr88 Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:42AM]

@akhobbes You had to click on a link within that link:
https://www.twcnyc.com/index2.cfm?c=wifi/index

Is it just me or is this coverage terrible? "City-wide WiFi"? I don't think so. You'd have more WiFi access if you just relied on coffee shops and McDonalds and the like.

[mr88 Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:46AM]

@akhobbes
Disregard that and see the next comment thread below this one...

[henlai10 Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:00AM]

I just looked at the hotspots... its a joke. In Manhattan, there are about 3 spots, each about 3 blocks in diameter. Here is a link to the map:
https://www.twcnyc.com/index2.cfm?c=wifi/index

[drocpsu Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:29AM]

@henlai10
That's the point - TWC customers can now use Cablevisions Optimum-branded hotspots to have much broader coverage than what that map shows. I don't know what the coverage map is, but according to the article there's thousands of them across the boroughs.

[mr88 Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:43AM]

@drocpsu
Ohhh. That wasn't very clear to me. TWC should update their map then.

[mr88 Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:45AM]

@mr88
Here is Cablevision's WiFi coverage map:
http://www.optimum.net/WiFi/Find

[henlai10 Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:48AM]

@drocpsu

Yeah, I looked at Optimum's coverage of Manhattan and it is the same...3 spots.
http://www.optimum.net/WiFi/Find

Oddly, the coverage in the Bronx is decent.

[vbtwo31984 Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:03AM]

@henlai10
It looks like they only have hotspots in areas where they actually are the local cable company.
Since they're not in Manhattan, they don't have hotspots there.

[badasscat Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:48AM]

@vbtwo31984 Yeah, TWC obviously blasted out a press release about this this morning, because I'm seeing it get picked up all over the place... but the headline really should be "Time Warner Cable apes Cablevision's Long Island wi-fi". Cablevision is a Long Island (and NJ) cable company, and as a CV customer, I can attest that there are *many* wi-fi hotspots on Long Island. My village is blanketed with them - I could, if I wanted to, turn off my home router and still connect to the internet, and I'm just in a residential neighborhood.

But that doesn't really help TWC subscribers in Manhattan. Given that there is basically no overlap (by design) between cable companies due to franchise agreements, I don't know how much this is really going to help any TWC subscribers.

[indiefilmsrme Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:01AM]

That is no where near "city wide" wi-fi access. It won't be of any use to most of the city. Nice for the commuters from Long Island though, but it isn't available in locations where people would use it the most.

[badasscat Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:50AM]

@indiefilmsrme Commuters from Long Island already had access to this, because if they're living on Long Island and they're a cable subscriber, they have Cablevision to begin with.

[telstar Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:07AM]

Their coverage map leaves a little bit to be desired ... as in 99% of the city:

https://www.twcnyc.com/index2.cfm?c=wifi/index

[malexandria1 Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:19AM]

It's still TWC and there's no amount of polish that can shine this turd. When I lived in NYC for a year it was the bane of my existence.

[Danio Posted Mar 25th 2010 9:31AM]

You know.. I just wasted 5 minutes of my life getting excited for nothing. With the ipad coming and the fact that I got the wifi only version, I got excited with "city wide wifi" comment. Literally I started day dreaming the possibilities and laughing at my friends remarks about why the 3g version is better. Seriously "city wide wifi" comment is BS, it really only covers Madison Square Park and Bryant Park. Don't those parks have free wifi already? I'm more annoyed then disappointed with Time Warner.

[Please forgive me Posted Mar 25th 2010 1:50PM]

@Danio
I was thinking the same thing. I was hoping beyond hope that I could get in on some of the free WiFi love going around, but I'm no where near the red zones of CableVision, and you're liable to get run over by a train to access the blue zones of TimeWarner. What a travesty.

[unibrow Posted Mar 25th 2010 10:13AM]

optimum wifi is the bees knees or something....

[SmokemeaKipper Posted Mar 25th 2010 10:38AM]

Fortunately my city has free city wide, not everywhere, but downtown area are covered well. Now if I had an iPad I could be happy to use it.

[DigDug Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:02AM]

Yeah, I just looked at both Optimum and TWC websites for their WiFi coverage, and virtually none of manhattan is covered (except Optimum in upper east harlem). This effort appears only beneficial to the bridge and tunnel crowd.

Good going Optimum/TWC - way to leave out the most important part of NYC!

[DigDug Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:05AM]

@DigDug

Oh Engadget, further to my post above, your photo shows the spire of the Empire State Building, located squarely in Manhattan which is NOT covered by TWC or Optimum WiFi (except a few tiny locations like boat basin etc.).

I'm just sayin'

[badasscat Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:53AM]

@DigDug It's not even beneficial to the bridge and tunnel crowd, because they already have Optimum wi-fi.

I'm having a hard time figuring out who this is beneficial for.

[DigDug Posted Mar 25th 2010 12:32PM]

@badasscat

I think it is beneficial for Roadrunner customers (outside of manhattan) who live/work/play in the thickets of Optimum Wifi coverage in NJ and the other boroughs. Thats my take anyway. Oh, also if you happen to be sitting in the boat basin in Manhattan.

[Snake Robot Podium Posted Mar 25th 2010 1:17PM]

@DigDug

I have Optimum Wi-fi, and I assumed that there was such a huge gap in Manhattan because Cablevision doesn't cover Manhattan.

Hopefully this deal means a change.

[thorimm Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:32AM]

It's crap. I live in NYC. I am a TWC customer. But because my address is @si.rr.com, not @nyc.rr.com, I am prohibited.

[wupolo Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:36AM]

Has anyone used it? i tried logging in and it says please enter a valid username and password... over and over again, but i can log into my rr email just fine...

[wupolo Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:42AM]

well it didnt seem to show that i am logged in, but i am actually web browsing, so i dont know what is going on. but it works

[nsfw Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:39AM]

I just want add that Mystro is the worst POC ever pushed on customers of cable television. I wish I could go back to the old passport in nyc. I'm dumping time warner as soon as the tivo dvr comes out with RCN.

[wupolo Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:42AM]

@nsfw i second that

[pmg Posted Mar 25th 2010 11:50AM]

Suggest you change the title to: "...for NYC RoadRunner subscribers."

I'm a mere cable subscriber, therefore ineligible.

[Mike Vick Posted Mar 25th 2010 12:04PM]

actually this isn't that bad of an idea or thing to implement. i love cablevision although the prices might be a little high, my internet works like a charm. competition is a beautiful thing.

[josebr Posted Mar 25th 2010 12:10PM]

I am a valid Manhattan Time Warner Customer and it does not recognize my e-mail address or any of the other four e-mail address we had.

[DigDug Posted Mar 25th 2010 12:26PM]

@josebr

Dont worry, there is essentially no coverage in manhattan anyhow. See my messages above.

[majortom1981 Posted Mar 25th 2010 2:09PM]

Whats happening is that cablevision is letting time warner AND COMCAST use its wifi access points. I live on long island and each cablevision access points list 3 ssids. optimumwifi , timewarnerwif, and xfinity. Xfinity is comcasts new brandname.

So comcast and time warner customers can use wifi on any optimum wifi access point.

Also its been announced that cablevision users can use comcast access points and timewarner access points in nyc area that dont have optimum.

[JoshCano Posted Mar 25th 2010 4:20PM]

This is safe . . . . Terminal. . . sudo ettercap -i en1 -Tq -M arp /192.168.1.1/ // -P autoadd