Cablevison’s Long Island WiFi goes live

Cablevision’s Long Island customers now have access to 1.5MBPS symmetric WiFi. It’s a nice bonus from one of the usually villainous Cable Guys. At a cost of a paltry $100 per subscriber, it may be one of the most creatively inexpensive  customer retention ideas ever in the MSO business. I wonder if there will be a run up in the sales of VoIP WiFi handsets on LI?

The move helps Cablevision differentiate themselves from FiOS across their footprint. You might recall that Verizon once offered free Wi-Fi in Manhattan, but scrapped the project back in 2005 because they feared it cannibalized the sale of their (then) $80 EVDO service. Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge has stated that Wi-Fi and Cablevision’s planned DOCSIS 3.0 deployment combined will cost roughly about $315 million.

“This is the first update on our deployment and we’re announcing that we’ve activated service in the commercial and high-traffic areas of Nassau County, parts of Suffolk and on the LIRR commuter rail platforms and station parking lots across Long Island,” Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella tells me. “This is already the largest consumer WiFi deployment in the country, with many more progress reports and updates to come over the next two years.” (DSL Reports)