Wireless Access: What Price Speed

Is Verizon missing a trick in its trench warfare with Cablevision? Or has the maverick cable operator found an Achilles heel in the telephone operator’s methods of providing TV, phone and particularly Internet access to customers in the New York area – and possibly nationwide? One ideal in personal computing is to be able to open one’s personal computer anywhere at any time and have instant access to the Internet. The Verizon argument would be that that day is here and now. Pop in a broadband wireless card and you get this kind of coverage, across the country.
That compares with this kind of coverage, now available from Cablevision in the one metropolitan area that it operates in. This is the map that shows where it has so far put up wireless access at Long Island Rail Road stations, business districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties. It intends to blanket its operating region with wireless access for Optimum Online customers by the end of 2010.
This actually gives Cablevision a practical leg up on Verizon, which is trying to gain ground head-to-head with Cablevision with its FiOS TV, phone and Internet access service. Its pitch is that fiber to the home gives its customers more speed and higher quality service, than fiber to the neighborhood and cable to the home, like Cablevision offers. But step away from the home – and it’s $59.95 a month and a separate contract with Verizon Wireless to get wireless access. Of any kind. Verizon is solely focused on broadband access for the mobile user. And that $59.95 only gets you 5 gigabytes of throughput a month. If you were railing last week about Comcast’s 250 GB cap for its wired access to the Internet, you would be positively feeling pinned back if you wanted to rely solely on a laptop computer and Verizon’s broadband access to live your life on the Internet. If you’re in the broad base of Internet users, who just want no hassle, Cablevision's move to provide widespread wifi tries to screen out Verizon. In its service area, you get mobility, everywhere. For no extra cost. If you’re a Verizon customer, you have to pay $60 a month. There are limits. If you want Internet access on the train platform, Cablevision’s wifi will suffice. If you want it on the train or you travel a lot, you’ll need Verizon’s Broadband Access. That is the $60 question, each computer user seeking “anywhere” access must answer, right now. But Cablevision’s move is likely to change that, as its wifi coverage expands. Already, Verizon has started bundling wireless phone service with its FiOS Internet product. A broadband-everywhere Verizon “double play” for small businesses has already arrived. A consumer play (with the effective cost of wireless broadband dropping) has to be next. Meanwhile, other cable companies will be watching closely how well Cablevision's tack works. If you want free wifi, call your operator.