Wireless Internet Reviews

The new new thing for cable companies is to offer subscribers either in order to retain existing ones or to attract new ones. Cablevision found great success in offering these services to their Long Island customers, and Comcast is is cooking up a plan of their own. This could just be the beginning, though. An article on Fierce Broadband discussed the issue. They heard Dave Park, vice president of wireless equipment vendor BelAir Networks, speak on a panel, and relay his thoughts.

He uses the simplest language to describe why WiFi is so important for cable companies and their subscribers: “Most devices connect to WiFi.” True, a number of netbooks now connect to mobile broadband networks, but they’re for the most part sold just like cell phones, with subsidies and user agreements attached. Even so, most major laptops do not contain mobile broadband cards. They all have WiFi cards, though.

The idea, as Park explains it, is to create something of a Muni-Fi network for cable subscribers. If cable companies create comprehensive enough networks, they can blanket large areas of coverage, allowing subscribers to have a robust Internet experience away from their homes. It could even open up the possibility of VoIP applications and communication outside the home.

He did reveal his true intent: “It could also pave the way for cable operators to become wireless operators in a migration to a 4G mobile platform, he said.” Hey, why should wireless operators get all the glory?