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Time Warner’s Wi-Fi hotspots in Kansas City (click to enlarge)
Sorry Kansas City — Time Warner Cable is not bringing faster broadband to compete with Google Fiber. Instead, the company today unveiled a new network of local Wi-Fi hotspots, along with an invitation to area businesses to help expand Wi-Fi access.
The new Wi-Fi initiative begins with 14 hot spots in downtown Kansas City, the Crossroads Arts District, the River Market, Brookside, Waldo, Westport, the 18th and Vine District, Loose Park, plus the downtowns of Parkville, Leavenworth and other sites.
Time Warner Cable Inc. launched 14 Wi-Fi hot spots in Downtown, the Crossroads Arts District, the River Market, Brookside, Waldo, Westport, the 18th and Vine District, Loose Park, plus the downtowns of Parkville, Leavenworth and other sites, reports the Kansas City Business Journal.
Time Warner said any of its commercial customers with Business Class broadband can share their connection by hosting a Wi-Fi hot spot themselves, with the cable company supplying the necessary equipment.
Company spokesman Mike Pedelty said the service will complement businesses’ existing Wi-Fi offerings, particularly in restaurants and other high traffic public venues.
But not everyone will have access. Time Warner Cable is restricting the Wi-Fi network to its own customers with Standard broadband service or above. Customers can access the new network with their Time Warner-supplied e-mail address and password.
Additionally, Time Warner has added Kansas City to the roster of communities where it sells disadvantaged families access to a discounted broadband package called Starter Internet. The package will match Google’s entry level 5Mbps service plan (with 1Mbps upload speed) and will run $10 a month. Google offers anyone in its service area 5Mbps service for a one-time fee of $200, payable in $20 installments.
For the time being, Time Warner Cable is leaving broadband speeds unchanged for its customers in Kansas City, although that may change in the future as Google’s fiber network continues to expand across the city.
I had no real belief that Time Warner would do anything beneficial for their customers. They don’t believe in a free market, and they don’t strive to improve on their own. Just look at their current speeds and the 80’s era dvr’s they are renting for $10/month. It would take an act of congress or total loss of a market to get them to improve their service instead of just holding their customers hostage for more ransom.
“I had no real belief that Time Warner would do anything beneficial for their customers. ”
So adding wireless hotspots does not benefit Customers?
Increasing standard speeds from 10/1 to 15/2 does not benefit Customers?
80’s DVR’s if in fact there are any can be swapped at any time.
Hob
I’ve never used or felt the need to use one of my provider’s Wifi Hotspots, that’s even assuming they had an app that make it easy enough to verify as a customer and actually use it in a quick fashion. If I did I’d probably just use my Cellular company like AT&T’s hotspots, but again that’s why I have cell data. WiFi hotspots over the last 10 years are really just a horrible solution to bad problem of poor cell coverage and service. It’s a waste of resources that would be better allocated to keeping service costs down rather than… Read more »
“So adding wireless hotspots does not benefit Customers?” No, no it doesn’t, for multiple reasons: 1. None of those hotspots are where I live or work. 2. When I am in areas where the referenced hot spots are located, I have my cell phone and data coverage. 3. TW is sure to pass the cost of those hotspots, in one way or another, on to their customers, whether they use them or not. So I will end up paying for something I don’t use. “Increasing standard speeds from 10/1 to 15/2 does not benefit Customers?” In fact, they did not… Read more »