Bright House Networks Thursday switched on a huge network of free Wi-Fi hotspots for its broadband customers across central Florida. Concentrated on coastal beach communities in eastern Florida and in the cities of Orlando, Tampa, and St. Petersburg, the new Wi-Fi service can be found on beaches and parks, inside malls and shopping destinations, downtown business districts, and medical facilities across their Florida service area.
Existing Bright House broadband customers can log in and use the service for free:
- Most wireless devices will display available networks. If the device doesn’t show networks, open the network options and select My BrightHouse or Bright House Networks.
- Open the Internet browser of your choice.
- When the WiFi HotZones page opens, click ‘log in’ under Bright House Road Runner Customer.
- Log in using Road Runner email and password or My Services credentials.
- Agree to the terms of use and connect to the WiFi network.
Non-customers can purchase access with a credit card in increments of as little as three hours. Stop the Cap! readers in central Florida report speed test results of around 5/1Mbps from many of the Wi-Fi locations, which is much better than many other publicly available Wi-Fi networks.
Bright House says it has launched the Wi-Fi service to help customers hang on to their usage-limited mobile broadband allowances.
“We’re trying to save our customers money, time and energy,” Bright House spokesman Donald Forbes said. “Plus, Wi-Fi is so much faster and such a better connection.”
Cable provider-delivered Wi-Fi is often used by the industry as a customer retention tool and goodwill gesture. It typically uses the company’s pre-existing broadband infrastructure, which keeps costs low.
Bright House is soliciting customer feedback about possible new locations for future Wi-Fi hotspots. The company plans to add at least 2,000 additional hotspots by the end of this year.
[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Bright House launches major Wi-Fi initiative 1-12-12.flv[/flv]
Bright House produced this informational video introducing its Wi-Fi service. (2 minutes)