When Verizon FiOS is moving in on your turf, one way to preserve customers is to hand out free Wi-Fi service for your customers on-the-go.  Cablevision’s Optimum Wi-Fi service aims to do just that, with thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots installed across metropolitan New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.  Many hotspots can be found at shopping centers, on main streets and train platforms, in parks, marinas, and at sports fields.  The company claims Optimum WiFi, running for a year now, is already available at nearly 96% of commuter rail platforms and station parking lots serving Long Island and Westchester County.

Now the company wants to extend access into the trains commuters across the area ride every day and evening.  The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been seeking proposals to provide Wi-Fi to customers.  Cablevision has filed a proposal to provide the service in partnership with the MTA, providing access to Cablevision customers at no charge, and perhaps sharing revenue with the MTA for non-Cablevision customers signing up for temporary access.

“As one of the nation’s leading telecommunications providers and a well-established local company that has already made a significant commitment to deploying Optimum WiFi across the New York metropolitan area, Cablevision is uniquely positioned to quickly and seamlessly deliver a high-quality WiFi network across the LIRR and Metro North railroad system,” said Kevin Curran, Cablevision’s senior vice president of wireless product development. “We have delivered a proposal that would provide significant benefits to all parties, and are excited and encouraged by the prospect of providing Optimum WiFi service to the MTA and its ridership. We look forward to participating in a process that will result in the availability of fast and reliable WiFi service on the railroads.”

[flv width=”438″ height=”360″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Intro to Optimum WiFi.flv[/flv]

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p style=”text-align: center;”>Cablevision’s Introduction to Optimum WiFi

In 2007, we took our first major trip away from western New York in 20 years and spent two weeks an hour away from Calgary, Alberta.

After two weeks in Kananaskis Country, Banff, Calgary, and other spots all over southern Alberta, we came away with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

The Good

• Alberta is like Texas, only without the anger: Friendly people everywhere
• Amazing Canadian Rockies contrasting with vast flat prairies and never-ending views of canola, buckwheat, and other crops
• The only place that could convince me to purchase and wear a cowboy hat (they are functional after all)

The Bad

• A Dodge Charger is considered a “small” rental car on Alberta’s vast paved (and frequently unpaved) roadways
• Calgary’s love of photo radar and red light cameras, which must sustain the city’s revenue base
• You’re in “pop” country, and you’d better like Pepsi because Coca-Cola is hard to find.  A “can of pop” on a menu means exactly that.  Ask for ice.
• There are no bumper stickers in Alberta — there are “deckles.”  I contemplated phoning the CBC to find out what a deckle was until I realized they meant “decal.”

The Ugly

• Internet access in hotels we stayed at was either non-existent, slow, or erratic.

Now before you say vacations should mean a break from the Internet, know that for those of us who spend a lot of free time taking care of websites like this, that is the equivalent of asking someone to take a vacation from electricity.  I don’t do camping.

It turns out my experience is becoming less common, as hotels realize sharing a DSL line among 50+ guests on a Linksys wireless router stuck on a shelf in the lobby is just not going to cut it.  Instead, hotels and motels not only in Canada but across the United States have beefed up their broadband… and discovered they could make a killing by overcharging guests to access it.

Now consumers in growing numbers are deciding the “daily fee” for broadband common on hotel bills, often ranging from $10-15 a day, is a dealbreaker.  They are taking their business elsewhere, even if it means foregoing a luxury hotel to stay in a middle-of-the-road chain with the screaming kids in the pool downstairs, as long as the Internet is free.

USA Today reports that for some consumers, charging any fee for Internet access at a hotel is unacceptable.

Frequent business traveler Randall Blinn refuses to stay at hotels that charge for Internet access.

“It really irritates me that the more expensive hotels charge for Internet access when the inexpensive hotels provide it for free,” says Blinn, a computer consultant in Louisville.

Blinn is one of many travelers disturbed by hotels that charge a daily fee for Internet access. He says he books less-expensive hotels with free Internet access, even if his company will pay for a more expensive hotel that charges for online access.

Some 40 percent of hotel chains in the United States have a daily fee for Internet access.  For the hotels that charge, it’s just another source of revenue, just like charging for in-room telephone calls that consumers learned to avoid by using their cell phones.

For Blinn, who has spent about 50 nights in hotels this year, any charge is unacceptable. If he must stay at a hotel that charges, he says, he leaves the hotel for a fast-food restaurant or a coffee shop that provides free Internet access.

A few weeks ago, Blinn says, he spent a lot of time in the concierge lounge of the Marriott hotel in Salt Lake City, because the hotel was charging for Internet access in rooms but not in the lounge.

Some consumers have found methods to avoid the daily fee, ranging from arguments with hotel personnel demanding that daily fees be waived (one went as far as to turn in all of the personal care items left in his room, which he argued cost more than Internet access did anyway), to strategically choosing to stay adjacent to lobbies or other public areas where free Wi-Fi was available, hoping to jump on the wireless signal from their rooms.  Others bring wireless data plans from their cell phone provider, and use those networks for wireless access, bypassing the hotel altogether.

Some hotels automatically waive fees for their most frequent guests, typically enrolled in premium guest club memberships.  But for people like Blinn, having to pay for Internet access for 10-14 days of hotel stays isn’t worth it to “earn” free Internet.  He simply avoids any hotel that charges for access, and let’s them know why.

Jeff Weinstein, editor in chief of Hotels magazine, a trade publication, suggests that kind of complaining will probably put an end to the “daily Internet access fee.”

“I think the message from consumers about this is getting louder, and you will continue to see more (hotel) brands move toward free access over the next year or two,” he told the newspaper.

Below the jump, learn which hotel chains charge guests for Internet access, and which do not.

… Continue Reading

It’s your job to ferret out:

• Who is simply reading talking points without verifying if they are true or not?
• Who is the straightforward person playing it straight down the line?
• Who is the industry hack working for an Astroturfer paid by providers to sucker you into paying more for your broadband?

Bonus points for identifying and debunking the industry talking points from this misguided series of reports aired last year on KFWB Radio.  Answer in the Comments section!

The players:

• Larry Irving
• Chris Sedens
• Robb Topolski

If you are new to Stop the Cap! you can read and participate in our comment section by clicking the headline of any story.  You’ll find the comments at the bottom, along with a place where you can add your thoughts!

AT&T unveiled its U-verse service Monday in Louisville, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony with claims that residents “finally have a choice” for cable service in the area.

AT&T will compete head-on with incumbent cable operator Insight Communications, which has been the only cable provider in Jefferson County for at least a decade.

AT&T promises customers packages starting at $49 a month, as well as digital video recorder set top boxes that can record up to four shows at the same time, and display the recorded programming on any AT&T-wired television in the house.  AT&T also promises residents significant savings when they choose AT&T for video, telephone, and broadband service, and will even include a “quad-play” bundle including AT&T Wireless mobile phone service, resulting in one bill for all AT&T services.

AT&T’s U-verse system is an advanced form of DSL, using a hybrid network of fiber optic cables wired into neighborhoods that interface with ordinary copper telephone wiring that already exists in most Louisville homes.  The technology reduces the costs of wiring every home with fiber optics, but can still offer advanced services “beyond what cable can offer,” according to AT&T.

Consumers across Louisville welcomed the competition.

Tabitha Rhodes told the Louisville Courier-Journal the lack of competition was bothersome.  “It is like there is only one shoe store in town,” she said. “I want 20 shoe stores.”

Rhodes’ husband, Tate, said he hopes AT&T’s competition will force Insight to become a more reliable cable company. Rhodes said their cable service has experienced dropped channels, poor quality pictures, and even pesky neighborhood squirrels that gnawed through the cable line serving his street.

The U-verse service also ties in with an Apple iPhone application, which when run on AT&T’s wireless network allows customers to program their television recording remotely.

Insight customer Rhonda Petr, 44, said she now pays $15 per month for digital video recorder service for each of two television sets in her home, in addition to a bundled monthly subscription for premium cable, phone and Internet service.

Petr said she liked the idea of DVR service without “nickel and dime” charges for each TV set.

Insight Communications dismissed AT&T’s U-verse as little more than smoke and mirrors, according to company spokesman Jason Keller.

“Insight has been Louisville’s technology leader for more than a decade,” company spokesman Jason Keller said Friday.

“One more competitor… won’t change that,” Keller said.

Insight’s system in Louisville is the largest in the company’s nationwide portfolio.  Company officials point to investments Insight has made in the Louisville area to introduce additional services, including “a broadband service that is faster than what AT&T is offering.”

Insight offers 20Mbps service for $17 less than what AT&T charges for 18Mbps, according to one reader.

Insight claims that AT&T is relying on the same old wiring that has been around “since the days of Alexander Graham Bell” to deliver service, and Insight has a “technological advantage in broadband width.”

The question on everyone’s mind is, how much will consumers save?

As the Courier-Journal notes, both are primarily competing on services, not on price:

Both Insight and AT&T offer bundled packages combining telephone, television and Internet starting at about $100 per month.The two compete chiefly on features. For instance, Insight offers faster Internet access, while AT&T is promoting U-Verse’s features that link television, home phone service, wireless phone service, and Internet together.

Rob Enderle, a technology consultant and president of the Enderle Group based in San Jose, Calif., told the newspaper the big savings are found in new customer promotional offers, which he calls “low teaser rates.”  In many Verizon FiOS TV areas that compete with cable, promotional new customer offers also often include long-term contracts lasting 12-24 months.

Incumbent cable companies often launch pre-emptive marketing blitzes to sell their customers on “price protection agreements” just before a competitor comes to town.

“They will try to lock up as many customers as they can,” Enderle told the newspaper.

In Louisville, Insight may have managed to accomplish that with their one-year “price protection agreement” they have managed to sell many of their customers.  The marketing for such agreements promises no price increases for the term of the contract, something that might sound attractive to price-sensitive cable subscribers facing relentless annual rate hikes.

AT&T has no such contract requirements in Louisville, although the company has used them in other markets to lock in customers taking advantage of promotional offers.

Once those promotional offers expire, the two companies will end up charging roughly the same prices for the various packages they offer.  Customers can choose which provider gives them the channels and services they want, as well as which offers better quality service.  The elusive savings, once the promotions expire, are still hard to find.

One Louisville reader called both companies to compare:

Just did a comparison on the different packages AT&T would offer: slower Internet, any additional DVR boxes would be $15/mo (same as Insight), HD channels would be $10/mo (free with Insight), and they would offer no more channels than Insight and both offer garbage as far as programs go. Yeah, I think Insight needs some competition in order to provide its customers with better pricing and better quality, but slower Internet and having to pay to access HD channels is BS. AT&T better come up with something better.

Multiple video news reports about AT&T’s U-verse launch in Louisville can be found below the jump.  Many also include product introductions and short demos.

… Continue Reading

Verizon today announced the 100th franchise agreement in the state of Massachusetts for FiOS TV. The Easton Board of Selectmen on Monday granted a cable franchise to Verizon to begin wiring the town of 23,000 with fiber optic service. Residents will receive visits from Verizon employees to explain and market the service, which will compete directly with incumbent cable provider Comcast.

Verizon’s growth in the state has already put them in second place behind Comcast as the largest provider of wired television and broadband service.  That position was formerly held by RCN, a cable overbuilder providing service in the Boston area.

Verizon celebrated the 100th franchise agreement by donating $1,000 to the Easton Area Public Library to purchase 100 new books.

“As a result of this new franchise, consumers in Easton will be able to choose their cable provider as easily as they choose their phone company,” said Cupelo. “Competition drives innovation, value and service quality, and it puts the consumer in control.”

Easton (in dark red), part of Bristol County, Massachusetts

Verizon research indicates 87 percent of Massachusetts residents favor more competition and choice for video services.  Independent studies suggest competition in the video market can bring reduced prices, better packages and improved service, although experiences in many communities indicate providers are more apt to compete on services and packaging, and not as much on price.

Verizon’s license agreement with the city of Easton is for 10 years.  The agreement contains provisions for the network’s future growth; financial support and capacity for educational and government access channels; cable service to government buildings; and other important benefits to the city, including insurance, indemnification and enforcement protections.

“Verizon will compete aggressively for subscribers in Easton with our FiOS services, which are fueled by our lightning-fast fiber-optic network,” Cupelo said. Verizon soon will begin its door-to-door sales campaign in Easton, explaining the many advantages of FiOS TV to local consumers.

For some local residents, the competition can’t arrive soon enough.

Comcast has alienated many Easton residents by not carrying all of the HD signals from Boston area television stations.  Easton, although essentially halfway between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, has been defined by the Federal Communications Commission as being in the “Providence DMA” (an area of significant influence.)  That’s because parts of Bristol County have towns that are considered suburbs of Providence.  Easton’s allegiance, in the minds of many who live there, is to Boston, and residents are upset that the majority of HD broadcast stations on Comcast Cable are from Providence.

The town is actually part of a regional effort to redefine their part of Bristol County to be in the “Boston DMA” so they can petition the FCC to make a change.

The Easton Cable Commission has gotten an earful from annoyed residents, who have faced an intransigent Comcast.  They have even prepared an FAQ for residents on the matter:

Why can’t I get some Boston based HD channels on Comcast?
This is an important issue to many Easton cable subscribers. We want to take some time to explain the relevant issues just so you understand why most believe Easton residents are not getting the channels they want and the channels that they believe serve them best.

The starting point is the DMA that Easton is in.  What is a DMA?  Well, that is our problem.  DMA is short for Neilsen Media Research Designated Television Market Area. DMA’s are generally split up according to county.  Easton is in Bristol County.  A good part of Bristol County is actually considered part of suburban Providence.  Therefore, Easton, although not a suburb of Providence, is in the Providence DMA.  All cable providers must carry the primary channels that serve a DMA.   At present, Comcast must carry Providence DMA stations.  There is an effort underway to move towns inside of Route 495 into the Boston DMA.  We will petition the FCC for this change.

Oakes Ames Memorial Hall and Ames Free Library (North Easton, MA)

But the greater issue here is whether Comcast chose to eliminate Boston channels in High Definition or whether they had no choice.  For the most part, this is a Comcast choice.  The Town of Easton and our Cable Committee, unfortunately, cannot force Comcast to provide Boston channels in High Definition.  Along with the concept of DMA, there is also the concept of “Significantly Viewed” channels in an area.  This is another FCC concept which relates to stations not in the local DMA which may be referred to as “distant signals”.  A “distant signal” is one that originates outside of a satellite (or cable) subscriber’s local television market, the DMA. In addition to stations in their DMA, satellite (cable) subscribers who receive local-into-local service may, under certain circumstances, receive individual stations from markets outside their DMA that are deemed “significantly viewed” in their community. It is up to the satellite carrier whether or not to offer significantly viewed stations and a subscriber must be subscribing to local-into-local service in his or her DMA to be eligible to receive significantly viewed stations. The determination of whether or not a station is significantly viewed in a community depends on several statutory factors.  The FCC has posted the list of stations that are eligible for carriage as significantly viewed signals and the communities in which they are significantly viewed.
The following is the list for Bristol County:

Bristol
WLNE-TV, 6, Providence, RI (formerly WTEV)
WJAR, 10, Providence, RI
WPRI-TV, 12, Providence, RI
+WNAC-TV, 64, Providence, RI
WBZ-TV, 4, Boston, MA
WCVB-TV, 5, Boston, MA (formerly WHDH)
WHDH-TV, 7, Boston, MA (formerly WNAC)
WSBK-TV, 38, Boston, MA
WLVI-TV, 56, Cambridge, MA (formerly WKBG)

So, Comcast has every right to provide the above channels (which include 4,5, and 7) in High Definition.  It is their choice not to do so.  You may ask why Channel 25 is not on the above list and that is a great question.  But the answer is that the determinations for this list were made a long time ago when Channel 25 was owned by religious broadcasters.  That is how outdated all of these rules are.  It is also the reason that Comcast is forced to black out FOX 25 network programming.

There may be an alternative to Comcast in Easton by the end of the year.  We are going through a licensing process with Verizon.  They want to offer Fios tv, internet, and phone in Easton by December.  It is all of our hopes that Verizon will provide the channels that you are looking for and that competition will benefit all cable tv subscribers in Easton.

For further information please contact the Comcast Customer Care line at 1-800-COMCAST (1-800-266-2278).

In Massachusetts, FiOS TV is available in Abington, Acton, Andover, Arlington, Ashland, Bedford, Bellingham, Belmont, Boxborough, Boxford, Braintree, Burlington, Canton, Danvers, Dedham, Dover, Dunstable, Framingham, Franklin, Georgetown, Grafton, Groton, Hamilton, Hanover, Hingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Hull, Ipswich, Kingston, Lakeville, Lawrence, Leominster, Lexington, Lincoln, Littleton, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Mansfield, Marion, Marlborough, Marblehead, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, Maynard, Medfield, Medway, Melrose, Mendon, Methuen, Middleborough, Middleton, Millbury, Nahant, Natick, Needham, Newton, Norfolk, North Andover, North Reading, Northborough, Norwood, Norwell, Plymouth, Reading, Rochester, Rockland, Rowley, Sherborn, Southborough, Stoneham, Stoughton, Stow, Sudbury, Sutton, Swampscott, Taunton, Tewksbury, Topsfield, Tyngsborough, Wakefield, Walpole, Waltham, Wareham, Wayland, Wellesley, Wenham, West Newbury, Westborough, Weston, Westwood,  Wilmington, Winchester, Wrentham and Woburn, and will soon be available in Chelmsford, Easton and North Attleborough.