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

North Coventry Township Station 64 Fire Engine - Ready to Respond to Comcast Mishaps Anytime

“I called Comcast because I wanted the kitchen TV hooked up to cable,” she said, describing how the digital TV converter box hadn’t worked as planned. “They said no problem, we can do it, no extra charge.” Tyson was already a Comcast subscriber before the incident Monday.

“They drilled right into the electrical box,” Tyson said in disbelief, looking over at the side of her home where a long black burn mark extended up to the roof from a burnt electrical box and meter.

Verizon must be enjoying the irony.  Just a few days ago, we shared with you the ad that Comcast was running in Pennsylvania showing reckless Verizon FiOS installers tearing up yards and engaging in what can only be described as ‘dangerous antics’ by the telephone company’s installers.  Verizon wants those ads pulled for being out of bounds.

After The Mercury published an article detailing one 83 year old North Coventry woman’s plight (her house is now uninhabitable), Comcast may have to yank the ad just to save face.

Tyson, who was in her house while the cable man worked outside, said she heard “two loud blasts — ‘Boom, Boom’ — then I came out of the house to see what was going on.”

“It was burning like mad,” she said, when the serviceman ran up to her and asked if she had a fire extinguisher, which lay spent on Tyson’s front lawn as fire crews worked.

Tyson may have been lucky as fire officials found the arcing had sparked a fire in wood behind the electrical box in the basement which spread to the floor joists. But the majority of damage was to the electrical system.

“The house is not liveable until the electric is redone,” Schaeffer said. There also was no water for the home since the well pump won’t work without electricity, according to officials.

Jean Tyson’s home sustained approximately $20,000 in damage.  She, and her dog, are now staying at a neighbor’s home until repairs can be completed.

If North Coventry was wired for Verizon FiOS, they should be swooping in to offer her a free Verizon FiOS account, thus proving yet again that payback is a ….

To punish Comcast for being naughty, we bring you one additional FiOS ad, pointed out by our reader Smith6612, featuring Michael Bay.  It’s definitely worth the entertainment value:

Thanks to Broadband Reports for calling our attention to this story.

Comcast apparently doesn’t like Verizon invading its home turf.  The Philadelphia-based cable company and the New York-based telephone company are engaged in an all-out ad war in southeastern Pennsylvania, and Verizon is calling “foul.”

Comcast replies turnabout is fair play, telling the Philadelphia Business Journal:

“Verizon’s been running a negative campaign against Comcast for years and its response to our campaign shows that they can dish it out but they can’t take it. As might be expected, the better the advertising and the more traction that it gains with consumers, the louder the competitor will object,” said Jennifer Khoury, Comcast spokeswoman.

So what ad put Verizon over the edge? Apparently it wasn’t the Verizon sales-stalker who invades people’s cars, front lawns, and demands credit card numbers of women at their doorstep.  No, it was the fact that Comcast depicted a typical Verizon FiOS installation as resembling a chaotic home lawn invasion, complete with heavy ‘yard wrecking’ equipment, life-threatening recklessness, and a monthly bill so prolific in pages, it requires a forklift to deliver.

That did it.

“These ads have people ripping up property, putting lives in danger and suggesting that this is typical of FiOS installations,” Eric Rabe, Verizon’s senior vice president for media relations, said. “That is an outrageous characterization and it has to stop.”

Rabe wasn’t sure if Verizon would sue if Comcast doesn’t knock it off.  The two companies are “having conversations,” according to Rabe.

While they talk, let’s explore the offending ad, plus several others from both sides.  It must be nice to live in a heavily competitive market.  Too many of us do not.  Comcast limits monthly usage to 250GB.  Verizon FiOS has no limit.

[flv width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Comcast FiOS Bashing Ad 1.flv[/flv]

More video follows below…

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FairPoint customers pay $25 fee to stop automatic payment withdrawals FairPoint failed to make, causing accounts to fall past due

By late March, those customers who had dial tones from their FairPoint lines began to grow concerned about the newest nightmare from the company that took over telephone service across three New England states.  Billing problems began immediately after FairPoint converted to its own billing systems, and customers noticed.

The company explained it had a “loss of data” when their own billing system went online, and information from Verizon’s old billing system never made it to the new FairPoint system.

The result was loss of confidence in FairPoint, as customers grew increasingly concerned about inaccurate bills, lost payments, and as one New Hampshire couple discovered, the company’s inability to process “automatic payments” from customers on time, generating past due bills.  Concerned about the impact late notices will have on their credit rating, they spend $25 to get their bank to stop automatic payments that FairPoint failed to make on time.  WMUR reports:

[flv width=”480″ height=”360″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WMUR Manchester Fairpoint Customers Report Problems With Phone Service 3-30-09.flv[/flv]

In Vermont, customers frustrated with bills that never arrived wanted out.  As one customer working in Saint Johnsbury discovered, there was no way to reach the company to tell them to cancel service.  Vermont state regulators finally grew tired of FairPoint’s Public Relations excuses.  They demanded evidence service was improving.  WCAX reports:

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Live Coverage of SaveOurNet.ca‘s National Open Internet Town Hall, netcasting from Toronto has now concluded.  Unfortunately, connectivity issues at the hotel plagued the live streaming event, and a good deal of it was not available on the live stream.  A recording of the presentation should be forthcoming shortly, and will be embedded in this space, when available.