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Cablevision Wi-Fi Calling Service Freewheel Closes Down

As promised, new Cablevision owner Altice has killed off Cablevision's Freewheel WiFi-based voice service. Introduced early last year, Freewheel offered non-Cablevision users unlimited data, texts and voice for $30 a month. If you're a Cablevision customer, that price tag fell to $10 a month. The effort was one of several ways that pre-Altice Cablevision hoped to lure customers away from their biggest competitor Verizon FiOS. The service used a Motorola G smartphone "optimized" for use with Freewheel, leaning heavily on Cablevision's growing footprint of Wi-Fi hotspots.

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According to an updated FAQ at the Cablevision website, the service is no longer being sold, and existing users should lose service shortly.

"Freewheel is no longer available for purchase," notes Cablevision. "If you are an existing Freewheel customer, your service will be discontinued at the start of your December bill cycle."

"All international calling services will end at the start of your November bill cycle and all outstanding international charges will appear on your final bill statement in December," adds the notice.

So on the down side, Cablevision users will no longer have access to this discounted voice option. On the bright side, Altice last week announced that it would be engaging in a major effort to bring 10 Gbps-capable fiber to the home service to the majority of recently-acquired Cablevision and Suddenlink customers.
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matcarl
Premium Member
join:2007-03-09
Franklin Square, NY

matcarl

Premium Member

Was A Bad Idea

I knew it didn't sound like a good idea when it came out. How can you rely on just Wi-Fi for a cell phone? You can't use it in a car, and as soon as you get in a spot without a signal, you will lose it. It was only good if you are just going to use it in your home, which is pretty restricting.
tired_runner
Premium Member
join:2000-08-25
CT

-1 recommendation

tired_runner

Premium Member

Re: Was A Bad Idea

I think it was Cablevision's attempt at getting OV subs without forcing them to also get Internet.

I wonder how many people took the bait.
frdrizzt
join:2008-05-03
Ronkonkoma, NY

1 recommendation

frdrizzt to matcarl

Member

to matcarl
It would have been a much better idea if it shared the home phone number and/or was marketed as a home phone you could take out (adding functionality to an otherwise unwanted service except for older generations), rather than being marketed as a gimped cell-phone alternative.

limegrass69
No Whammies
join:2008-05-28

1 recommendation

limegrass69

Member

Re: Was A Bad Idea

It also would have been a better idea if there was a cellular component in the event Wi-Fi was not available. Also agree that having it as an "extended Optimum Voice" feature would have been nice.

Packeteers
Premium Member
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
Asus RT-AC3100
(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

1 recommendation

Packeteers

Premium Member

cable just said wifi phone would grow


»Cable Companies to Nab 10% of Wireless Market by 2020 [11] comments

Eddy120876
join:2009-02-16
Bronx, NY

Eddy120876

Member

They almost had a homerun

Had they marketed the right way right now they would been dominating the cell market. The right approach would had been $ 10 for current customers,choices of phone or byop,20 for non cablevision customers . But no the Dolans screw that up like always.

limegrass69
No Whammies
join:2008-05-28

limegrass69

Member

Re: They almost had a homerun

IDK...

It was sort of a dud idea when you think about it. FreeWheel was really nothing more than a VoIP dialer tied to a particular piece of hardware.

You can do the same thing with other "free" apps. The only value add was the access to the Optimumwifi hotspots on the device.

But again, the lack of a cellular fallback and no Optimum Voice integration made it useless.

Eddy120876
join:2009-02-16
Bronx, NY

Eddy120876

Member

Re: They almost had a homerun

well they did had some form of back up by using sprint but like you said they could do done better by adding optimum voice integration.

Anona8cd6
@rr.com

Anona8cd6

Anon

Charter/Spectrum

So does this mean Spectrum will give up on their pointless toy telephone project before it launches?