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Comcast, Google, Microsoft Form 'WiFi Forward' Coalition

A number of companies including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter, Google, and Microsoft are expected to announce a new coalition named WiFiForward that will push for expansion of access to unlicensed spectrum for wireless networks. The new coalition was supposed to be announced yesterday, though the announcement appears to have been delayed out of fears it wouldn't have been noticed under the din of the Comcast Time Warner Cable announcement.

Notably absent from the coalition is AT&T and Verizon, who use Wi-Fi for offloading, but would obviously prefer you pay them for accessing cellular networks:
quote:
...after spending billions of dollars to upgrade to faster, so-called LTE technology, AT&T and its peers are now looking to bring that traffic back. "We are now at a place where the pricing is right, LTE is performing very, very well, and you want to drive utilization of these networks," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said at an analysts conference in December.
The cable industry originally had cellular ambitions but after acquiring spectrum (now owned by Verizon) realized that competing with AT&T and Verizon on their turf would be very cash intensive. They've instead worked together to offer a broader array of publicly available hotspots in higher traffic areas, which are free if you subscribe to traditional cable services.
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Packeteers
Premium Member
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
Asus RT-AC3100
(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

Packeteers

Premium Member

we need free ad driven wifi

it's not enough to give wifi to cabletv subscribers, rather make it available to everyone in high density areas, and make your money back on ad&metadata revenue. if you can afford >$100/mo for a triple play, you can afford >$50/mo for an unlimited smartphone and don't need much roaming wifi. i'm between a rock and a hard place - i subscribe to twc isp, but since i'm a cord cutter all the under utilized wifi TWC installed walking distance from me is off limits - it's really silly.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

1 edit

tshirt

Premium Member

Re: we need free ad driven wifi

said by Packeteers:

i subscribe to twc isp, but since i'm a cord cutter all the under utilized wifi TWC installed walking distance from me is off limits - it's really silly.

You will be paying something towards the Wi-Fi or doing without but it shouldn't be more than $10-15 add on to any standard Comcast* HSI plan. **

*assumes Comcast/exTWC will soon be your cable provider
** Makes more sense as an add on because some areas have NO regional coverage, and some people have no need for a Wi-Fi roaming

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

Morac

Member

Will it fix sucky Comcast Wifi hotspots?

I wonder if this will fix Comcast's sucky Wifi hotspots.

I have my iPhone set to automatically log in to Xfinity and CableWifi hotspots and every time I'm out and about in NJ or Philly and notice my connections are failing I see my phone is connected to one of Comcast's hotspots. I have to revert to cellular.

Occasionally Comcast's hotspots will work and give decent speeds, but 90% of the time I'll get dial up speeds or no connection at all (pings fail).

If this can fix that I'm all for it.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

Re: Will it fix sucky Comcast Wifi hotspots?

Here on Long Island, OptimumWiFi is very good and I do not even use cellular data (two-plus months so far and 0KB cell data usage), which is understandable considering I have Sprint service. If not for the CableWiFi/OptimumWiFi service, I would be totally disconnected.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

Member

Re: Will it fix sucky Comcast Wifi hotspots?

No Network Vision upgrades in your area?

DaveDude
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey

DaveDude to Morac

Member

to Morac
i login to comcast wifi, then have to login again, even after i get to the home page. If you live a city. Then you have to login again. Why its not part of the comcast app, is stupid.

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

Morac

Member

Re: Will it fix sucky Comcast Wifi hotspots?

I don't have issues having to log in again. My issue is that most of the WiFi hotspots don't seem to actually have a Internet connection. I connect to them and basically lose connection to the Internet.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

1 edit

IPPlanMan

Member

Backhaul to Wifi

I can't tell whether it's Comcast's WiFi base stations that are shoddy or if there's insufficient backhaul to them.

Kind of like how AT&T deployed WiFi to Starbucks with a T-1 line, which quickly became saturated since they never bothered to upgrade it. Hopefully Google gets this right, with 10x the speed or 100x in a Fiber City.

»news.cnet.com/8301-1035_ ··· r-wi-fi/

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

Re: Backhaul to Wifi

I would guess it's their gateways/hotspots as many of the subscribers have found in home coverage to be poor.
some of the newest models seem to have much better in home coverage, which should translate to better nearby coverage.
I have to believe the long term plan must include a lot of strand mounted in most used areas with reliance on home hotspots limit to residential areas away from main thoroughfares

robbyglack
@comcast.net

robbyglack

Anon

apple?

wheres apple? if windows, android and chrome devices have free/cheap wifi they gain a distinct advantage over iphone/ipod/ipad

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

3 edits

IPPlanMan

Member

Re: apple?

I don't think Apple has to be part of the coalition to benefit. Apple is a pretty quiet company in DC (although it used to be much more quiet). They pick their issues very carefully.

The most important policy issue for Apple is lowering the tax rate so it makes sense to bring back back the company’s cash pile from overseas. In the last quarter, its cash pile greatly increased from $146.76 billion to $158.8 billion. However, only $34.4 billion is kept in the U.S. The whole reason Apple took out debt for share repurchasing is so it didn't have to pay ridiculous taxes to repatriate the amount of money necessary to fund such a huge buy back program.

They don't want to distract from that I'm sure.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

There is plenty of spectrum for Wifi

The 5.8ghz spectrum is pretty clear, 2.4ghz is universal... no need for more. And I usually turn Wifi off if my phone connects to one of those awful AT&T hot spots. They are all T1 lines, when I can usually get 25-50mbps off of LTE. And as you move away from them, they stay connected to the phone but can't actually provide data. What a joke.

Mr Guy
@charter.com

Mr Guy

Anon

Re: There is plenty of spectrum for Wifi

2.4 gets plenty of interence. 5.8 rangeis fairly miniscule.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: There is plenty of spectrum for Wifi

5.8 has decent range. 2.4 usually works well, except in high density situations. Point is, we have the spectrum we need for Wifi.

DaveDude
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey

DaveDude to BiggA

Member

to BiggA
perhaps Comcast should buy a cellular band.

Mr Guy
@charter.com

Mr Guy

Anon

is it still going to hack your router

like Comcast current wi-fi offering does?

ATT schmuck
@mycingular.net

ATT schmuck

Anon

That's why AT&T kicks my iphone off its wifi

My iphone can hold any wifi signal EXCEPT my AT&T home internet (Uverse). So I always exceed my AT&T wireless account data plan limits. I suspected AT&T was doing it on purpose (paranoid as it sounds). Now I know why. My "utilization" is being "driven"!