Hey PC Magazine, competition is a GOOD thing...
Earlier this week, Cablevision unveiled a new DOCSIS 3.0 service tier that delivers 101Mbps downstream and 15Mbps upstream for $99 with no caps, a good deal no matter what kind of technology you favor. The next day, Verizon was quick to call Cablevision's offer a "parlor trick," and a Verizon representative on Twitter has spent much of the week taking shots at Cablevision's offer. Verizon seemed interested in this particular story by PC Magazine Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff, where he begins by claiming Cablevision's being misleading:
quote:
The other morning as I prepared my lunch, I heard a new Cablevision Optimum Online commercial. . .The Optimum lady said that Verizon would deliver your broadband on its plain old copper lines. . .Optimum's tiny bit of misdirection leaves you with the impression that Verizon's FiOS service is a lie and is fiber in name only.
While the cable industry often likes to intentionally confuse the difference between
core and last mile fiber, that doesn't appear to be the case here. We asked for a copy of the ad in question from Cablevision, and it turns out the specific ad was for Optimum's
business service, the business logo clearly displayed throughout. Cablevision's ad was specifically responding to a Verizon ad for business-class 7Mbps DSL,
not FiOS. Ulanoff goes on to make a few strange arguments about how Cablevision's new 101Mbps
residential offer isn't really fast:
quote:
At the same time, Cablevision is touting its new DOCSIS 3.0–based 100-Mbps, $99-a-month broadband service. It even got most of the major national media to name it the fastest cable in the country. This could lead people to think it's the "fastest broadband in the country."
Which is curious, since even including municipal fiber deployments in places like
Lafayette, Louisiana, Cablevision's new tier
is the fastest residential broadband in the country, barring a few tiny carriers. Ulanoff also argues that the service isn't really wanted, and that customers who might want 101Mbps connectivity are somehow being conned by Cablevision:
quote:
These superhigh speeds will roll out across the country, but only a handful of well-heeled customers will pay for them. Those users will inadvertently become foot soldiers in Cablevision's efforts to battle FiOS in the more affordable broadband space.
Describing consumers who want the fastest connection available as "foot soldiers" and "well-heeled" makes Cablevision's offer sound almost menacing. When the tier launches on May 11, consumers in our
forums will be the first to tell you whether Cablevision is living up to their promise. While the new tier is certainly more than most users need, it's still a good value. Until the speed tests roll in, it seems like the technology press should be applauding the kind of one-upmanship Verizon and Cablevision are engaging in.After all, it's what real competition looks like, potshots and all. Not that the potshots mean anything, anyway. Like their response to DOCSIS 3.0, Verizon has called Cablevision's decision to offer free Wi-Fi "
a marketing ploy," yet the
Wall Street Journal today cites insiders who say Verizon may offer free Wi-Fi themselves sometime this summer as part of a partnership with Boingo. It's likely that once Verizon gets done complaining, they'll eventually unveil their own 100Mbps FiOS offering. One more time with feeling: ain't competition grand?