Company Has Activated Service in High-Traffic Community Zones Throughout
Nassau County and in Areas of Suffolk County, Commuter Rail Platforms and
Station Parking Lots Across Long Island
Cablevision's Optimum WiFi is Already the Largest and Most Advanced
Consumer WiFi Network in the Nation
BETHPAGE, N.Y., Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cablevision Systems
Corp. (NYSE: CVC) today announced completion of the initial phase of its
Optimum WiFi deployment. Already the largest and most advanced consumer
WiFi network in the nation, based on geographic coverage, Optimum WiFi
offers free and unlimited wireless Internet access as a value-added benefit
for Cablevision's Optimum Online high-speed Internet customers.
Cablevision in May announced plans to deploy WiFi in the commercial and
high consumer traffic areas across its entire tri-state service area over
the next two years. The company today announced that it had completed the
deployment of Optimum WiFi throughout the commercial and high-traffic areas
of Nassau County, in areas of Suffolk County, and on the commuter rail
platforms and station parking lots across all of Long Island.
"One of the keys to Cablevision's continued growth and success is
ensuring that we are delivering the best and most technologically advanced
services to our customers," said Tom Rutledge, Cablevision's chief
operating officer. "We believe free and broadly available WiFi access will
become an important and popular enhancement for our Optimum Online
customers. Just a few months into our Optimum WiFi deployment, we have
already built and activated the nation's largest and most advanced consumer
WiFi network, which will continue to grow and expand, ultimately allowing
Optimum customers to bring the superior Internet experience they enjoy at
home with them across our entire service area."
Current Optimum Online customers using laptop computers and portable
WiFi-enabled devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch can access Optimum WiFi
through a simple sign-on screen. Once a customer logs into the service by
entering their Optimum User ID and password, the network delivers fast
symmetrical speeds of up to 1.5 megabits-per-second.
Cablevision currently provides Optimum Online high-speed Internet
service to more than 2.4 million customers, more than 51 percent of the
homes passed by Cablevision's fiber optic network, the highest penetration
of any Internet service in the nation. Optimum Online customers are already
familiar with the benefits of wireless access, with more than half using
wireless routers in the home.
"WiFi has become the most common form of wireless broadband
connectivity in the consumer and mobile worker marketplace in the U.S.,
especially in major markets like the New York metropolitan area," said
Yankee Group's Chief Strategy Officer Berge Ayvazian. "Most of
Cablevision's subscribers already have at least one WiFi-connected laptop
or desktop computer, and a rapidly increasing percentage of mobile
smartphones have WiFi connectivity, including all Apple iPhones and many
RIM BlackBerrys. The latest frontier is WiFi connectivity for cameras,
media players and printers. By mid-2009, we will start seeing a new
category of 'mobile Internet devices' all of which will be WiFi connected."
Optimum WiFi uses the same standard used in wireless home networks,
802.11, and any device that is certified by the WiFi Alliance as adhering
to the 802.11 standards and has a browser will be able to access the
Optimum WiFi network. Cablevision has launched a consumer Web site, located
at http://www.optimumwifi.com, to provide customers with additional information on
Optimum WiFi, including tutorials and detailed coverage maps, which will be
updated as the deployment continues across Long Island and in Cablevision's
service area in New Jersey, Connecticut, Westchester and Hudson Valley, the
Bronx and Brooklyn.
Previously activated Optimum WiFi community zones include the
Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry Line, commercial zones in Sag Harbor,
Northport and Huntington on Long Island; Westport and New Canaan in
Connecticut; Peekskill, Pleasantville and Pelham in Westchester/Hudson
Valley; Denville, Ridgewood and Tenafly in New Jersey; and Parkchester in
the Bronx.
About Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) is one of the nation's
leading media and entertainment companies. Its cable television operations
serve more than 3 million households in the New York metropolitan area. The
company's advanced telecommunications offerings include its iO TV(R)
digital television, Optimum Online(R) high-speed Internet, Optimum Voice(R)
digital voice-over- cable, and its Optimum Lightpath integrated business
communications services. Cablevision operates several successful
programming businesses, including AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel and WE tv,
through Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, and serves the New York area as
publisher of Newsday and other niche publications through Newsday LLC. In
addition to these businesses, Cablevision owns Madison Square Garden and
its sports teams, the New York Knicks, Rangers and Liberty. The company
also operates New York's famed Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre,
and the Chicago Theatre, and owns and operates Clearview Cinemas.
SOURCE Cablevision Systems Corp.
 back to top
Related links:
http://optimum.com
http://www.optimumwifi.com http://www.cablevision.com
CONTACT:
Jim Maiella, +1-516-803-3947, or Sarah
Chaikin, +1-516-803-2352, both of Cablevision Systems Corp.
|
