WiFi Integration with 4G, WiMAX, 3G Mobile and Cable Wireless Broadband

Story by Berge Ayvazian. Submitted on April 29, 2009

While most of us in the mobile industry were in Las Vegas at CTIA 2009, many of our colleagues were in Washington, DC attending the Cable Show ‘09. Several announcements made at the Cable Show and other recent reports support my view that WiFi will continue to be a primary bridging technology between 3G Mobile, WiMAX and Cable Wireless Broadband services on the road to 4G.
The first of these announcements came from Cablevision Systems Corp., which reported that its customers had already accessed the Internet more than one million times over its new Optimum WiFi high-speed wireless Internet service since it was launched in September 2008. Cablevision is the fifth largest US cable MSO, with 3.1 million residential subscribers and a hybrid fiber-coax network that passes approximately five million homes and businesses in the New York tri-state metropolitan area. Unlike cellular data plans which can cost $60 per month or more and require long-term contracts and the purchase of additional equipment, Cablevision offers public WiFi connectivity at no additional charge to all of its nearly 2.5 million Optimum Online broadband subscribers. Optimum WiFi is now available in commercial and high-traffic locations across Long Island, Connecticut and Westchester/Dutchess service areas, in Bergen and Passaic counties in New Jersey, and at hundreds of commuter rail stations across the New York metropolitan area.
Optimum Online has achieved a more than 75 percent broadband market share in Cablevision’s service area, and is used by more than 52 percent of cable homes passed. Cablevision has also become the majority residential phone provider across much of the territory served by its fiber optic network. This week Cablevision announced the launch of Optimum Online Ultra, a new high-speed Internet product that will deliver the nation’s fastest broadband connections, up to 101 megabits-per-second (Mbps) downstream and upstream speeds of up to 15 Mbps. Optimum Online Ultra will be offered across the company’s entire service area starting May 11, leveraging the potential of DOCSIS 3.0 technology to provide higher speed broadband at a significantly lower cost than any telco provider. Cablevision also announced that it was doubling the downstream speed of its Optimum WiFi wireless Internet service, to up to 3.0 Mbps - significantly faster than more expensive cell phone data plans.
This has lead me to the observation that WiFi has become one of the most effective and low-cost ways for cable companies to thwart the telco threat, at least in the near term. Cablevision’s high-speed Internet customers have clearly embraced Optimum WiFi as their preferred solution for Internet access when away from home, and the success of Optimum WiFi is a direct result of Cablevision’s decision to pursue a ‘here and now’ strategy for providing its customers with fast and reliable mobile Internet access, and to move beyond the deployment of a few hotspots or access points and build a true market-wide network that demonstrates the company’s commitment to WiFi.
Cablevision is not the only cable MSO using WiFi for wireless broadband access. Comcast is currently engaged in a technical trial offering WiFi service near NJ Transit commuter rail stations throughout New Jersey. Comcast High-Speed Internet subscribers can sign into the WiFi service at no additional charge by entering their usernames and passwords to access the Internet via the WiFi Hot Zones. Cablevision and Comcast are also collaborating on back office integration and authentication that will allow their respective subscribers to access WiFi broadband services at all of the NJ Transit commuter rail stations. Both Cablevision and Comcast have renewed their interest in WiFi, as it gives them an additional weapon to use when competing with Verizon FiOS and Verizon Wireless mobile broadband services.
Although cable operators are well positioned to increase subscriber retention and revenues by adding mobility to their current triple play bundles, none of the major US cable MSOs has successfully launched a 3G cellular network. Cable company Cox Communications announced plans to build its own cellular network to offer mobile voice and data services in some of its markets, while working in concert with Sprint on a wholesale basis in others. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks have invested in Clearwire WiMAX-based wireless broadband network, and Comcast has announced it will start offering wireless broadband in Portland, Ore., this summer. Even Clearwire acknowledged the value of WiFi connections when it introduced the CLEARTM Spot Personal Hotspot, an accessory which enables standard WiFi products to connect to the Internet, at true broadband speeds, via the company’s CLEARTM mobile WiMAX service. Four of the leading US cable MSOs will discuss their respective plans for wireless broadband and mobile Internet during a 4G World panel in September.
BelAir Networks has taken WiMAX/WiFi integration a step further by announcing the industry’s first dual mode wireless node optimized for deployment on existing cable infrastructure, including aerial plant, pedestal, cabinet and vault mounting options. With the modular, dual mode WiMAX/WiFi and cable-ready BelAir100SX node, BelAir Networks has made it faster, more economical and less risky for cable operators to capitalize on the complementary nature of licensed and license-free wireless technology associated with large scale wireless network deployments.
AT&T is also leveraging WiFi to differentiate its DSL fixed broadband services from competitors and to complement its growing base of mobile broadband customers by giving them a faster connection in high-traffic areas nationwide. WiFi also offers AT&T some operational savings, allowing it take traffic off of its congested 3G networks. AT&T recently reported a huge increase in WiFi usage during the first quarter, driven by increased usage at 7000 Starbucks coffee shop locations around the country and the growth of its hotspot network with an additional 3000 hotpots in hotels, car rental agencies and book stores as well as roaming access to 60,000 hotspots internationally. AT&T has been emphasizing WiFi as a key component of its broadband and mobile business strategies since it acquired hotspot management company, Wayport, in December 2008.
AT&T reported authenticating 10.5 million WiFi connections across its 20,000 US hotspot network in the first quarter of 2009. Those connections are more than triple the 3.5 million connections in the first quarter of 2008 and more than half of the total for all of 2008. Driving the surge were 16.7 million AT&T broadband subscribers, which AT&T extended free WiFi use to last year. In addition, any AT&T Mobility customer with WiFi-enabled smartphones such as the iPhone or 3G LaptopConnect connection receive unfettered access to the hotspot network as do mobile customers. In a recent interview at CTIA 2009, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega emphasized the important role WiFi will play in future mobile broadband services as more mobile devices have WiFi embedded. AT&T plans to offload a good deal of mobile traffic onto home, work and public WiFi networks, sparing 3G and future 4G capacity for truly mobile scenarios.