Cablevision

Remember 2008? Before the financial crisis? Before the real estate collapse? Before ubiquitous WiFi? You may not remember all that, but 2008 was the year Cablevision Optimum WiFi and since then Cablevision’s out-front vision has influenced an entire industry. Now most major operators offer free WiFi hotspots to their customers. But Cablevision did it before it was cool. Cablevision was the trendsetter. And you know what? Cablevision’s still doing it better than most. In fact, Optimum WiFi has ramped up its internet speeds to 15 Mbps download and 4 Mbps upload, speeds much faster than even some of the most expensive 3G and 4G cellular data plans. Optimum recently has announced several partnerships that it expects will greatly increase Optimum WiFi’s visibility and usage, including an agreement with NJ Transit in which Optimum will deploy WiFi in the agency’s train stations and train cars. In June, Cablevision announced the completion of WiFi installations in 32 NYC Parks across the five boroughs, through a partnership with The City of New York and Time Warner Cable. And after Hurricane Sandy, more than 30K Optimum hotspots were functional immediately following the storm and almost all were returned to service within seven days. Impressive.