On Rad's Radar? - wi-fi Archives

Combatting Mobile Data

2012-05-24T02:02:06Z

How do you offer your broadband customers mobile access? There are a couple of options. One is MVNO, reselling cellular data cards to your customers. This is a very expensive option. No margin, but stickiness for your bundle.

Another way is to use hotspots. Hotspots are good advertising for your ISP and can even get you some new revenue from hourly or daily users. The cablecos have done that in-region but have now decided to having roaming wi-fi hotspot contracts with the other cablecos. TWC, Bright House, Comcast, Cablevision and Cox will be able to log in to each other's Wi-Fi hotspots - a total of 50,000 hotspots.

I guess AT&T will have to change this statement: "With AT&T Wi-Fi access included at thousands of hotspots nationwide. Cable can't provide that!"

AT&T acquired Wayport years ago and eventually supplanted T-Mobile as the wi-fi provider for Starbucks. AT&T owns more than 20,000 hotspots in the US, including McDonald's, Fedex/Kinkos, and Hilton locations. Wi-Fi access is included for iPhone users on AT&T and for certain other AT&T Mobility and AT&T High Speed Internet service. AT&T uses wi-fi to offload traffic from their overloaded cell network.

"Verizon Wi-Fi for High Speed Internet is a free service that enables qualified Verizon High Speed Internet subscribers to access the internet at thousands of public places known as Wi-Fi hotspots . This wireless service is not intended to be used from your home, but to be used while on-the-go." No idea how many or where, but the locator is here.

Two things are interesting. The top 5 or six cablecos are starting to work together, deliver the same services (usually with the same vendor) like home automation and security, and inter-connect with NNI's. Soon the cablecos will have a nationwide footprint that looks homegenous. The other is that the cablecos are starting to look more and more like the ILECs.

Polycom Gets Some Cash

2012-05-11T17:22:31Z

So Polycom announced that they will "divest its enterprise wireless voice solutions business to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. for gross proceeds of approximately $110 million in cash." I was confused by this until I realized it is a sliver of their business and represents DECT and Wi-Fi handsets only.

Polycom is in the process of remaking themselves from a hardware IP Phone company to a video conferencing solution provider. This was a way to get some cash and start selling off pieces of the business that don't fit that focus.

Where Will the Revenue Come From?

2012-03-02T16:00:45Z

The screaming you hear is coming from execs at the global cellcos. For years we have been hearing how voice will be free. (Hasn't happened yet, but it has flat rated.) Now it seems the text messaging revenue arm is decreasing - 9% from last year globally.

According to this article, "Pinger and an explosion of smartphone messaging services -- like iMessage, BlackBerry Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber Media, Facebook Messenger and KakaoTalk -- have managed in just a few years to slash away at the important revenue that cell phone companies get from text messaging. Analysts say there's no end in sight to the financial blood letting."

This explains all the metering and bandwidth caps. Revenue is flat for cellular so they need to make it up in data revenue. When you are spending $7-9 Billion per year on the network, plus paying for roaming and having to buy spectrum, you want ARPU and revenue to go up.

There is also all this envy to Apple, Google and other cloud companies that are making money from apps, shopping and usage that the cellcos are not getting a piece of.

I think it is also why a good many cell phones do not have wi-fi. That tends to work two ways though: wi-fi is capacity offload while the customer is still paying you a monthly rate. Wi-fi upload may be how they save some money on capacity upgrades. Wi-fi capability in teh handset would also be a way to appease the folks who get throttled or capped. However, that doesn't help the carrier revenues. They just don't want to be a dump pipe, but every move they make seems dumb.

Wi-Fi Only Phone Service?

2012-03-01T16:21:00Z

Would that work? Wi-Fi only phone service? Bandwidth.com has launched Republic Wireless (about 19 months ago I guess). It is an MVNO of Sprint but the cell network is the back-up service. Primarily, the VoIP runs over any available Wi-Fi network to keep costs and quality down. ARS has a review here. ARS isn't happy that only one phone is available.

Not for nothing, if the cell phone you currently use has Wi-Fi capability, there are number of apps that allow you to make VoIP calls from yoru cell phone utilizing an available cell network (2.5G/3G/4G) or a Wi-Fi network. This isn't anything new. It's just another way to package an MVNO and arbitrage the service.

The Cellular Battle

2011-11-28T18:56:18Z

I don't mean the AT&T-T-Mobile merger, although that is just one battle in the war for cellular supremacy. (Other battles are Sprint with Clearwire, Sprint with the cablecos and the MVNO model.)

"Former T-Mobile CMO Denny Post says carriers should focus on retention, rather than relentless promotions aimed at new sign-ups." Post says that it is the end of the New-to-Wireless Customer Era and that cellcos must re-think customer care.

Post continues, "It is going to become an absolute competitive scrap battle, [because] any customer is going to have to come from somewhere else."

This isn't just the cellular market. Look at broadband, landlines, cable TV, voice - all flat.

While VoIP revenues are increasing, it is because TDM revenue is decreasing. Hosted UC or Hosted PBX sales are more than voice sales, but functionality, productivity, efficiency, collaboration and one-inbox. (At least, in my humble opinion).

And while the FCC has a $4B fund to get more broadband deployed, those sales will go to the first network operator that provides it IF the price is right. Although even in rural, it is a battle between satellite, local wi-fi, dial-up, and 3G/4G data cards - which isn't exactly a slam dunk customer acquisition market. Everywhere else, it is

The nice thing is that Channel churn numbers are better than direct sales. Now if the Channel could just cross-sell and upsell better....

How Do You Make it Rain in the Cloud?

2011-10-10T16:12:31Z

Here at Microcorp's One-on-One event, I moderated a panel this morning about various cloud services with Level3 (CDN), Cbeyond (Virtual Servers), Intercall (Microsoft 365/Linc), EarthLink (Security), and PAETEC (Visual Messaging). It's an eclectic mix, but that should tell you that there are many ways to leverage this thing called CLOUD to make money.

The Cloud is really a value for IT services. It's about leveraging the technology and the technical skill set of another company in order to let the business focus on their own finctionality, instead of the tech that might help the business operate.

The move to the Cloud by carriers is due to the lack of margin growth in the primary business of access. It's moving up the OSI stack from Layer 1 (wireless, copper, fiber) to Layer 3 (Internet) to Layer 7 (Apps). As we have learned with the iPhone, people use apps. Apps drive traffic. So if you go after the apps and move them into a data center (into the Cloud!), then you make it possible for the business to have access to that data 24/7 from any where with many devices - laptops, smartphones, etc. That's the trend in the marketplace.

Just to simplify Cloud for you: email, anti-virus, websites (hosting), Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, Google Apps, Gmail, Hosted PBX, conferencing (GoToMeeting, Webex), Skype - are all examples of cloud applications.

The three things driving the cloud trend: ubiquious broadband, the economy, and the fast paced technology space. The economy means that companies have to do more with less (less people and less money). It means that there is cost cutting. Broadband is available in most places - DSL, cable modem, 3G, 4G, WiMax, LTE, satellite, wi-fi. This means you can get access to your data and apps (Gmail, Google Apps, Dropbox, whatever) from any where. Finally, the technology is changing so fast that by the time you install it, the tech is probably almost obsolete. Cloud apps means that you lessen CAPEX and upgrades (like with Microsoft software) are taken care of my the service provider.

There's revenue here. Either you be the one to have the conversation with your customers or someone else will. And they will get those commodity services like broadband, T1 and PRI after they get the cloud services.

A Message for Dan Hesse

2011-04-26T18:41:36Z

The merger of AT&T and T-Mobile will likely have extreme anti-competitive effects on the mobile industry. Certainly, the DOJ and the two F-Agencies (FTC and FCC) need to take note that mobile is churning the service economy of America right now and this merger could derail that. That being said, I have this to say to the CEO of Sprint, Dan Hesse:

You have lawyers and lobbyists and SVP's. Let them carry this fight for you. You need to keep your eye on the balls in the air. What are they you ask?

Clearwire - the wholesale 4G network that you need to be up and running nationwide in order for Sprint to be competitive.

Pivot - the cable cabal that you work with on Clearwire and other endeavors. If anything, you should find a way to sell deeper into the MSO market - out-of-region MPLS, FMC, VoIP origination and termination and of course Sprintlink (Internet bandwidth), which is still some of the best out there.

Sprint wireline - you need to have a message that Sprint Wireline is here to stay - and that you can talk about it for a whole hour without mentioning wireless. (So far, you can't talk about your fiber network for more than half an hour before wireless creeps into the conversation.) Your fiber may lead you to that thing stockholders call profitability.

And finally, while you have to know what your competitors are up to, you do not have to spend all your time comparing yourself to them or reacting to them. (I'm talking, of course, about Sprint Nextel Wireless network).

You have an M2M strategy that is more mature than AT&T or VZW, but you seem to lose business to them. M2M is how you leverage your networks for extra revenue. (See the original Amazon Whispernet deal.)

Your job, Mr. Hesse, is to have vsion, develop the strategy, and lead the whole company, its partners and its stockholders forward. Netscape lost because it concentrated on IE too much. Pepsi is now the number 3 soda behind Coke and Diet Coke, partly (I imagine) because they spend so much time comparing themselves to the competition. Avis spent time talking about being No. 2, but never mentioned Hertz. Smart move.

There is plenty going on in the telecom space, and the change is occurring more rapidly today than before. Tablets, games, apps, OS, gadgets, Wi-Fi, etc.

Cricket, Leap, LightSquared, US Cellular, Cellular South and even MetroPCS could make for a great alliance. Not against the merger, but for the myriad ways that you partner. Spectrum utilization. Handset fulfillment and volume buying. Bundling. App stores.

Couple that alliance with Pivot and Clearwire and you could probably beat AT&T at its game - if you get creative and focus. But focus on your game. The fastest way to lose is to focus on the other side of the net and what your opponent is doing instead of on what you are doing, how well you are executing on the plan, and the strategy you use.

Security VoIP and Otherwise

2011-04-02T20:22:36Z

There are certainly security risks with VoIP. (And we will get to that). But let us not forget that TDM voice is easy to hack too. A pair of alligator clips and people can dial from your line or listen in.

Wi-fi has been outed as unsafe especially with the launch of Firesheep.

Heck, how many folks change their passwords regularly? Have you ever changed your voicemail password? Is your laptop password protected? Do you have lojack for your laptop? How about your cell phone? Password protected? A wipe app?

See my point? One more.

HIPAA worries people only for digital files. HIPAA requires security on all files - paper ones too! No one seems to mind that most files lie around a medical office all day unprotected. Or that the file cabinets aren't locked every night. But, oh, boy, do medical professions get their knickers in a bunch over digital security.

There are hackers whacking at websites and databases all the time. After the Wikileaks episode, we heard about VISA, MAstercard, AMazon and others being bombarded by DDoS attacks to take them down.

The DDoS attack is essentially a group of hackers controlling a bunch of bot computers to send requests and packets to a website or IP Address in large numbers to take it down. The bot computers are computers (like yours) that have been infected with malware or a trojan. Always on computers with always on broadband means always available bot net.

This takes us to last week when Tele-Pacific's VoIP service was down due to basically a DDoS attack or what some describe as Call Flooding. One report called it terrorism, which is just being melo-dramatic. The FBI is involved to help track the culprits.

This will happen. Unlike Call Fraud, which is motivated by financial gain, this kind of attack leaves me baffled by why a hacker would bother, unless they were a disgruntled customer. As more traffic moves to VoIP, providers will need to be monitoring more; have controls in place; and be ever evolving the security of the network.

Did EarthLink Goof on Branding?

2010-12-14T15:22:51Z

Yesterday when I was speaking to a client, I mentioned that new Edge Networks merged with Deltacom to become EarthLink Business. The confused look on his face was not unexpected. Again this morning when discussing the new name, EarthLink is linked to consumer dial-up in the marketplace. How does that translate into a B2B Brand?

Back in the day, Mindspring and EarthLink were excellent marketing companies. But in 2005, in the dark days of Muni Wi-Fi, EarthLink lost its marketing edge.

Maybe it was the beat down from the MSO's over broadband access, coupled with the browbeating of dealing with ILEC's on wholesale DSL in the post-Brand-X era. Either way, EarthLink flubbed the marketing ball in Muni Wi-Fi. At the time, Sky Dayton was CEO of Helio, the MVNO partnership ELNK had with SK Telecom. I understand billing platform issues, but ELNK dial-up users should have been targeted for bundles that just never happened.

For example, Helio cellphones with wi-fi for access on the Muni Wi-Fi with some form of broadband combo (Wi-Fi, DSl, Cable, 2.5G) and of course dial-up back-up service. Gadgets were trialed, but the project was battered. As I understand it, internal silo thinking coupled with silo quotas killed any attempt at bundling.

Needless to say, EarthLink's brand has taken some punches. In fact, that was what made me go HUH?! when it was announced that the new CLEC would be named EarthLink Business.

You think dial-up, but would you think MPLS or Fat Pipe from ELNK? I don't think so. In fact, I think they goofed.

The announcement mentions that they are an MSP now. How so? You were a CLEC combined with a fiber player. Where did the MSP come from? I honestly thought that they were just jealous that Megapath-Covad got so much press this year. Megapath launched as an MSLEC (which I also think is a misnomer because just doing managed router and some network monitoring does not an MSP make).

Plus Managed Services is such a buzz term now - a garbage can term for so many things. Not exactly a branding term. (Well, MSLEC was a shot at blue ocean strategy).

In the managed services offering, you don't offer firewall, security, IDS, or any of the other truly upscale managed security offerings. While you mention taking over IT staff roles, what role is that exactly? ELNK is just doing monitoring at the edge. This can be done via alarm notifications.

Anyway, ELNK had a chance here to pull off a Verizon. That is, create a new brand around two properties that were not exceptional. New Edge was taking a back seat to Megapath in 2010. And Deltacom is a failure. All that fiber and the best that Deltacom could do was sell cheap T1's on price. Waste opportunity. (And I won't even get into how Deltacom screwed the Channel!)

Here's another Goof: keeping the Delatcom management team in place. If you couldn't get it done before the acquisition, how will you get it done now? It goes with the thinking that what got you here, won't get you there. But this seems like the Muni thinking all over again. And ELNK doesn't have a lot of room for mistakes.

Here's what I would have done: rename it something new. I would have had a launch party. The Managed Services product would have been front and center. Video interviews explaining the new name and the MSP approach. I would have had a few partners interviewed about the coming changes.

On top of that, I would have rolled out a lit building list to my channel with pricing for Ethernet and big bandwidth promotions for 1Q2011. Because, as I explain in my new book about Lit Building Sales Plans, lit buildings is where the most profit is. And the key to the acquisition of Deltacom is figuring out how to maximize the profit off that fiber network.

Lastly, I would have had a sales script and marketing collateral for agents and direct sales to go back to all current and previous customers to (a) explain the name change; and (b) upsell the MSP.

That probably seemed like it made too much sense, so they went the easy route and called it EarthLink Business with the Deltacom management in place. But, Rolla, if you want to talk, give me a ring.

Channel Partners Need a Net-Head

2010-03-01T17:13:51Z

Arrived in Vegas for the Channel Partners Expo (in conjunction with VoIP Nation). Seems everyone I speak with is looking for sales. We have at least as many channel agents as we have always had, so why the growing need for sales?

I think one reason is that most of the channel partners are TDM. Plug and play. Show me your bill. I'll save you money. That works for transactions, but, as Telarus is proving, you can sell these things via a website.

I spoke with an agent from San Diego who is attacking the Fortune 500 spot with wireless. Not just cell phones, but routers and other 3G/4G gear. We talked about the big opportunity in M2M (machine-to-machine, whereby hardware like a monitor or a camera can transmit data via a cellular chip). Multi-tech Systems is missing an opportunity here, because the window is closing. For inter-connects and VAR's used to selling a hardware solution, 3G and M2M mean money. (It fits into the same business model).

Meanwhile, the fiber guys are looking to sell more pipe - bandwidth, dark fiber, Waves. Unfortunately, these types of sales are specialized. A long sales cycle. Very specific customer needs. The equipment is expensive and not many folks know how to administrate that kind of gear.

SAAS and Hosted PBX sales are picking up. The problem for many agents is that they are so used to plug-and-play (order-taking) that solution selling is a challenging shift. In harsh economic times, people like to stay in their comfort zone to feel secure. But that TDM World is running out of runway. Agents need to wrap their head around IP.

Microcorp told me that one of their top partners is a VAR (hardware/LAN guy) who had an A-ha moment, which led him to team up with a WAN (telecom) guy, resulting in bigger sales and more complete ownership of the customer account.

In an age of carriers segmenting customers, stealing customers, cutting agents, and clipping commissions, owning the customer account from LAN-to-WAN is security.

There are so many opportunities for upsell and cross-sell to an agent's customer base. Unfortunately, not many master agencies nor agents are taking advantage of that opportunity. Microcorp is actively looking for a Director of Sales, who can not only supervise channel managers, but also figure out what sales are being missed by agents and coordinating the upsell and cross-sell options through the channel. For example, conference calling for all Dedicated LD customers. Another example is collocation or virtual private data center for a company migrating to an MPLS network.

There are opportunities out there, but they require more than "saving money". The real gold is in providing value to the business itself by adding efficiency, redundancy, mobility and productivity.

SUTUS Does an Upgrade

2009-09-10T20:39:35Z

SUTUS sells an Office-in-the-box solution for small business. For 25 and under employees, the Sutus Business Central 200 is a file server, email server, router, wireless access point, and phone system. The BC200 has gotten an upgrade.

New User Interface: enhanced Flex technology supports seamless installation, management and use of the Business Central 200, onsite and/or remotely.
Enhanced Desktop Install Tools: enables the set-up of desktops, VPN clients and mail clients in a matter of minutes.
Enhanced Network Interoperability: the appliance now can seamlessly co-exist within a customer's legacy local area networks; including active directory, hosted exchange, and existing internet routers.
VoIP Interoperability: ITSP partners added to the VoIP interop menu now include Bandwidth.com, Airespring, Excel and XO Communications.

It's the telephony upgrade that caught my eye: Call park / retrieve and directed pick-up. Older key systems use call park and most Hosted PBX systems cannot emulate that feature. (Aastra has a PBX that can). Other features include:

Overhead and handset paging
Open / closed call flows
Enhanced directory
Ability to manage Polycom handsets through user interface

SUTUS is distributed by ScanSource and NETX.

LTE and WiMax in 2010

2009-03-09T18:08:13Z

It must be confusing to the consumer: 3G, 4G, CDMA, GSM, EVDO, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, LTE. I'm in the Industry but I notice when people confuse the terms. (Seems often like everything is inter-changeable).

Clearwire will be rolling out WiMax for its 4G service, according to a company press release.

"During 2009, we expect to launch our Clear™ branded mobile broadband services in a number of new markets such as Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas/Ft. Worth and in our largest existing markets, namely Baltimore, Seattle, Honolulu and Charlotte," Wolff added. "With a robust pipeline of cell sites under development, we are working to significantly extend our wireless 4G network to many more markets, giving us the ability to cover as many as 120 million people with true broadband mobility by the end of 2010, including in major markets such as New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Houston and the San Francisco Bay area to name a few."

Clearwire is stating that it will blow VZW out of the 4G water in 2010 by spending $1.5B in 2009 on its network.

Of course, Clearwire is bleeding money too. Even after a 2008 where it raised $3.2 Billion and merged with Sprint's XOHM/ 4G Assets, which resulted in Clearwire holding the largest mobile wireless spectrum portfolio in the US.

ARPU rose to $39.70 a month, from $36.09.
Churn bumped up to 2.8%, from 2.4% a year ago.
CLWR had 5,000 net subscriber adds in the quarter; 475K total.
costs per gross add fell to $468, from $550
has $3.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of $157.3 million
revenues were less than $60M. [barrons]

The accounting is crazy due to the investments by Sprint, Google, Intel, bright House, TWC, and Comcast. According to the SEC filing of the New Clearwire:

On November 28, 2008, Clearwire, Sprint Nextel Corporation, Comcast Corporation, Time Warner Cable, Inc., Bright House Networks, LLC, Google Inc. and Intel Corporation completed the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Transaction Agreement"), entered into by the parties on May 7, 2008. For accounting purposes, the transactions (the "Transactions") are treated as a "reverse acquisition" with the WiMAX business contributed from Sprint (the "Sprint WiMAX Business") deemed to be the accounting acquirer. As a result, the financial results of the legacy Clearwire Corporation ("Old Clearwire") prior to the consummation of the transactions are not included as part of the Company's financial statements.

Meanwhile MetroPCS and Verizon Wireless are rolling out LTE in 2010 [per the Washington Post].

Sutus Delivers a Stimulus Plan of its own

2009-01-28T18:06:32Z

Small Business wins as Sutus announces new lower pricing for 'Office in a box' technology

All-in-one Telephony and Data Communications vendor announces SOHO-grade pricing for award-winning Business Central device

January 27th, 2009, Vancouver, B.C. Sutus Inc., the company behind the Sutus Business Central™, a unique all-in-one device that combines all the Telephony, data and networking features required to run a modern-day office, today announced pricing that dramatically reduces the TCO (total cost of ownership) for small businesses. The new pricing opens the door for any small business, from start-ups to established, mature companies, to leverage the benefits of enterprise-grade advanced telephony and networking technology. The pricing, which makes the Business Central the most competitive small business solution on the market, starts from a MSRP of $2199 (USD).

The Sutus Business Central™ has been developed specifically for businesses of up to 25 employees and comprises a wide array of advanced telephony, data and networking functions. It includes a business-class phone system, file server, email server, router, firewall, wireless access point, VPN remote access server, and automated backups. It has the ability to simultaneously support both standard phone line and VoIP connections and comes with an array of business productivity features.

Shawn Chute, EVP of Sutus, said, "Now more than ever, small businesses need an affordable, reliable solution that meets their IT and communication requirements and can grow with them. Sutus has always been the "all-in-one" solution that is easy to install, use and manage, added to these advantages now is the fact that we have the most affordable all-in-one IT and communications product available for small businesses."

The Business Central also performs the tasks of a gateway or edge device, enabling both Sutus and its business partners to seamlessly deliver a wide range of turnkey hosted services, such as remote device management, VoIP, back-up and disaster recovery.

Sometimes known as an 'office-in-a-box', the Business Central is a Multi-service Business Gateway. InStat qualifies Multi-service Business Gateways (MSBG) as hardware which combines phone systems with other mission-critical components like routers and servers, and has estimated the market at US$615 million in 2007 and projected to rocket to US$2.6 billion by 2010.

SUTUS is looking for Agents and VAR's to offer its product to small business. Do you understand that the Business Central box handles all of the functions of a pile of blue boxes and services? See SUTUS at the Miami IT EXPO EAST next week. Or contact Mike Cassidy at SUTUS at 925.274.1380

Is the $100 Triple Play viable?

2008-11-21T14:45:42Z

So on Linkedin, Neal Lachman, asked if the $100 Triple Play was Viable in today's economic molasses. Neal writes:

Bundling voice, video, data services for a higher ARPU was an obvious, great move when broadband services and advanced digital services were first introducded...... However, the market is moving more towards a lower ARPU for the triple play services. This is especially going to play a big role in future operations. The time of high ARPUs is going, and soon it will be history.

I believe operators have to lower their ARPU estimates from 2010 onward, simply because the customer won't be willing to pay as much. Today operators generate $100+ revenue per month on their triple play services. In 2010 and later, they should be happy if they can reach ARPU of $50. One example is the FTTH service in Holland, where people do not even want to pay more than €50 for their triple play bundle.

My thoughts on it are here:

Telcos like AT&T and Verizon are actually losing money on triple-play. Think about the fact that they were getting $35 for a phone line and $35 for DSL (averages for consumers 2 years ago). Now they have to upgrade the network to offer TV, which is the least profitable service. And do that for $30.

Install and maintain the network that they will be capping. Install home equipment like ONT and STB. To give it away for $100. Now usually the telcos will add taxes and fees on that to increase their profit. But its the MSO's who are making out. They went from the least profitable service (TV) to the more profitable services of phone and Internet.

With all of the CAPEX for DOCSIS upgrades as well as FTTx and WiMax build-outs, these companies won't be able to lower ARPU for triple play.

The cost of TV content is increasing. Must carry TV channels are now asking for a bite of the pie. You have seen the battle that NFL Network and the other sports networks are having to get carried by the systems -- and to be carried in the most popular packages.

I can see how the MSO's and telcos would have to lower ARPU averages in the face of the economic tsunami we are experiencing, but they won't be offering triple play for $50.

Remember that for the Bells, RGU's include security, cellular, and now tech support. Cablevision rolled out a $350M wi-fi network in NY. The duopoly knows that to keep churn down, they have to get sticky with ubiquitous Internet Access and to get close to a quad-play. Surprisingly, while Verizon has the quad play in my town (Tampa) - FiOS TV, Internet, phone and Cell - that is not the package that they advertise to my house Every Single Day.

The cost of customer acquisition, retention, advertising, tech support, customer care, bad debt, security, upgrades, and maintenance are too high for the triple play ARPU to drop below $99.

One More Race: Wi-Fi

2008-11-06T21:46:37Z

Well, AT&T wanted to be known as a wireless company, so that explains AT&T buying Wayport today for approximately $275 million in cash. Wi-Fi is the new battle ground between Sprint and the Pivot posse and the RBOC's. Wayport manages about 12,000 hotpsots including McDonald's.

AT&T figures with millions of devices utilizing a wi-fi signal, they should own that transit. Before cable does or Sprint/Clearwire/Xohm does.

If you want the snarky post about this, go here.