I read that Time Warner Cable sued NYC Wireless over NYC Wireless offering wireless internet to an apartment building’s tenants. This just shows that Time Warner is as clueless as it comes when it comes to the wireless revolution.
Time Warner Cable (or TWC) maintains its monopoly on the simple fact that its wired. Pulling cables to reach those buildings is hugely expensive, so other companies aren’t going to enter that market. Also, once that box is connected to your TV, you as a consumer aren’t likely to disconnect it without a good reason.
Wireless access comes along and upsets TWC’s whole business plan. Now a nearly unlimited number of consumers can surf the Internet for the same fixed costs. Now TWC’s monopoly can’t compete. Since there are many companies offering Internet access via DSL, TWC doesn’t own the home internet market (thankfully!).
Thanks to plenty of wireless-friendly providers such as SpeakEasy and local favorite Celito, NYC Wireless’s internet backhauls can be seamlessly replaced, with their users not knowing a thing.
I’m seriously thinking of replacing my own RoadRunner service to show Time Warner I’m not happy with their stance on this growing revolution. I also hope to bring about a new wireless Internet network with GPL-like rules for sharing so that this kind of corporate power grabs cannot take place in the future.
If I find a moment this weekend, I’ll post my preliminary thoughts on this GPL network later today.
UPDATE: Looks like I was wrong. iNYC Wireless is not the same as NYC Wireless. And they were indeed ripping off TWC. Oh well. Shows me the need to actually READ things. 🙂