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For New Yorkers, Cablevision Introduces a Wi-Fi-Centric VoiP Network
The New York Times reports that
Cablevision Systems plans to announce on Monday the start of a low-cost mobile phone service that will use Wi-Fi for connectivity rather than standard cellular networks, the first such service to be introduced by a cable operator. Called Freewheel, the service will offer unlimited data, talking and texting worldwide for $29.95 a month, or $9.95 a month for Cablevision’s Optimum Online customers — a steep discount compared with standard offerings from traditional cellular carriers. Freewheel customers initially must use a specific Motorola Moto G smartphone, which is being sold for $99.95. The service goes on sale next month, and no annual contract is required.
(Reuters carries a similar story.)
My mobile phone is an "extension" on my home PBX. So even when I'm out I can take calls that came into the house "landline" (VOIP actually). And I can make calls through the home PBX. People in my house can call my mobile by dialling my extension. My connection to this PBX is typically Wi-Fi.
But that said, there are a lot of coverage gaps. I wouldn't accept that as being my only method of connectivity to make/take calls.
$30/mo is a terrible price. If all you want is talk/text, you can get that, on an ACTUAL cellular network (Cricket/AT&T, and I'm sure other providers) for $25/mo. And, to top it off, they'll only charge you $25 for that Moto G, instead of $100.
As a $5 add-on to your cable plan, it's pretty nice... but not at the "rack" rate.
but why restrict it to the Moto G handset only? Surely it's a software client?
I'm pretty sure they are doing it this way because they don't want to talk Joe Public through the process of replacing whatever dialer they have with the one they'll need for the app.
You can get unlimited talk/text for 25 a month through GoSmart.
For people that don't use the phone much you can get 2000 minutes which are good for a full year from PagePlus at a cost of 80 dollars. Or about 6 dollars a month.
Telefonica offers some really cheap pre paid programs with roll over minutes that can see your actual costs per month around 6 dollars with perhaps more minutes from the roll overs.
T-Mobile offers a prepaid 3 dollars a month program which is the absolute cheapest but you only get 30 minutes a month. Good for people that don't use the phone much and when they do finish the call in under a minute.
In this context, a 30 dollar plan that doesn't even use the cellular network is a joke. Even at 9 dollars it is a joke.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Republic Wireless offers the same thing for $5/month.
The whole controversy last year about Comcast offering public wi-fi using the routers they supply to their home customers suddenly makes a lot more sense. Normal wi-fi data usage from outside users in a residential area is not a widely used feature, but "cellular" wireless is much more common. I bet we'll see a similar service (similarly priced) from them shortly.
We are the 198 proof..
Isn't something that works really well between APs to my knowledge. So, how will this work exactly? What stops your phone calls from being dropped as you travel between APs?
If you don't mind all the caveats of having phone service that only works when you're in range of a WiFi hotspot, Freedompop offers exactly the same thing, nationwide, for $5/mo.
And as others have said, if you don't mind hotspot hunting when you want data, you can easily find unlimited talk & text plans on real cellular networks for under $30/mo. Heck, pony up the extra $5/mo for the $35/mo plan and Cricket (which is now a national carrier owned by AT&T) will throw in 1GB of data.
Leave it to cable companies to be even more clueless than Ma Bell...
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
$30 a month for Android SIP client, BRILLIANT.
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
"T-Mobile, for example, offers a Wi-Fi router that is designed to allow iPhone owners to place phone calls over a Wi-Fi connection. That helps offload some of the traffic that would have gone on T-Mobile’s voice network, but it also compensates for areas where T-Mobile has poor coverage." The writer wrote the above last paragraph. His research was quite limited. T-Mobile offers this to all smart phones. WiFi calling is so that you can make calls inside a building or place where the cell-tower coverage may be weak or inadequate. T-mobile WiFi works all over the planet earth. I was in Moscow, Russia making calls from a McDonald's WiFi to phones in Russia and the United States. You can buy a cheap android phone for $35 NEW! and benefit from this. Compliment this with Google Voice and/or Hangouts and you have a killer phone for a monthly fee of starting at $30 for WiFi (international) and 5GB 4GLTE (US).
Most ISP's (and some cell carriers) offer unlimited data on their own WiFi network already. That's not really a very big feature.
There's no sign they are including a single byte of cellular data here.
If you only want to make calls over WiFi, then the solution already exists. Sign up for a Google Voice number, then install the Google Hangouts Dialer, and you're all set.
The potential value-add here is not the voice or texting service, but access to the WiFi network.
Unlimited WiFi data within their local service area is not really that big of a deal, given the wide availability of free WiFi already. And you can already get worldwide free "phone service" (through WiFi) through any number of providers.
I'm a native *New Yorker*. I was born here and have lived here for the entire 46 years of my life. I however live a 6 hour drive from and have NEVER been to New York City nor do I have ambition to go. So, that being said, does the article refer to *New Yorkers* or people who live in New York City as I am unable to obtain cable service from anyone other than Time Warner.
With WiFi channels being overcrowded, how are they going to achieve reliability?