Cablevision Systems Corporation has
filed a lawsuit in federal court for the Eastern District of New York against Verizon Communications, seeking an end to what it calls "its false, misleading and deceptive advertising claims about Wi-Fi service" related to Verizon's new
802.11ac Wi-Fi router, which has yet to see wide rollout. Cablevision's premise is that few customers would actually be in a position to achieve speeds faster than Cablevision's offerings, and it would cost them much more.
Cablevision says that "Verizon's claim that it has faster Wi-Fi than Cablevision is false, deceptive and designed to mislead consumers. Verizon has no public Wi-Fi network. In addition, Verizon's in-home routers are not faster than Optimum Smart Routers, and cost Verizon customers hundreds of dollars, while Optimum's are free. It is not a coincidence that Verizon is making false Wi-Fi claims just as Cablevision is introducing its all-Wi-Fi Freewheel phone, which will allow consumers to avoid Verizon's data caps and excessive data overage fees." Cablevision's Freewheel Wi-Fi calling service was announced
earlier this week.
Verizon's router, recently unveiled and not yet available in all markets, is a mid-range 802.11ac router, with customizations for FiOS customers. While the 802.11ac router is not free to customers as Cablevision points out, Verizon does offer 802.11n routers at low or no cost to service users, depending on locality and service plan.
Verizon claims that "this is a bald-faced ploy to promote Cablevision's latest wireless gambit. A third party has tested and validated the FiOS Quantum Gateway Router. It offers the fastest in-home Wi-Fi available from any provider. As usual, Cablevision is confusing consumers by using apples-to-oranges comparisons, in this case of in-home and public Wi-Fi."
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