Time Warner Cable said it has begun to light up a metro WiFi network in San Diego that encompasses more than 300 hotspots today, and will expand by “hundreds” more by the end of 2014.
The initial WiFi build in San Diego is focused on heavily populated areas in Carlsbad, Coronado, Del Mar, La Jolla, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach.
With the additions, TWC has installed more than 17,000 hotspots in Southern California, and more than 46,000 nationwide, thanks to deployments in parts of Austin, Texas; Kansas City; Hawaii; Charlotte, N.C.; and New York City.
TWC is also a member of a “Cable WiFi” roaming alliance that has deployed more than 250,000 hotspots, and includes participation from Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications.
“We know that being connected to the Internet wherever you are is a hugely important feature, so we’ll continue to invest to bring WiFi to areas where our customers live, work and play,” said Deborah Picciolo, SVP of operations for Time Warner Cable, in a statement. “It’s like taking your home Internet service with you. That’s why WiFi deployment continues to be a top initiative for Time Warner Cable and we are thrilled to be expanding to San Diego.”
TWC, which has historically sourced WiFi gear from Ericsson, Cisco Systems and Ruckus Wireless, has also been equipping its WiFi network with Hotspot 2.0 technology that supports cellular-like handoff capabilities.
A TWC official confirmed that the MSO is using Ruckus equipment for the San Diego buildout.
