By Maria Armental
Cablevision Systems Corp. is suing Verizon Communications Inc.,
accusing Verizon of falsely advertising the "fastest Wi-Fi
available" in New York in an attempt to undercut Cablevision's
competitive advantage.
In a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, the
Long Island, N.Y., company alleges Verizon launched an advertising
campaign this month falsely claiming to offer superior Wi-Fi
service based on a privately commissioned router study not publicly
available.
Cablevision says Verizon's claims are based on a new router it
is installing--the same router Cablevision says it already offers
in the service area in question.
"Indeed, Cablevision not only has offered this router to its
customers for nearly a year, but it does so for free, whereas
Verizon charges customers as much as $199.99 for its new router,"
the complaint asserts.
Verizon spokeswoman Deidre Hart responded to the suit by saying,
"This is a boldface ploy to promote Cablevision's latest wireless
gambit." She added that the company has yet to see the
complaint.
"A third party has tested and validated the FiOS QuantumGateway
Router. It offers the fastest in-home Wi-Fi available from any
provider," Ms. Hart said, echoing claims made in the company's
advertising campaign. "As usual, Cablevision is confusing consumers
by using an apples-to-oranges comparison of in-home and public
Wi-Fi."
Cablevision said this week that it plans to launch a Wi-Fi
voice, text and data service called "Freewheel," taking advantage
of the Wi-Fi hot spot network in the New York service area.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
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