OMGfast promo pitches 50-meg speeds for $29.95/month as it preps for a big expansion in South Florida, where it competes with Bright House and Verizon

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

February 27, 2013

2 Min Read
Cablevision's Wireless ISP Pitches Price Lock

OMGfast, the wireless ISP backed by Cablevision Systems Corp., is promoting a lifetime price guarantee as it expands broadband services to another 23,000 homes in Broward County, Fla. OMGfast's lifetime price lock is $29.95 per month for speeds up to 50Mbit/s, and is being offered to any new customer who signs up by April 30, 2013. The regular price for the no-contract, un-capped 50-meg (downstream) service is $59.95 per month. OMGfast is backing it up with a new ad campaign featuring NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath and his daughter, Jessica, so it's got that going for it. "OMGfast customers are assured that their service fee of $29.95 will never go up for that level of speed," company VP Darren Nichols said, in a statement. The service, also offered in Palm Beach, runs on Multichannel Video Distribution and Data Service (MVDDS) spectrum, which relies on equipment installed on cell towers and is capable of delivering Internet or TV services. It can also be used for cellular backhaul. Cablevision originally acquired MVDDS licenses covering 150 million people in 45 U.S. markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, in 2004 via a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction. Cablevision sold that spectrum to Dish Network Corp. last fall for $80 million as part of a $700 million settlement to resolve a legal spat tied to the now-defunct Voom HD service. (See Dish Pays $80M for Cablevision Spectrum.) At the time, Cablevision likened OMGfast to a small pilot so it can learn more about MVDDS technology. The service expansion and price promotion proves that there's much more to come, as the new deployment, which includes access to Fort Lauderdale and represents the company's fifth tower installation, will enable OMGfast to reach up to 90,000 homes. Its current footprint serves residential and small business customers in Margate, Coral Springs, Tamarac and West Boca Raton. An OMGfast spokeswoman said the wireless ISP is "rapidly expanding in South Florida," with plans to light up 41 towers over the next 12 months. Miami-Dade County is one of the areas on tap for that expansion. Bright House Networks and Verizon Communications Inc. are among the wireline ISPs that tangle with OMGfast. OMGfast has signed up more than 3,000 customers so far, the spokeswoman added. — Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable

About the Author(s)

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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