WOW--the cable company--and its new Ultra TV
Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:12 am
Good-looking cableco whole-house DVR solution:
http://www.thewowbuzz.com/blog/technolo ... w-ultra-tv
Click on the link inside the blog to see their Youtube video.
I know, you'll all initially laugh when you see this, realizing that we've had this kind of power for awhile now--but then you'll pause and reflect how at least one cable company has now officially "got it".
A buddy of mine is getting this installed later this week. I can't wait to see it.
6 stream tuner (hmmmm, I wonder what technology they're using...), Netflix etc on all their boxes, DLNA compliant. Hooks together through their router to provide full capabilities.
The best part if the pricing. I remember when Time Warner came out with their service last year, they bundled it together as an ultra-high-end solution with all the channels, 50 megabit broadband, phone, and concierge service--for $180/month. Well, WOW is doing it WAY differently. To WOW, this is just another set of cable boxes with their own pricing--and not bundled in with anything else.
Their current crap SA 2 tuner single location DVR, with the worst software you've ever seen, rents (HD version) for $13/month. Plain HD cable boxes rent for $7/month. So a plain-Jane two location setup incurs a $20/month charge for hardware rental. Switch over to Ultra TV and you replace those two pieces of equipment with the DVR and extender, PLUS a wireless router (that might have some value), for an equipment charge of only $25/month.
Add to that whatever TV and internet services you want to buy at whatever price level, and there you go. No bundling of "premium services" or phone or anything.
For people who go to the cable company to solve their problems, like my father, this is one helluva deal. I hate to say it, Ceton, but you will have to work hard to compete with this from what I can tell.
Want another extender? Pricing goes crazy at that point--it's $15/month. So my three location 7MC/XBox setup would go for $40/month just for hardware. Yikes. On top of the $75/month TV and internet service I have, that's a buck fifteen/month.
Yeah, for us it's silly. But since most people in the world have never seen anything like this, it'll be like caveman discovering fire--and since they don't have to pay $1000 or whatever up front for hardware, they'll jump all over this.
I will have a full report once my buddy gets it in and working.
BTW, this runs rings around ATT U-Verse and its "two streams of HD at a time" thing, plus their bundling.
http://www.thewowbuzz.com/blog/technolo ... w-ultra-tv
Click on the link inside the blog to see their Youtube video.
I know, you'll all initially laugh when you see this, realizing that we've had this kind of power for awhile now--but then you'll pause and reflect how at least one cable company has now officially "got it".
A buddy of mine is getting this installed later this week. I can't wait to see it.
6 stream tuner (hmmmm, I wonder what technology they're using...), Netflix etc on all their boxes, DLNA compliant. Hooks together through their router to provide full capabilities.
The best part if the pricing. I remember when Time Warner came out with their service last year, they bundled it together as an ultra-high-end solution with all the channels, 50 megabit broadband, phone, and concierge service--for $180/month. Well, WOW is doing it WAY differently. To WOW, this is just another set of cable boxes with their own pricing--and not bundled in with anything else.
Their current crap SA 2 tuner single location DVR, with the worst software you've ever seen, rents (HD version) for $13/month. Plain HD cable boxes rent for $7/month. So a plain-Jane two location setup incurs a $20/month charge for hardware rental. Switch over to Ultra TV and you replace those two pieces of equipment with the DVR and extender, PLUS a wireless router (that might have some value), for an equipment charge of only $25/month.
Add to that whatever TV and internet services you want to buy at whatever price level, and there you go. No bundling of "premium services" or phone or anything.
For people who go to the cable company to solve their problems, like my father, this is one helluva deal. I hate to say it, Ceton, but you will have to work hard to compete with this from what I can tell.
Want another extender? Pricing goes crazy at that point--it's $15/month. So my three location 7MC/XBox setup would go for $40/month just for hardware. Yikes. On top of the $75/month TV and internet service I have, that's a buck fifteen/month.
Yeah, for us it's silly. But since most people in the world have never seen anything like this, it'll be like caveman discovering fire--and since they don't have to pay $1000 or whatever up front for hardware, they'll jump all over this.
I will have a full report once my buddy gets it in and working.
BTW, this runs rings around ATT U-Verse and its "two streams of HD at a time" thing, plus their bundling.