Time Warner Sues Apt.Over Wireless Theft
By Harry Berkowitz Staff Writer September 15, 2003 Cable theft has evolved into piracy of high-speed Internet access, Time Warner Cable of New York claims. The cable company Monday sued iNYC Wireless and London Terrace Towers, a large apartment complex in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, saying they rerouted and resold Road Runner access without permission. They did so with the help of high-powered wireless-fidelity, or Wi-Fi, transmitters spread through the apartment complex, Time Warner Cable said in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. "iNYC's theft and resale has unjustly renriched iNYC," the suit claims. Customers of iNYC did not know about the illegal activity, the suit says. Jeff Schwartz, a lawyer for the London Terrace board of directors, said, "London Terrace knows nothing about this and denies any wrongdoing." A call to iNYC was not returned. Time Warner Cable said iNYC Wireless reached a point where it stopped paying Verizon Communications for Internet access over T1 connections and started tapping into Road Runner lines in the apartments of some building superintendents. Many of the superintendents were getting complimentary service from Time Warner. The service called iNYC Wireless, based in Brooklyn, charges $39.99 per month and a one-time fee of $150 for its Wi-Fi receiving card. It distributes the service wirelessly over high-powered transmitters and amplifiers in buildings. Time Warner Cable, which has 300,000 Road Runner customers in New York City, charges $44.95 to $59.95 per month and connects through cable modems. On its Web site, iNYC says it focuses on adding "smart building functions that will grow out of our relationships with building staff, ownership and residents." http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzwifi0916,0,4349.story?coll=ny-business-headlines -- NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ Un/Subscribe: http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/
