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Tag: cox

  • Cox Successfully Delivers Voice and HD Video via LTE

    Cox announced the successful completion of voice calling and high definition video streaming over wireless networks using LTE technology.

    Cox’s 4G technology and service trials utilize the AWS and 700 MHz spectrum that it acquired at Federal Communication Commission auctions in 2006 and 2008. The company informed that they spent over $550 million for radio spectrum licenses to support its wireless plans, which include wireless broadband.

    Cox conducted the 4G trials in Phoenix and San Diego and chose these markets for “the advanced technology-orientation of its residential and business customers”, as well as the terrain and suburban density variances of their geographies.

    While Cox is testing 4G LTE technology in these markets, it is initially deploying wireless services using the 3G CDMA standard in some regions of California and Nebraska.

    “We are encouraged by the success of the Phoenix and San Diego tests, which further validate our decision to pursue 4G based on LTE, specifically the 3GPP Release 8 standard," said Stephen Bye, Cox’s vice president of wireless.

    Next month, Bye will expand on Cox’s 4G learnings as he participates in a keynote session titled "Ready for Launch of Next Generation Mobile Networks" at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

    Collaborating with Cox in conducting the 4G trials and testing the wireless services and applications were Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei.

    Cox, the third-largest U.S. cable TV company, provides digital video, internet, telephone and wireless services over its own nationwide IP network.

  • Sony commits to Tru2way TV

    Sony has signed an agreement with the US’s six largest cable companies to produce a TV that will receive digital signals without the need for a set-top box.
    The Japanese electronics company will make an LCD set based on the Tru2way cable platform introduced in January at CES by Comcast.
    Tru2way allows interactive cable services to be integrated directly into devices without the need for set-top boxes, which are made by companies such as Motorola Inc and Cisco Systems Inc, which owns Scientific Atlanta.
    The agreement is between Sony and Comcast Corp, Time Warner Cable Inc, Cox Communications Inc, Charter Communications Inc, Cablevision Systems Corp and Bright House Networks.
    Between them the six companies serve more than 82 per cent of cable subscribers in the US.
    The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), which represents cable television operators in the US, said customers would still be able to attach their own devices – such as TiVo digital video recorders.
    Under the new system, customers will still need to get a cable card from their provider.
    The cable association said it was hopeful other electronics manufacturers would also agree to use the same technology.
    Kyle McSlarrow, president of NCTA, said the Sony announcement meant they had headed off action by the US’s Federal Communications Commission to impose a two-way standard on the industry.
    Cable companies and consumer electronics manufacturers have been feuding for a decade about how best to deliver cable services to customers while allowing them to buy equipment of their own choosing.
    “Every member of the FCC has encouraged the parties to resolve these highly technical issues in private-sector negotiations,” said McSlarrow.
    “This is a landmark agreement which will provide a national, open and interactive platform resulting in more choices of services and products for consumers.”
    Sony is not the first consumer electronics company to announce a device based on the platform.
    At CES, Panasonic announced two HD televisions and a portable digital video recorder that use Tru2Way.
    And last month, Samsung, the world’s largest producer of HDTVs, announced its own Tru2way TV and high-definition DVR.