Cablevision in deal to extend users' WiFi service for free

In a novel arrangement, three major cable operators have agreed to let their customers use each others' high-speed Internet networks for free.

Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp., New York-based Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corp., of Philadelphia, announced the agreement Thursday. Access is available immediately.

John Bickham, Cablevision's president of cable and communications, said in a statement, "Cable providers interconnecting WiFi services so customers can roam freely across networks is an extremely meaningful and transformative development."

He said the agreement "combines the reach and the value of our respective WiFi deployments and delivers fast and free wireless Internet access that stretches across the market, at a time when consumer demand for mobile data is exploding."

Cablevision owns Newsday.

Telecom industry analyst Berge Ayvazian, who works for the research firm Heavy Reading, called the agreement a "major breakthrough for cable broadband customers, extending wireless broadband connectivity from the home and business to thousands of WiFi access points throughout the region."