In North Carolina, customers of Time Warner Cable Company have linked the appearance of blurry, pixelated images on their televisions to nearby use of Verizon LTE smartphones.
According to local station WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC, Time Warner Cable recently moved some TV channels, including WRAL-TV, to the same broadband spectrum that serves Verizon’s 4G LTE data service. Verizon reportedly finished the rollout of its 4G LTE in the 700 MHz band earlier this year, and is currently the only wireless carrier using that part of the spectrum. As a result, many customers have experienced problems with their television signal, including blurry, pixelated images and loss of sound quality, every time a Verizon LTE smartphone is in use nearby. The interference can even happen when the phone is nearby but not actively being used, such as when it is stored in a pocket or purse.
The problem was pointed out last month by Sam Matheny, vice president of policy and innovation at WRAL-TV, who wrote an editorial about the issue for the company’s website.
“Cable set top boxes (at least the models we have) lack the appropriate shielding to block interference from other devices,” wrote Matheny. “In fairness, until recently the 700MHz band wasn’t being used by devices like cell phones, so this wouldn’t have been a problem.”
This issue deserves immediate attention, he added, as it is “not just a Time Warner Cable issue, but an issue for the entire cable industry.” Smartphone users are constantly upgrading their phones, meaning that millions of new LTE devices are being activated every month. In addition, separate studies from IPG Media Lab and Forrester both report a high percentage of TV watchers use a second screen, such as a smartphone or tablet, while watching TV.
One immediate solution is to use the 700MHz band on cable systems for services that don’t require reliable delivery of linear programming, Matheny said. Cable companies should remove linear channels from this band, especially channels with higher viewer numbers. In the long term, cable boxes with better shielding need to be built, as use of the 700 MHz band for telecommunications will only continue to grow.
