Time Warner to test metered Internet Access

[Calis]

Yeah I'd be extremely surprised if we see any benefits from the switch. They keep upping subscribers and upping bandwidth and now it's coming back to bite us.

I certainly use well over 5 gigs a month. I'm sure I'm more towards the upper end of useage, so I'm a little annoyed by this. It's extremely easy to go over 5 gigs in a month for anyone who does any sort of streaming or trying out demos, or patching up old applications or maybe redownloading apps again. I mean we're moving more and more towards a more online-centric world and now the cable companies want to stifle this? I have to think there will be some angry businesses out there.

Now I hear Comcast is going to test a limit of 250 Gigs, and that seems much more reasonable to me.

I use Cox here, and I haven't heard anything about them going this route yet but I'm sure it's just a matter of time if it catches on.

If they want to charge more, then more power to them, but we sure as hell better see this exclusivity contracts they make with communities go out the window. I'd like to see some actual competition for customers rather than them squeezing everything they can out of us.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Also, the people saying "there's no way 40 GB is the top X% per month", you're just not normal if you're on this board. There are 154 million internet users in the US (http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/31/china-internet-usage-cx_nwp_0403china.html)- that's a lot of secretaries who only use it at work, grandparents who just check email, kids who only get an hour a day, etc, to offset the 10GB+ users.

SI

And what I'm saying is the top 1% of comcast bandwidth users get nasty letters in the mail each month and according to the people who have actually posted about this online that I have seen, that number is usually in the 300-400gb and up range. Is the difference between the 1st percentile and 10th pecentile that large (as in 250-350gb)?

Direct2drive, streaming video, online gaming, and other bandwidth hogs are used a lot by your casual internet users now (and thats just the legal stuff). It is very, very easy to chew through 40gb with the stuff thats available online now.

[Philliesfan980]

For someone who works at home alot (which uses a ton of bandwidth) and streams video regularly on MLB.com, I'd be pretty upset if this happens. I use a lot of bandwith for legal reasons. That being said, if they have a reasonable unlimited plan, I'll be okay with it.

[JediKooter]

Looks like AT&T is thinking about throwing their hat into the ring to meter service for customers using their internet.

Goodbye internet as we know it today, goodbye Tivo, AppleTV, online gaming, etc...

Might as well go back to AOL on dial-up. I think I have some disks around here somewhere with 500 free hours.

[Philliesfan980]

Does anyone think the reason why they are doing this is to potentially get some cash from the companies who are actually creating all this demand? I just can't see technology coming this far just to see it stifled by ISPs.

[JediKooter]

I think there's definitely some colusion(sp?) going on between the cable companies and the phone companies. The whole peer to peer file sharing and downloading of movies, larger files, etc, is nothing new. It's been around for more than 5 years. This whole thing reeks of greed.

Edit: Just read someone from Sony or some company like that, says that the future is not Blue Ray but downloads from the internet. Perhaps the cable and phone companies are trying to position themselves to maximize on that happening.

[QuikSand]

This is actually pretty simple supply and demand, by and large. People who are avid users of high-end broadband services are exactly those people who are the most willing to pay a premium price for that service. If all you do is charge them the exact same price as everyone else, you're just leaving money on the table, and jacking up the price on everyone else (those being the customers to whom price is a more meaningful issue).

I am no fan of cable companies, don't get me wrong. I want robust competition in this area, and it can't come soon enough for my tastes. But there's precious little to bellyache about here.

[Fidatelo]

I think it all depends on where they set their limits. If the limit is so high that only ridiculous users are over it, then I'm fine with it. If it is low enough that many merely above-average users have to start limiting their actions, I think it is troublesome.

[BrianD]

Oddly, long distance carriers and cell phone carries started with this model and have been backing away from it. They both started with pay for usage plans and then dropped back to flat monthly fee plans.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

I think it all depends on where they set their limits. If the limit is so high that only ridiculous users are over it, then I'm fine with it. If it is low enough that many merely above-average users have to start limiting their actions, I think it is troublesome.

And that is when users talk with their wallet...

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by dangarion

And that is when users talk with their wallet...

Assuming users have more than one option for high-speed Internet...

[Fidatelo]

Not if they have no other options. Then they scale back their usage which impacts other companies and the move to 'in the cloud services' everywhere, whilst the cable company continues to make the same money they always have from them.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by BrianD

Assuming users have more than one option for high-speed Internet...

I guess I just am so used to living in an area where I have the option of multiple services

Trust me I think metered use is stupid, and I think my company (Time Warner Cable) will come to their senses eventually. They are just testing it, they aren't charging anyone anything yet (that I know of). I think if/when they do start this officially the numbers will end up being a lot higher.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by dangarion

I guess I just am so used to living in an area where I have the option of multiple services

Trust me I think metered use is stupid, and I think my company (Time Warner Cable) will come to their senses eventually. They are just testing it, they aren't charging anyone anything yet (that I know of). I think if/when they do start this officially the numbers will end up being a lot higher.

There are definitely places around me that have access to cable (TW only) but no DSL. I really hope TW has major PR pains in any test area they try this.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Wow. Could see a consumer revolt and a heavy hit to streaming providers like Netflix, Blockbuster, Sony, Microsoft, etc. Streaming providers are dead in the water if this metered access comes to pass........

Time Warner Cable Expands Internet Usage Pricing - BusinessWeek

[Pumpy Tudors]

welp that does it. i'm leaving the internet.

[gstelmack]

The key to me is telling me up front how much bandwidth I'm using before I go over. At the very least I need a report showing me my bandwidth usage in, say, the last 3 months, BEFORE I start a month in which they'll be billing me for overages.

And I want to see them upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0 so I can get a better internet gaming experience.

It will be interesting around here though as UVerse is moving in...

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

The key to me is telling me up front how much bandwidth I'm using before I go over. At the very least I need a report showing me my bandwidth usage in, say, the last 3 months, BEFORE I start a month in which they'll be billing me for overages.

And I want to see them upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0 so I can get a better internet gaming experience.

It will be interesting around here though as UVerse is moving in...

We have UVerse and another cable company in the same area. I could see a pretty quick exodus given the options available. I noticed that the areas that they're implementing it in have limited competitors.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

We have UVerse and another cable company in the same area. I could see a pretty quick exodus given the options available. I noticed that the areas that they're implementing it in have limited competitors.

That's the only way I see this working. Force the service on people who have no other broadband options.

A couple weeks ago I downloaded Total War from steam and it was nearly 15gb. I've downloaded 2gb of updates to Warhammer online the past couple weeks since I hadn't played in a few months.

If I reformated my hardrive I'd be looking at over 40gb of downloads just from steam.

[Chubby]

of course they want to stop you from downloading netflix/etc so you can simply buy In Demand from them...

[cschex]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

We have UVerse and another cable company in the same area. I could see a pretty quick exodus given the options available. I noticed that the areas that they're implementing it in have limited competitors.

UVerse is expanding to more and more areas in Austin; for example, my neighborhood is now covered. I was considering switching anyway, this essentially seals the deal.

[cartman]

I'm out in the boonies, so TWC is my only internet option. But I do have a business account, and from everything I'm seeing, the caps are only going on consumer accounts.

[DanGarion]

I think it's a mistake for TWC to go to this format. Nothing good is going to come from it for the consumer. The caps are too low to were they aren't just going to be penalizing the abuser they will penalize those that actually use their internet service.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by cartman

I'm out in the boonies, so TWC is my only internet option. But I do have a business account, and from everything I'm seeing, the caps are only going on consumer accounts.

I'm personally in the same boat with you. Wife works at home, so we require a business account to cover her high bandwidth needs.

[lordscarlet]

I have, personally, never paid money to a cable company.* They're all terrible in my experience. Since I have paid my own bills I have either had free cable, DirecTV and DSL or Antenna and DSL.

* I may have paid for a cable modem in the shared apartment Wade and I had in college for a year in '98-99.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by cartman

I'm out in the boonies, so TWC is my only internet option. But I do have a business account, and from everything I'm seeing, the caps are only going on consumer accounts.

From my contacts Business class isn't going to be affected.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

I have, personally, never paid money to a cable company.* They're all terrible in my experience. Since I have paid my own bills I have either had free cable, DirecTV and DSL or Antenna and DSL.

* I may have paid for a cable modem in the shared apartment Wade and I had in college for a year in '98-99.

If the cable was free it was subsidized in your rent...

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

If the cable was free it was subsidized in your rent...

Not, it wasn't. The cable company screwed up with the entire building years before and you got free cable if you didn't sign up. And before that it was through my dorm and we had some sort of custom signal that was not an exact match to a cable provider from anything I know.

[SportsDino]

Pure price discrimination (or product differentiation if you want to use a nicer sounding term).

Essentially, they are screwing anyone they can get away with, because in many towns there are few alternatives.

It is not a technical issue, they have so much bandwidth it is silly. And if they really want to speed up the internet they can rollout some new gadgets to increase bandwidth efficiency dramatically. My brief stint as a PhD student basically involved speeding up huge downloads across distributed networks.

Bandwidth throttling is just a money grab, if there is ever a true bandwidth crisis the internet would grind to a halt if they think that is gonna save things (big hint, it will not put a dent in it). The real genius business solution will be in traffic shaping as a SERVICE, instead of using all that junk to throttle your connection, they could put smarts into the network and make your 40-250 GB of downloads FASTER and use LESS of their precious pile of bandwidth.

Gosh, make some damn businesses you loser companies instead of screwing your customers!

[Drake]

I'm not sure why we're surprised, SportsDino. Once the old telecomm companies finally realized the internet existed, it was only a matter of time before they started applying early-20th century business models to it.

[SportsDino]

I'm not surprised, just very bored of it. I know, I know, quality doesn't sell, consumers are stupid sheep, and all that jazz... but a part of me, a very loud and annoying part, wants things to get better over time. It seems today being cynical and apathetic is somehow trendy, like bending over and letting the giant corporations pummel you in the ass is somehow better than taking a chance and doing something bold and right.

Granted, my personal solution is to build yet another giant corporation, but I'm hoping for it to practice a kinder and gentler ass pummeling on the populace!

(I might need to rework those last couple lines and add it to my series of really terrible motivational quotes)

[sterlingice]

Do you really need to rework it or is it not even good enough to make your list of "terrible motivational quotes"- it's not even that good

SI

[stevew]

I don't have much of an issue with this if they are able to provide you with info on your account to make an informed decision. No GOTCHA type 200 dollar overage surprise. Maybe an email when you've exceeded 80 percent for the billing cycle. And they should credit a certain amount back per month to the smallest users. But a dollar per gig seems cheap compared to the 40 my wife got charged for 2.5 megs of useage on her cell bill.

[Lorena]

Wish I would have known that before we bought a Roku. That and podcasts are gonna suffer a lot.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Wow. Could see a consumer revolt and a heavy hit to streaming providers like Netflix, Blockbuster, Sony, Microsoft, etc. Streaming providers are dead in the water if this metered access comes to pass........

Time Warner Cable Expands Internet Usage Pricing - BusinessWeek

But why would anyone need those providers when they have great options like Time Warner movies and premium channels O Demand, and the option of subscribing to a Time Warner DVR service.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

We have UVerse and another cable company in the same area. I could see a pretty quick exodus given the options available. I noticed that the areas that they're implementing it in have limited competitors.

I'd love to have UVerse in Chicago. They advertise it all the time on TV here but I can't get it. Stuck with RCN (which is decent) and Comcast (maybe the worst).

[spleen1015]

I don't like the idea either, but it makes sense for these companies to start going this route.

[Grammaticus]

A company like Netflix should just start their own internet service via satalite.

Of of course the Government can just take over the internet companies. :-)

[Easy Mac]

Charter started this last month with a 100 GB cap. Per my router, I used around that cap this past month, but they didn't say anything to me. Looking at past logs, it looks like I bounce between 80 and 120 gigs.

Charter would take off the cap if you get their 20meg service, but in my area they only offer 5-10 megs. I'm on the 5 right now, I'm scared to see how much I would use if my bandwidth doubled, let alone quadrupled.

[DanGarion]

I was talking to my wife about this yesterday. What you will probably end up seeing is TWC signing agreements with distributors that will enable their content to not be counted towards your cap...

Of course this seems to go into the vein of the "preferred network" and network throttling that the FCC was against a couple years ago (I can't remember the exact name right this moment).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

We pile on a few hundred gigs a month, but my wife works at home, hence the need for a business account.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Of course this seems to go into the vein of the "preferred network" and network throttling that the FCC was against a couple years ago (I can't remember the exact name right this moment).

Net neutrality

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by cartman

Net neutrality

Thanks! Exactly. This really is just another way of doing it... (IMO). I haven't heard of exclusive contracts, but I think it's inevitable if this stuff stays...

[Qrusher14242]

lol what a joke. I used to have TWC in Bakersfield,CA and couldnt imagine a 40 gig cap. Even back in 2000 i could do 300 gigs/month easy. That was on 3mbps, dunno what they offer now. I read it cost them 5 cents per gig, so they are making a lot of money off of this. Even at 1.5mbps, you can do 16gigs/day if you want to. Its all just a money grab, they dont want you to actually use your connection lol

Im stuck with Clearwire though I cant download hardly anything without getting letters saying they are going to shut me off. Even 30gig/month and they got mad. I can barely watch youtube and the pings suck. At least its sorta fast to surf. Its either this or dialup where i am.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I don't like the idea either, but it makes sense for these companies to start going this route.

Speaking from experience in the UK, I would not be surprised if every major US ISP introduced metered internet access by 2010. Unmetered access will still be available, but it will be the most expensive option.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

This is actually pretty simple supply and demand, by and large. People who are avid users of high-end broadband services are exactly those people who are the most willing to pay a premium price for that service. If all you do is charge them the exact same price as everyone else, you're just leaving money on the table, and jacking up the price on everyone else (those being the customers to whom price is a more meaningful issue).

I am no fan of cable companies, don't get me wrong. I want robust competition in this area, and it can't come soon enough for my tastes. But there's precious little to bellyache about here.

I've come around to this line of thinking, even as I begin venturing more and more into streaming video, gaming and the like. It just doesn't make sense from an ISP perspective to charge a low-traffic user the same amount as a high-traffic user. I can't think of another utility that charges you the same amount regardless of how much you use it. And when it comes to gouging customers, evil cable companies still have a ways to go to compete with evil cell phone companies when it comes to picking pockets.

That said, I'm making the switch to U-verse next week. For me the final straw was the persistent issues I have with HD channels not being available but generally the service and hardware quality has been horrendus. We typically have to switch out our DVRs once a year because they stop functioning. The cable modem lasts longer, about two years.

Interesting note is that TWC only offers two Internet speeds -- the regular speed (supposedly 7mb but nowadays I almost never break 2mb) and "power boost" (supposedly 18mb). In switching to U-verse, I'm getting more channels, 18mb Internet, and phone for less than I'm currently paying. The Internet service for 18mb costs more but the phone and TV service are cheaper. We'll see how it goes.

[stevew]

I would imagine the deals with legit providers of content are coming.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

Speaking from experience in the UK, I would not be surprised if every major US ISP introduced metered internet access by 2010. Unmetered access will still be available, but it will be the most expensive option.

I don't think it will happen by 2010 just because both AT&T and Verizon are trying to roll out "high level" options to the masses currently in UVerse and FIOS at the same cost or not much higher than cable providers to try and get into the market.

SI

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I can't think of another utility that charges you the same amount regardless of how much you use it.

Didn't long distance telephone carriers start with the pay-per-use plan and eventually all go unlimited since the price wars forced them that way? The same thing will happen with Internet providers. As soon as competition is introduced with FIOS and UVerse, another price war will start and providers will be back to offering unlimited service at low rates. All TWC is going to accomplish is pushing people to other providers and then having to fight like crazy to try to get them back.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Interesting note is that TWC only offers two Internet speeds -- the regular speed (supposedly 7mb but nowadays I almost never break 2mb) and "power boost" (supposedly 18mb). In switching to U-verse, I'm getting more channels, 18mb Internet, and phone for less than I'm currently paying. The Internet service for 18mb costs more but the phone and TV service are cheaper. We'll see how it goes.

I know out here they have 768k for $19.95/mo and 7mb for $34.95/mo. At least, those are the options with the re-seller I use.