Time Warner Cable tries metering Internet use

[Joanne98]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- You're used to paying extra if you use up your cell phone minutes, but will you be willing to pay extra if your home computer goes over its Internet allowance?

Time Warner Cable Inc. customers -- and, later, others -- may have to, if the company's test of metered Internet access is successful.

On Thursday, new Time Warner Cable Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas, will have monthly allowances for the amount of data they upload and download. Those who go over will be charged $1 per gigabyte, a Time Warner Cable executive told the Associated Press.

Metered billing is an attempt to deal fairly with Internet usage, which is very uneven among Time Warner Cable's subscribers, said Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable's executive vice president of advanced technology.

Just 5 percent of the company's subscribers take up half of the capacity on local cable lines, Leddy said. Other cable Internet service providers report a similar distribution.



Read more: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080602/tec_time_warner_cable_internet.html

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OH NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[rucky]

1. Sounds reasonable.

If it makes the net faster and more affordable for us regular users. But for some reason I think the policy will be all stick and no carrot.

[raystorm7]

10. It's NOT reasonable. I hope you don't fall for their twisted logic that internet needs to be metered

1.) In lock step towards limiting the sites you would rather visit. Example: CNN>DU
2.) Gradual rape and pillage of your funds as the price SOMEHOW just seems to get hire but NEVER lower even after their so called metering scheme.
3.) Any act that offers to limit access is a Trojan horse to screw you, the consumer.

I could go on and on, but if this ever happened in America, expect to find us falling even further behind other countries on every category as they move forward to grant more access to their public as we (Dumb asses we are) limit.

[rucky]

15. I host a website, and there are some serious bandwidth hogs out there.

The 5/90 rule definately applies. Spiders, grabbers and thieves - they cost money.

Why should I pay for that and not the user?

[raystorm7]

22. I understand where you are coming from with bandwidth hogs and all but...

The people you mention are few and far between compared to the general public. The more we treat them as the scapegoat the more THAT problem will multiply.

The corporations will rather have us attack each other and not them. The biggest ISP providers not only create the problem in the first place but also can do something about it via creating better/greater access for all. What they are proposing is backwards logic in every sense. Picture it as our current illegal immigration issue. Attack the few and everyone suffers as we currently see, while we ignore the real problem.

[sendero]

40. Allt he high bandwidth...

.... users are simply going to seek alternatives.

This is not going to work.

[Donnachaidh]

2. what a crock of shit!

They must be feeling nostalgic for the days of charging $4.95 per hour. :grr:

[Auggie]

3. Crock of shit is right! They're trying to make up for the profits they've lost in publishing.

[southern_belle]

4. This is BS!

:mad:

[LTR]

5. That's economic suicide

With new forms of competition on the horizon (WiMax, etc.) and other forms such as DSL, why would they want to drive people to the competition?

AOL pulled this shit in the '90s, and look where they are now.

[countmyvote4real]

14. Where AOL is now: Part of TW. I don't think it's ironic either.

[LTR]

33. Yeah, but they're desperately trying to dump it

When Time Warner and other cable companies started up broadband operations, they promised unlimited internet at fast speeds. That just about killed AOL's metered dialup service.

Now, phone companies are jumping in with DSL and WiMax services. They will hit TW hard on metered use if they're stupid enough to pull the trigger.

Also remember that TW is in the process of spinning off its cable business.

[vademocrat]

6. Meter my bandwidth and let me decide how to use it -

I'm sick of paying separate fees for cable, internet and phone. It's all digital now so it doesn't matter what it's carrying - video, data, voice - this is the biggest scam: they're charging us multiple times for the same thing.

I say put the bandwidth meter next to the electric meter - it's this century's electricity.

[Frisbee]

41. You wanna bet...

that if you're on vacation for a month with zero usage, your bill still won't be zero, unlike electricity and other utilities. They'll still try to nail you with the basic $50-75 monthly fee, before the bandwidth usage kicks in.

Besides, bandwidth should become much less of an issue at some point in the not too distant future, at least as I recall from this article and others like it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3257794

[mikehiggins]

7. They're ALREADY getting paid. Isn't that what that fee on my bill

used to be (Road RUnner?)

This is just another ripoff from one of the top expert companies at ripping off their customers.

So 5% of the customers take up half the capacity on local cable lines? Who cares? DOes that mean others are denied access? If not, so what? The 5% are paying the same as anyone else, and you can be sure that TW's prices are not set so low that they're losing any money due to how the cable bandwidth is being used. Its just another trial balloon, and everyone should reply exactly the same way.

NO WAY

[Tesha]

19. Actually, YES, that's precisely what it means!

> So 5% of the customers take up half the capacity on
> local cable lines? Who cares? DOes that mean others
> are denied access?

Actually, YES, that's precisely what it means!

When we first signed-on for Comcast cable broadband,
it was great! Response times were very fast because
a relatively large amount of bandwidth was being
shared by a relatively few people.

But now, with too many people on our cable segment
and too many of them using far too much bandwidth,
Comcast's response times suck. And often, web con-
nections simply drop or fail to ever load.

Penalizing a relatively few bandwidth hogs would
probably restore our cable segment to normal
operation.

Tesha

[liberal N proud]

8. So we purchase the plan assuming it was unlimited

Then the switch takes place and if you slip past those minute whamo.

Time Warner is a piece of shit, I am stuck with them for cable or the phone company. both are crap and have a monopoly.

I use Vonage for my phone VOIP so I am sure that will use up my minutes right there.

REASONABLE MY ASS!

[alarimer]

9. I am already paying nearly $50 a month for service that has been degraded.

I now notice that they have a "turbo" for just 10 dollars more. Fuck you, Time Warner. Time to switch to Verizon wireless broadband. (or some other kind). Same price, no throttling. I am not in Beaumont but I can imagine they might start it here too.

So, can listening to music online (streaming) eat up your allotment? What about streaming movies with Netflix?

[raystorm7]

12. In 1998-99 I had internet service that was twice as fast as I'm getting now for $39. It was called

EV1.net now PeoplePC. AT&T formerly SBC is sucking balls for $20 more in freaking 2008! =/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyones_Internet

[Jefferson23]

11. Time Warner, go straight to hell with that one!

[Betsy Ross]

13. I remember paying for internet time.

In the early days of the internetz, providers did meter time and uploads/downloads. It was a big thing to change to a provider that offered flat rates.

[Betty88]

16. 40gig cap for $55 is not going to work for me..

We use Netflix and I love Hulu.com, and we both game. We would go through that cap in 2 weeks.

[Born Free]

30. Add tivo users also...

This is not about protecting bandwidth it is all about protecting their ability to sell more products, they see people buying movies from other sources and they want that to stop. Rumors are Comcast also has the same plans - that is until the Obama administration takes over next year....

[slay]

31. I TOTALLY agree - streaming video is a reality now - TW better learn that fast

before they start losing customers.

[robinlynne]

17. So how much are they going to lower their monthly rates then? Apparently

955 of the subscribers are overpaying.

[Liberal Veteran]

18. Now. What's gonna happen when your computer gets zombied by a trojan?

And you don't realize it until the bill for several hundred dollars?

[woo me with science]

21. Good question. nt

[raystorm7]

25. A problem that will multiply if they go this route. I know folks who can do this with ease.

No form of punishment will deter them.

[FatDave]

20. I say if 95% of customers are underutilizing their broadband, that's their problem

If all you're gonna do is check your email, get a dialup account.

(edited for grammar)

[Liberal Veteran]

26. I have to admit, though, I am amused by some people's computer usage.

Sure, it's none of my business, but I am just bewildered by the people that want the fastest connection available so they email their friend with nothing but text.

Or the person who prints out every single email they get including the lolcat pics that their friend keeps emailing them and then asks me why their printer goes through so much ink.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Where I live, Time Warner has competition

Two other companies offer the same products.

So if TW does this, I will be canceling my service. :)

[Scooter24]

34. Same here...AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FIOS

have been trying to get me to switch for months. I'm a Time Warner customer not by choice, but because Comcast sold them their N. Texas operations and we got stuck with them.

I'd be interested to see what my average monthly use is.

[Turn CO Blue]

24. How would this move encourage telecommuting?

I work from home, and I upload/download a lot of stuff. But I'm saving my company money, and saving on fuel, and have a smaller carbon footprint.

[nc_gadfly]

27. So they want to charge for going over? Fine. . .

. . .then if I go under my allotment, give me rollover gigabits.

[AngryOldDem]

28. I got a long-winded pamphlet about that with my cable bill today.

I started to read it but it seemed to be so full of legalese that I gave up. But, I may just have to go back and fish it out of the trash.

The bastards also raised my monthly bill by about $6, while introducing an "upgrade" to my TV service that is worth shit. My Internet connection, too, has been poorer, come to think of it.

[slay]

29. I will switch to another ISP if Time Warner tries that shit here

What's next - they'll start monitoring our tv usage as well - charging us more for watching more? This move by TW is ridiculous and aimed at bit-torrent file sharing technology, even though that technology has recently gone legit in several ways allowing for major movie, television, and video game companies to provide services through bit-torrent. The video game company Blizzard uses it as an option to receive updates and demos of some of their games. Time Warner Cable don't seem concerned ONE BIT about the bandwidth their 1000+ channels take up. I hope NOBODY is foolish enough to think allowing TW to regulate how much you use YOUR internet is a good idea - cause it is not.

[PSPS]

32. This is just bad policy. Internet is the de-facto common carrier these days.

If two businesses have a telephone line and one uses it all the time while the other rarely does, they still pay the same price. The phone company used to offer "measured" lines where you paid by the minute, but those are largely discontinued now and virtually all business service is flat-rate (long-distance is extra, of course.)

The internet is the same thing -- everyone needs to use it and those that can't/won't are at a disadvantage in contemporary society.

As it is, the US is way behind the rest of the world in broadband technology. In most other countries, they get ten times the bandwidth we do for about 25% of the cost.

Of course, this is just a trial balloon. If they get away with it, your thought of switching ISP's will be moot because they will all change to a similar scheme.

[raystorm7]

37. Getting closer to move to another country with some basic common sense. Obama help us plz! =(

[high density]

35. This will make people hop over to DSL or fiber

Throttle those top 5% users. Don't mess with the other 95%. It's easy these days to use TONS of bandwidth with online video from sites like Hulu.com.

[The Backlash Cometh]

36. We're getting AOL'd

[skoalyman]

38. If this catches on and they all do this then screw the internet

I can live without it heck we all did before it came along it won't be the end of the world.THen we can set back and watch tw. com. coxcks. and all the rest go down the drain.Heck we can take wagers on which company will figure out what they did wrong turn the other way lol.Seem the faster things change the more they stay the same.

[whistle]

39. How easily and/or quickly can a gigabyte be used up on the internet?

...my guess is that most users who spend a few hours a day on the internet use up that much data easily just in graphic displays, videos, you-tube sessions, etc.

If the internet providers institute that sort of charge base, it would eliminate 85% of the users online. Just like I threw away my cell phone, I'll do without the internet except for very basic applications

[NuttyFluffers]

42. bad idea. at that price even dial-up ISP Netzero would beat them.

tsk tsk.

[wellst0nev0ter]

43. Ah Well, I Knew World Of Warcraft Is Only For Rich People Anyways

And cable/internet monopolies are good how?