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With music and movie downloads prompting its customers to use loads of bandwidth, Time Warner Cable is testing out a controversial tiered-pricing plan for bandwidth usage in Rochester, NY, plus North Carolina and Texas: According to eWeek, "In addition to 5, 10, 20 and 40GB caps, the company said this week that it would offer a 100GB tier for heavy users. Prices (so far) would range from $29.95 to $75.00 a month, and users would be charged an extra dollar for every additional gigabyte they download, up to a maximum of $75. An 'unlimited' bandwidth plan, therefore, tops out at $150."
The tiered plan was offered after healthy skepticism over why this plan is needed: Wired found that TWC's broadband costs decreased 12%, while their revenues increased by 11%; Wired now thinks "it's still just a ploy to get consumers to sign up for a more expensive plan than they need... it's bad for innovation and a step backward for the net."
The Bits Blog's Saul Hansell spoke to TWC COO Landell Hobbs earlier in the week; Hobbs claimed it was fair to charge heavy users more for their bandwidth use, but Hansell writes, "The question of what is 'fair' is somewhat more abstract than just saying someone who uses more should pay more. After all, people who watch more hours of cable television don’t pay more than those who don’t." And as a commenter pointed out, the trial is not occurring in FIOS markets (which is why Rochester is hoping FIOS will come its way).
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Notice how the bastards are deliberately "testing" this in markets where there's no FiOS.
Utility service monopolies at their best.
So tehy want to sell by usage, however, they are unable to provide reliable speeds. One can say "Sure, I used 40g this month, but it took me 40 minutes to download one song."
Scam. Can't wait for fios!
It's also funny how Time Warner talks about NY1 as if we can't live without it. NY1 is nothign but a thermometer. People turn it on to see if they need to wear a coat that day and that's it. They also reprogram boxes so that NY1 comes on when you turn it on. they also forcefeed you NY1 for thelast 6 minutes of every single half-hour show on CNN and Headline News in late afternoons.
FUTW!
Learn what the settings button on your remote does if you don't want NY1 being the first channel when you turn on your box.
At least they'll never bring it into the city with FIOS breathing down their necks.
Grape Ape
I don't see how Time Warner is bringing this where FiOS is available as an alternate unless the marketing people at Time Warner are fools and idiots.
So is it safe to say that porn enthusiasts would be forced to pay top dollar? Now that is just outrageous...
See the above for why I don't think utility privatization makes any sense. You just trade a state monopoly for a private one, and sadly the private one has even less public accountability. This is just another wealth transfer from subscribers to TW shareholders.....
the avg shareholder doesnt get much wealth from it either. I tried that after being abused by time warner...but all I've gotten is a vry measly dividend and tumbling share price - profits seem to be eaten up before is gets to the shareholders. To me this seems to indicative of the way the stock market operates - people on the inside can do what they will with profis including rewarding themselves without having to share anything with shareholders.
This is nothing but a way to throttle its competition now that more people are dropping cable and movie channels for online show suppliers like Hulu and torrents.
Time Warner was to profit regardless of if you use their cable or not.
A few months ago VIOS had a table set up in Union Square Park. I inquired about their service. They looked up my building address and I was told that they couldn't install the service there. It seems the Condo Board made a deal with Time Warner for something they called a "bulk rate". In effect the building essentially traded away the ability of VIOS or any other competitor to come in. He said they would need at least a third of the units
for them to make it worth their while. In fairness the "bulk rate" is really cheaper than the other cable companies.
same deal at my building.
all I know is that TWC offers 3rd parties to sell their service line connections (I wonder if its just those that arent in the know to change over getting the backhand on this one)
Also I used to be a TWC customer in Rochester... the service sucks - I switch to DTV as soon I was able!
I can't wait until I get Fios. TW is going in the wrong direction.
The best advice I have for anyone interested in Fios, is to go to the Verizon Fios sit and let them know you are interested.
This NYT article explains why the cable cos are changing their pricing models.
Tweaking the Cable Model, to Avoid Newspapers’ Fate
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/tweaking-the-cable-model-to-avoid-newspapers-fate/
The problem is Hulu and Youtube is NOT Hi-Def 1080i.
Dish network, here I come.
I only switched from DSL to Roadrunner about year ago because I wanted the option of renting movies from iTMS and streaming from Netflix. In the past year, not only has Time Warner eliminated usenet without notice, but they've also raised rates. Fios is not yet available in my building but, if TWC add any kind of cap, I'm more than willing to go back to DSL while I wait for fios.