Road Runner (Time Warner) internet implements bandwidth cap...

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Road Runner (Time Warner) internet implements bandwidth cap...

Posted: 6/4/2008 11:00:44 AM EDT

I pray this fails....i watch streaming netflix movies all the time since I only get basic cable.

Time Warner ready to test metered Internet

04:20 PM CDT on Monday, June 2, 2008

Associated Press

NEW YORK — You're used to paying extra if you use up your cellphone minutes, but will you be willing to pay extra if your home computer goes over its Internet allowance?

Time Warner Cable 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% 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.

"We think it's the fairest way to finance the needed investment in the infrastructure," Leddy said.

Metered usage is common overseas, and other U.S. cable providers are looking at ways to rein in heavy users. Most have download caps, but some keep the caps secret so as not to alarm the majority of users, who come nowhere close to the limits. Time Warner Cable appears to be the first major ISP to charge for going over the limit: Other companies warn, then suspend, those who go over.

Phone companies are less concerned about congestion and are unlikely to impose metered usage on DSL customers, because their networks are structured differently.

Time Warner's tiers will range from $29.95 a month for relatively slow service at 768 kilobits per second and a 5-gigabyte monthly cap to $54.90 per month for fast downloads at 15 megabits per second and a 40-gigabyte cap. Those prices cover the cable portion of subscription bundles that include video or phone services. Both downloads and uploads will count toward the monthly cap.

A possible stumbling block for Time Warner Cable is that customers have had little reason so far to pay attention to how much they download from the Internet, or know much traffic makes up a gigabyte. That uncertainty could scare off new subscribers.

Those who mainly do Web surfing or e-mail have little reason to pay attention to the traffic caps: a gigabyte is about 3,000 Web pages, or 15,000 e-mails without attachments. But those who download movies or TV shows will want to pay attention. A standard-definition movie can take up 1.5 gigabytes, and a high-definition movie can be 6 to 8 gigabytes.

Time Warner Cable subscribers will be able to check out their data consumption on a "gas gauge" on the company's Web page.

The company won't apply the gigabyte surcharges for the first two months. It has 90,000 customers in the trial area, but only new subscribers will be part of the trial.

Billing by the hour was common for dial-up service in the U.S. until AOL introduced an unlimited-usage plan in 1996. Flat-rate, unlimited-usage plans have been credited with encouraging consumer Internet use by making billing easy to understand.

"The metered Internet has been tried and tested and rejected by the consumers overwhelmingly since the days of AOL," information-technology consultant George Ou told the Federal Communications Commission at a hearing on ISP practices in April.

Metered billing could also put a crimp in the plans of services like Apple's iTunes that use the Internet to deliver video. DVD-by-mail pioneer Netflix just launched a TV set-top box that receives an unlimited stream of Internet video for as little as $8.99 per month.

Bend Cable Communications in Bend, Ore., used to have multitier bandwidth allowances for Internet customers but abandoned them in favor of an across-the-board 100-gigabyte cap. Bend charges $1.50 per extra gigabyte consumed in a month.

Posted: 6/4/2008 11:25:04 AM EDT

[#1]

I HATE TWC and Comcast. They suck and this proves it.

Posted: 6/4/2008 11:25:55 AM EDT

[#2]

That sux. I'd quit em and go AT&T fiber optic ASAP.

Posted: 6/4/2008 11:51:22 AM EDT

[#3]

That sux. I'd quit em and go AT&T fiber optic ASAP.

I would but I have no choice for broadband. The area I live made a deal with time warner and I can only get there broad band service. I am planning on moving at the end of the year though so i am not to worried.

Posted: 6/4/2008 11:56:23 AM EDT

[#4]

Yet another reason Beaumont sucks.

Posted: 6/4/2008 12:29:54 PM EDT

[#5]

Hope they don't bring it to Houston. I do close to 100 gigs a month easily.

Posted: 6/4/2008 1:13:07 PM EDT

[#6]

AT&T Uverse fiber optic is the way to go, if possible. I was going to be stuck with Comcast or Dish Network in Deer Park and finally found out I could get Uverse cheaper than the other two. Fast fast!!

Posted: 6/4/2008 1:51:12 PM EDT

[#7]

This would be fine if they would lower the basic rate and then let you pay for us. However, I'm sure they will keep us at the current base rate and make this an add-on pricing.

R.

Posted: 6/4/2008 3:36:42 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

That sux. I'd quit em and go AT&T fiber optic ASAP.

I would but I have no choice for broadband. The area I live made a deal with time warner and I can only get there broad band service. I am planning on moving at the end of the year though so i am not to worried.

I am out in the sticks and the only choice I had was dial up, but then I got Wild Blue sattilite. It sucked for awhile but after many calls to them they got it fixed.
DRJ

Posted: 6/4/2008 5:25:41 PM EDT

[#9]

Time Warner sucks ass.

Posted: 6/4/2008 6:16:18 PM EDT

[#10]

I wish I could get FIOS. TWC is the anti-christ, but I have little choice.

Posted: 6/4/2008 9:56:41 PM EDT

[#11]

$1 per gig! Yall have no idea how lucky you are.

I don't get DSL or cable. I have had 2 different sattelite services and now have Verizon Wireless. The satellite services allowed less than a gig a month before they cut your bandwidth down to around dial up and Verizon Wireless allows me 5 gigs before they cut my bandwidth to about dial up speed and sends me an ugly snail mail letter.
I would gladly pay $1 a gig to keep from having dial up speeds for a week or two.

What REALLY makes me mad is all of these services advertise as "unlimited". When you read the fine print you find they have a "FAP" which means fair access policy.

Posted: 6/5/2008 5:05:47 AM EDT

[#12]

yet another reason TW will never get another penny of my money

Posted: 6/5/2008 5:42:15 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
$1 per gig! Yall have no idea how lucky you are.

I don't get DSL or cable. I have had 2 different sattelite services and now have Verizon Wireless. The satellite services allowed less than a gig a month before they cut your bandwidth down to around dial up and Verizon Wireless allows me 5 gigs before they cut my bandwidth to about dial up speed and sends me an ugly snail mail letter.
I would gladly pay $1 a gig to keep from having dial up speeds for a week or two.

What REALLY makes me mad is all of these services advertise as "unlimited". When you read the fine print you find they have a "FAP" which means fair access policy.

I have a cingular aircard. I've downloaded gigs worth of data in a month, never experienced what you describe.

I know several people that have and use verizon cards exclusively, and they haven't experienced it either.

May be time to check your contract.

Posted: 6/5/2008 1:12:45 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:

Quoted:
$1 per gig! Yall have no idea how lucky you are.

I don't get DSL or cable. I have had 2 different sattelite services and now have Verizon Wireless. The satellite services allowed less than a gig a month before they cut your bandwidth down to around dial up and Verizon Wireless allows me 5 gigs before they cut my bandwidth to about dial up speed and sends me an ugly snail mail letter.
I would gladly pay $1 a gig to keep from having dial up speeds for a week or two.

What REALLY makes me mad is all of these services advertise as "unlimited". When you read the fine print you find they have a "FAP" which means fair access policy.

I have a cingular aircard. I've downloaded gigs worth of data in a month, never experienced what you describe.

I know several people that have and use verizon cards exclusively, and they haven't experienced it either.

May be time to check your contract.

I think I will! They even sent me a mean letter to tell me why my speed was decreased. It only lasted 3-4 days but damn, I pay them for unlimited access.

Posted: 6/6/2008 10:28:21 AM EDT

[#15]

They (and the rest of the ISP world) are just slowly creeping towards "bit taxing".

The slowly heated frog never jumps.

Posted: 6/6/2008 7:09:35 PM EDT

[#16]

Think time warner is bad, just wait till you get to deal with the company voted last place for customer service (ie suckcast...I mean comcast). I like you am in a bind and can only get cable internet for home home via..you guessed it comcrap. Had their cable and told em to come and get it, just have no option in regards to internet, unless I go back to pokey dialup. I keep hoping for DSL of any kind in my area until then I'll have to keep dealing with the 60$ a month cable internet.

Posted: 6/6/2008 10:03:14 PM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
$1 per gig! Yall have no idea how lucky you are.

I don't get DSL or cable. I have had 2 different sattelite services and now have Verizon Wireless. The satellite services allowed less than a gig a month before they cut your bandwidth down to around dial up and Verizon Wireless allows me 5 gigs before they cut my bandwidth to about dial up speed and sends me an ugly snail mail letter.
I would gladly pay $1 a gig to keep from having dial up speeds for a week or two.

What REALLY makes me mad is all of these services advertise as "unlimited". When you read the fine print you find they have a "FAP" which means fair access policy.

I have sprint wireless. I just learned they're going to start doing the same thing.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Road Runner (Time Warner) internet implements bandwidth cap...

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