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Possible Time Warner Cable Internet Policy Change (Metered Internet)

monkeyspymonkeyspy Member Posts: 196
in Off-Topic Discussion

 




Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Cable plans to start testing on Thursday metered Internet access, charging consumers $1 for each gigabyte of content over their allotment.

 

The cable company told Reuters that it plans to offer multiple levels of service that would start at $29.95 per month for speeds of 768 Kbps with a limit on downloads of 5 GB, which would amount to more than 340,000 e-mails, 170 hours of online games or downloading more than 1,300 songs. At the high end, customers could pay $54.90 a month for download speeds of 15 Mbps and a limit of 40 GB, which amounts to 124 hours of standard-definition videos or downloading over 11,000 songs.


 

Full Story Click Here

For most of you out there I don't think it will be that big of a deal. But for some of us... Hmmmmm!

Comments

  • ladyattisladyattis Member Posts: 1,273

    Probably won't work out so well I'm betting. It's harder to change consumer habits than anything else.


    -- Brede

  • monkeyspymonkeyspy Member Posts: 196
    Originally posted by ladyattis

    Probably won't work out so well I'm betting. It's harder to change consumer habits than anything else.


    -- Brede


    I doubt they are counting on the people who use it for more than just email and internet browsing to change their habits. I think they are counting on them to stay the same so they can make some extra revenue each month.
  • ladyattisladyattis Member Posts: 1,273

    At least Cox has no plans for such metering for some reason. *shrugs*


    -- Brede

  • monkeyspymonkeyspy Member Posts: 196
    Yeah, let's just hope this doesn't become some kind of trend that other ISPs want to follow. That would be horrible.
  • bluberryhazebluberryhaze Member Posts: 1,702

    Im assuming verizon fios is happy to hear this ridiculous business decision.

    worked for time warner for 7 years, this does not surprise me.

    -I will subtlety invade your psyche-

  • LaserwolfLaserwolf Member Posts: 2,383

    Wildblue Satellite Internet already does this.

    image

  • monkeyspymonkeyspy Member Posts: 196
    Unfortunately Verizon Fios isn't available in my area yet.
  • monkeyspymonkeyspy Member Posts: 196
  • EccentricaaEccentricaa Member Posts: 15

    For those who are not familiar with the issue of net neutrality, there is a simple video that youtube put out, to explain the issue.



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U



    I know many people have talked about doing something to ensure Net Neutrality, but with Comcast's recent decision to follow in Time Warner's footsteps, it is time we all became more active in ensuring the future of a free and neutral internet. Time Warner Cable is loosing too much money, and they wish to recoup that by preventing people from easily or cheaply watching videos online. Other Internet Providers simply want to make more money off of the success of other people's web sites.



    Time Warners version is a monthly fee with a limit (40g). ABOVE the LIMIT will be ONE DOLLAR PER GIG!!! An average movie is 4 to 8 gigs depending on the quality. So people would have to start thinking twice before watching free movies online.. Or even an hours worth of news from TheRealNews.com. I know that as an avid MMO gammer, as well as a online News Junkie, I would easily pass that 40 gig limit each month. The Age Of Conan Launch Patch was 24gigs alone. (that does not include all the emergency patches they have done since release.) Downloads for Betas & Trials would seriously run up my bill. On top of recreational usage, my daughter is homeschooled through an Online Highschool (with video lectures she has to watch) So under Time Warner's plan, I would pay my 50 bucks a month (I have to have speed) in addition to the 1 dollar per gig when I go over my limit. And you know it will be like cell phones... So EASY to go over your limit without knowing it.  This would FORCE me to find other forms of entertainment offline.





    Every other online company that was not owned by an ISP  would suffer greatly from this. Apple (Itunes) or other music downloads, Netflix or other movie rental companies. What about companies that use video confrences, or allow their employees to telecommute? What would happen to online entertainment companies such as our beloved MMO's? Just for a few examples. If you had to pay $1.00 per gig, how often could you download and play a beta game that patches frequently?   How many companies could afford to patch their games?



    Lets see, you pay to rent the movie, then pay to download it, on top of your montly fee for internet service? If Time Warner slows down the connection for people searching through Google, wont they financially benefit from folks using Yahoo? All the BS they say about the 'bandwidth hogs' is simply their excuse for trying to make more money off of you while attempting to HURT EVERY SMALLER COMPANY that requires uninterrupted internet.



    Another example.. Time Warner, starts charging the MMO Companies, to not slow down their customer's bandwidths. Microsoft and Time Warner join up to ensure that all of Microsoft's games have no slowdown or interruption, while other competitors such as FE, EQ, etc, may have their connection slowed down during 'peak' times.  They could ensure the success of their chosen games, and make sure that all other games lag misserably.



    Didnt we also pay for the taxes that built the internet? Didnt we also pay for the corporate subsidies for the phone companies? Dont we pay for NASA, who puts their sattelites in orbit? How much is it really going to cost us to watch the nightly news?



    THIS CAN HAVE A HUGE IMPACT on the success of some companies, where uninterrupted data transfers are crucial.



    Its time to stop saying, "we need to do something about this" and actually DO something about it? I have already called my local congressmen today about this issue. I plan on calling my state congressmen tomorrow. I have also sent letters and emails to both Time Warner & Comcast. I have canceled my Time Warner Cable, and INFORMED THEM OF WHY I WILL NO LONGER SUPPORT THEIR COMPANY.



    If the national government wont do anything about it, maybe we can start getting state laws passed to prevent ISP from tampering with connection speeds or restricting data transfers from ANY WEB SITE.



    Time Warner has started us all down a path, that other companies will follow. UNLESS WE STOP THEM.





    There are tons of sites for more info (other than videos here on junkies)



    Savetheinternet.com



    http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonam...eutrality.html



    http://www.networkworld.com/news/200...lity-bill.html



    http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality.html



    http://www.wearetheweb.org/



    http://therealnewsjunkies.ning.com/v...527:Video:3934 (Ted Kennedy on Net Neutrality)



    http://therealnewsjunkies.ning.com/v...527:Video:3709 (Youtube Goes To Washington)



    http://therealnewsjunkies.ning.com/v...527:Video:3928 (Jello Biafra on Net Neutrality)





    Just for a few. But there are TONS MORE... Sign a Petition.. Call your Congressmen, but dont let them slow down or disconnect us from our GAMES...



    WE CAN NOT FAIL... WE MUST NOT LAG!




  • therain93therain93 Member UncommonPosts: 2,039

    Comcast is considering the same thing but the limit was going to be 250gb.  The idea being that they want to target the small population of torrent users that are using the majority of the bandwidth.  Time Warner seems to have really gone overboard with that restriction though and it doesn't bode well for us as a whole.

    Also, not sure about most of  you, but here in East Boston, my ONLY broadband option is Comcast.  Not sure how many people can necessarily bail out of Time Warner if it's the incumbent market player.

  • monkeyspymonkeyspy Member Posts: 196
    Unfortunately Comcast used to be my provider but they up and left the area due to some weird dispute and so Time Warner took over. The Download Speed is Great, the Upload Speed is really bad, and there really isn't an alternate speed wise.
  • Par-SalianPar-Salian Member Posts: 284

    I'm sure this doesn't surprise anyone.  It's typical big business.

  • EccentricaaEccentricaa Member Posts: 15

    The companies that have monopolies over some regions, is exactly why we need laws to prevent their abuse of power. 

    Comcast's idea is the higher gig limit.. however, what they havent been telling many, is that they intent to monitor your usage, and slow down the higher users during peak times.  Maybe you only use 200g a month, they can still rank you as a high volume user and justify their slowdowns.

    There are currently NO regulations regarding what they can and can not charge you.  There are NO regulations limiting the companies from reducing your services for what ever reason.

    There were political canidates on both ends of the spectrum that support Net Neutrality.  Ron Paul (republican), Obama (democrat), Nader (greene) .  Other supporters include wide range of groups from the Christian Coalition, Pearl Jam (and their followers), to old Punks like JelloBiafra http://youtube.com/watch?v=dQELvclk85g (one of my favorite speakers). 

    Another good video is http://youtube.com/watch?v=G5RQrxkGgCM

    Verizon has already prevented transmissions of some text messaging, http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070927-verizon-censoring-unsavory-political-group-sms-messaging.html

    AT& T has Censored a Pearl Jam Concert. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070809-pearl-jam-censored-by-att-calls-for-a-neutral-net.html

    Other major media companies such as Disney have actually come out against Net Neutrality.

    AOL had been CAUGHT censoring their customer's EMAILS, failing to deliver ones with some key words they deemed controversial. http://www.fusepress.com/todddickerson/aol_caught_red_handed_censoring_email_now_the_public_knows_their_credibility_is_gone

    This is just a few things that have been done in recent times that Net Neutrality Laws could of prevented.

     

    Net neutrality is something that is in the best interest of every american, regardless of political offiliation or religious prefrences. 

     

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