Quote :

"Time Warner will track, charge by Internet usage Thursday, April 2 ( updated 6:03 pm) By Joe Killian Staff Writer GREENSBORO — Looking to save money? Turn down the thermostat. Don’t leave the water running. And, starting this fall, watch your Web surfing. Time Warner Cable has made the Triad a test market for metered Internet service — a plan to monitor customers’ broadband data use and charge heavy users extra fees. Cable customers who have a specially priced deal, like an introductory plan or other promotion, will see no immediate change. But when those contracts are up, they will have to choose a plan ranging from $29.95 to $54.90 a month. Plans will cap usage at 5, 10, 20, and 40 gigabytes of data per month. Customers will pay an extra $1 for every extra gigabyte they use. What’s in a gigabyte? That’s roughly: • 70,000 e-mails; • 1,344 hours — 56 days going 24-7 — of Internet surfing; • Downloading or uploading 569 photos or 277 music files. And, getting to the heart of the matter, it’s just 45 minutes of high definition streaming video. “Video is where we see the most online data usage,” said Melissa Buscher, director of media relations for Time Warner Cable’s Carolina region. “When we set up our infrastructure and our pricing plans, we couldn’t have anticipated what’s happened in online video. Hulu, Netflix, streaming television shows on web sites — we’re seeing an online data increase of 50 percent every year.” Buscher said in order to make sure everyone gets the Internet speed they’re used to, some heavy-use customers will have to begin paying more. “This will really give people the option of deciding how much they want to pay for the service they actually use,” Buscher said. “With these new plans, no longer will people who aren’t downloading heavily have to subsidize Internet use for those who are heavy downloaders.” But customers used to unlimited data at a flat monthly rate said they were offended by the change. “To say other people are subsidizing me is ridiculous,” said Jay Montlo, 23. “They sold me an unlimited plan and I bought it because I watch a lot of online video and I’m an online gamer. Now they’re going back and saying it’s not fair for me to use so much of something that’s unlimited for everyone.” Buscher said the new price structure may be a hard adjustment, but the company’s months of testing in Beaumont, Texas leads it to believe most customers won’t see much of a difference. “We estimate 86 percent of our customers will see no change in price,” she said. “And like with their cell phone plans some may realize they don’t need 40 gigs of data every month, and they can drop down to a cheaper plan.” In Beaumont about 14 percent of users went over their data cap. Additional fees averaged $19 a month. But Beaumont, Texas is different from Greensboro. It’s smaller, has an older population, fewer college students and doesn't have the vibrant online community that once earned this city the nickname “Blogsboro.” “I don’t have any idea how much bandwidth I use right now,” said Roch Smith, a local web designer and blogger. “I don’t really think of it that way.” There will be a three-month “education process” before the pricing shift, Time Warner said. Customers can log in to their accounts to track their usage before choosing their new plan in the fall. But Smith said making customers more wallet-conscious about the way they use the Internet will stifle creativity and keep them from embracing new video and audio products online. That could be part of the motivation, several customers suggested, because Time Warner has seen increased online competition for its cable TV and movie-on-demand products. Smith said whatever the reason, the move will mean less innovation. “I think it’s just a terrible thing for the city to have our highest speed broadband priced in a way that’s unlike every other city our size,” Smith said. “Making us a ‘test market’ makes people on the cutting edge pay more and discourages people from discovering new things, things that are going to be very important in the future.”"

http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/04/02/article/time_warner_cable_will_track_charge_by_internet_usage?referer=googlebkmk

4/2/2009 9:06:29 PM

[NEW]

message_topic.aspx?topic=528448&page=3

[Edited on April 2, 2009 at 9:07 PM. Reason : link]

4/2/2009 9:06:46 PM

sorry didn't see it. i rarely go into tech talk

4/2/2009 9:08:04 PM

OH MY GAWD I WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR SOMETHING THAT I USE!!!!!!!!!!!!! CALL DADDY AND TELL HIM TO PUT MORE MONEY IN MY BANK

4/2/2009 9:30:24 PM

Breaking news, TWC loses thousands of customers

4/2/2009 9:31:41 PM

In an unrelated story, U-Verse and FiOS record record growth.

4/2/2009 9:32:43 PM

Time Warner further proving they're a crap company.

4/2/2009 9:32:49 PM

im looked in so im not worried. but after that, its to dish i go

4/2/2009 9:33:09 PM

You got to remember, a vast majority of tdubers are unemployed....thus, that unemployment check can just go so far!

4/2/2009 9:34:28 PM

Solinari's gonna have to pay extra every month if he wants to continue trolling at his current rate.

4/2/2009 9:34:50 PM

i guess they are trying to find a way to get money from the people who drop cable but not internet.

4/2/2009 9:36:33 PM

This won't make it out of the test phase because they are going to see mass amounts of people leaving them

4/2/2009 9:55:44 PM

well see, the thing is, they'd be happy to see you bandwidth hogs leave and go start hogging DSL's bandwidth

4/2/2009 9:56:57 PM

^^Actually this is actually the 2nd phase of testing and according to TW, the first one went better than expected.

4/2/2009 9:58:13 PM

right, because 80% of their customers probably saw a performance INCREASE after the bandwidth hogs left in a fit of self-righteous fury

4/2/2009 10:00:06 PM

I hope AT&T is ready to handle the massive amount of people that are about to jump ship.

4/2/2009 10:02:44 PM

how does time warner keep customers?

i have yet to meet a person that likes TW

4/2/2009 10:03:20 PM

It's not "a fit of self righteous fury" if you can pay less getting your bandwidth elsewhere.

4/2/2009 10:04:02 PM

Quote :

"right, because 80% of their customers probably saw a performance INCREASE after the bandwidth hogs left in a fit of self-righteous fury"

Extremely doubtful. Most likely the 80%(Your guess, not mine) of people that didn't care enough to switch don't pay enough attention (or do ANYTHING that would see improvement) to notice any change at all.

4/2/2009 10:04:16 PM

The funny thing is that AT&T has talked about instituting caps too. Where the hell are you guys gonna go then??

4/2/2009 10:04:20 PM

^5 i think i heard on the radio today they have internet for $19.99.

[Edited on April 2, 2009 at 10:04 PM. Reason : ^]

4/2/2009 10:04:26 PM

AT&T and Comcast are at least being reasonable with the cap size, with 150gb and 250gb respectively.

4/2/2009 10:14:27 PM

raleigh pwnt, stay home!!

mayhaps they should start paying the websites some dough for earning them the doug!

4/2/2009 10:26:07 PM

i'll just start logging on my neighbors wifi to download porn

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

4/2/2009 10:27:53 PM

I wonder how long you can play online games

4/2/2009 10:32:55 PM

forever

4/2/2009 10:36:45 PM

i would've been way over that last month.

kindof scary, i hope this doesn't become the norm.

4/2/2009 10:37:51 PM

Solinari, biggest bitch tdub has seen since...Samael?

4/2/2009 10:38:07 PM

yeah he is a fucking twat

4/2/2009 10:38:32 PM

Quote :

"i'll just start logging on my neighbors wifi to download porn "

4/2/2009 10:42:50 PM

FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE FUCK TIME WARNER FAGGOT CABLE

4/2/2009 11:06:25 PM

omg u just totally owned TWC with that.... Now they're all like, *speechless* and shit cuz their ass just got TOLD by the MAN!!

4/2/2009 11:12:48 PM

wouldn't TWC be the man?

4/2/2009 11:14:18 PM

YOU ARE GAY! AND FAGGOT!

4/2/2009 11:16:04 PM

not anymore... a new man is in town and he's got all kinds of F-bombs ready to copy-paste if you make him mad!

4/2/2009 11:16:54 PM

the thing is they won't be able to pin point who is using whom's wireless. this opens up a lot of potential problems for those who are unsecure, which is sadly a lot of people.

i'm suddenly glad i took a day and made that cantenna two years ago.

4/2/2009 11:20:54 PM

well now you're talking about crime. you guys would seriously peg someone else with a higher cable charge? and you criticize me for not returning my shopping cart....

Its one thing to piggy-back on someone's wireless when its just a flat fee (still wrong, but mostly harmless).... Its straight up inexcusable to leech someone's metered service.

4/2/2009 11:23:03 PM

^ I'm sure TWC wouldn't give a shit -- they would still send the poor bastard a bill and challenge him to prove it wasn't personal use.

4/2/2009 11:34:16 PM

well exactly, which is why its so horrible

4/2/2009 11:35:55 PM

for the other guy

4/2/2009 11:40:53 PM

And it's equally horrible that TWC would still continue to charge by the gigabyte given this.

4/2/2009 11:42:59 PM

How would you know what kind of service plan a guy's wifi is?

4/2/2009 11:44:05 PM

Bad enough Newegg charges by the gigabyte, too
even it's only 10¢ per

4/2/2009 11:49:40 PM

gee i hope not

4/2/2009 11:50:16 PM

There are really too many flaws associated with this plan for it not to be short lived. The inherrent fallacies are obvious and I can only assume the only reason they haven't addressed them is because either A) they wish not to look for flaws because it would seriously hamper their revenue projections or B) they really don't care because they'll get theirs.

neither one would surprise me more than the other.

4/2/2009 11:51:02 PM

^ like people switching companies

4/2/2009 11:52:04 PM

I'm really interested to hear what you guys are legally downloading, using gigabytes worth of bandwith.

4/2/2009 11:53:14 PM

^ not shit

4/2/2009 11:54:41 PM

i subscribe to netflix. yet another service i pay a flat rate for to have unlimited access.

4/2/2009 11:56:10 PM

since noone reads the 49th post

4/2/2009 11:57:09 PM