Spokesman says something must be done to address that pesky 5% of subscribers who consume more than 50% of network capacity.
Yesterday a memo was leaked by an individual in the Broadband Reports forum whereby it was stated that Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner broadband Internet service would soon begin “changing its pricing model.”
“They will begin moving away from ‘all you can eat’ to a pay per byte system,” wrote a person with the alias Saber 11. They are calling it “Consumption based billing”
This new method of billing will be first tested out in Beaumont, TX, where I guess maybe they’re a bit more laid back and file-sharing or data transfer isn’t so high on a person’s list of priorities in life. Time Warner is also apparently kind enough to begin work on a website where customers can track their usage and make timely decisions on whether to shut down BitTorrent usage for the month I presume.
“This system will begin be tested in Beaumont, TX in Quarter 1 and apply
only to New customers, eventually all customers will be included in the
new scheme,” he continues. “There will be a cap, but I have not heard what that will be and how generous or limited it will be.”
A spokesperson for Time Warner Cable then confirmed this plan for consumption-based billing this morning in a local Beaumont paper. According to a telephone interview conducted by a reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise, Time Warner spokesman Alex Dudley said it will indeed begin a trial phase offering a “menu of service with varying price levels for new customers.”
“Once the trial is done, Time Warner could decide to roll out a menu of services for all customers,” he continued.
The plan seems totally ridiculous in my opinion. If a company offers a particularly fast connection speed – say 1MB/s DL and 75kB/s UL- why on Earth would you need it to browse the internet? It’s a dirty little secret that the people paying for these ever faster connection speeds, and thereby network upgrades, are people who use P2P and file-sharing services. First customers would have to pay for speed, then for how long they use that speed? It’s insane. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
It’s not the YouTubers, the MySpacers, or the Facebook fanatics out there, it’s we the P2P crowd who have created the demand for these high speed packages and it’s ironic that we’re now apparently to be targeted for using a purchased product for which the speeds are so dramatically hyped.
If it’s bandwidth room on the network they want maybe it’s room they should get by customers who do use P2P and file-sharing services choosing to pack up and take their business elsewhere if they can.
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At this point in time I would advise anyone with Time Warner stock to sell while the gettings good. If they actually impose this “pay per byte” system Time Warners customers will start leaveing for other isps by the masses the first time they see the bill. Could it be a comeback for DSL.
I agree i would not stick with a company that offered “pay per byte”. Since I work at home and am very active online who knows what kind of bill i would have!
I know people that only do a little web surfing and check their email they dont have any use for high speed internet. they are going to ruin their business by cutting of the people that pay their bills
That’s the only option you have here in Australia. Pay per MB. It’s all about limiting piracy. Don’t let them fool you into any other reason for it.
There’s no discussion on rates either you’re gonna see the p2pers going to other networks while the tubers and spacers wind up going to time warner because of the cheap deals until Time warner dries up like an old apricot.
Should be fun to watch!
I think they will get away with this for a while. I sell comcast and like it says 95% of people are just using their internet for email or myspace. I have never sold anyone on speed nobody cares they only care about price and if they can make the service cost less for these 95% of their customers people will love it. It’s sad but true. And the other sad thing is that most customers with Time Warner don’t have a choice if they want broadband it’s gotta be Time Warner Comcast does not overlap those areas usually because it would be so expensive for the lines and maintenance and have only half the customer base. Time Warner is not stupid trust me they know what they are doing.
Since the trend is for even legitimate uses of large music and video files to be sent over broadband even legitimate users of high bandwidth will be angered. What about people who subscribe to Napster or NetFlix? Can they get a free pass since they are obviously NOT pirating? What about people who Instant message and yet want to webcam their loved ones at the same time? That takes up a lot of bandwidth can they get a free pass I mean THAT isn’t pirating either. Can the elderly get a free pas too? I mean most elderly live on fixed incomes.
I think that enough people will scream at Time Warner and leave that this little experiment will fail. What was Time Warner’s last famous experiment that failed? Had the initials “AOL” I think………..
Sorry Theinfamousone I think you are dead wrong!
look at the news on the ZP frontpage and you will see why. They only have plans for 5 10 20 and 40 gigabyte MAX! with no plans for unlimited!
You really think people are going to pay and be content that? You’re crazy.
There are legal streaming services that take up a LOT of bandwith as well as other legal services that nowwill be curtailed becauseof this idiotic pricing scheme.
Don’t worry they yelling has not started yet but it will…. and SOON.