Beginning this Thursday, new Internet subscribers in Beaumont,Texas will have to choose from packages that range from $30p/mo and a total 5GB upload and download data cap to $55p/mo and a 40GB total cap.
There’s a saying that goes “Don’t mess with Texas,” but it seems that Time Warner Cable will be doing just that later this week.
For starting this Thursday, new customers seeking Internet service from the company will be facing monthly data transfer caps which apparently limit the COMBINED AMOUNT amount of data both uploaded as well as downloaded.
Packages will range from $29.95 p/month for a 768kbps connection and a 5GB monthly cap to $54.90 p/month for a 15mbps connection and a 40GB cap. Customers who charged $1 for each GB that exceeds their limit.
“We think it’s the fairest way to finance the needed investment in the infrastructure,” said Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable’s executive VP of advanced technology. He said the plan is in response to the fact that just 5% of users consume more than 50% of network bandwidth.
It will give customers an initial 2 month grace period to grow accustomed to the rules, even offering a a handy “gas gauge” on its website for them to monitor their usage.
The plan is disturbing for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being that 40GB of allowed DL and UL usage for the so-called “top tier” package is downright insulting. The 5GB cap for the cheapest package is just too sickening to even contemplate.
For BitTorrent users who frequent private tracker sites and so are mindful of share ratios the caps must be halved to account for a 1:1 seeding for each download.
Thus, this means 2.5GB and 20GB monthly data caps for the cheapest and most expensive packages respectively. BitTorrent users would have to be awfully careful before choosing which TV shows, movies, music, or games they wish to download. They’d have to write off Blu-ray altogether.
Additional trouble would arise for those who like to watch streaming videos on sites like TVLinks, or those who listen to streaming audio via Pandora or Last.fm.
It’s said that the plan is just a trial, that it may only spread to other markets if the tests prove successful. However, what are the benchmarks? Cable companies have virtual monopolies over broadband connections in this country because there are simply no overlapping competitors. Customers can’t vote with their feet and choose another ISP. They take what they can get and just pray they don’t get charged too much. So the trial will show one thing – increased network bandwidth – and thereby make the test a success.
Talk about messing with Texas.
Related Posts
- Time Warner Cable Announces Monthly Usage Caps for ‘Consumption-Based Billing’
- Time Warner Cable to Test Out Broadband ‘Consumption-Based Billing’
- Japanese ISP Limits Uploads to 30GB per Day
- AT&T Begins 20-150GB Data Cap Trials in Reno, NV
- Comcast Mulls 250GB Monthly Cap, Disconnecting File-Sharers
Loading ...
Actually the saying is “Don’t mess with Texas.” And Beaumont is a small town where people should be glad just to have broadband. If they brought this to Dallas Houston Austin San Antonio or Fort Worth I’m sure they’d have a small uprising on their hands.
@Hawk
THX updated
time waner suxs anyway it never going to work they will lose alot of people if they start capping people thank god for seedboxes
40gb is crap
5GB is pathetic. I blow through that in under an hour easily. That limit is so low that a heavy internet user could break it even without doing any file sharing! Ridiculous!!
While I agree with the approach on this one 5GB Up and Down is WAAAAAAAAYYYYY to small for $30/mo. I would expect something like 250GB for that price. If that was my only option for broadband internet I would probably go back to dialup don’t need a 768kbs connection to read my e-mail (and if there was only a 5GB cap thats pretty much all I would be able to do).
Are they crazy. Are we supose to go forward not backward. This was the norm in the early 90’s when there was very few people online. It didn’t work before and it shouldn’t but these company are going to shove this down on us to increase profit.
Unlimit internet at 16 kbps for $29.99 and 48 kbps for $54.90 just for bare minium. It should be 15 GB for $29.99 and $59.99 for unlimit 2 Mbps or 100 GB limit at 15 Mbps per month.