Time Warner to test Internet billing based on usage

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080117/media_nm/timewarner_internet_dc

By Yinka Adegoke Thu Jan 17, 10:07 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Cable Inc said on Wednesday it is planning a trial to bill high-speed Internet subscribers based on their amount of usage rather than a flat fee, the standard industry practice.

The second largest U.S. cable operator said it will test consumption-based billing with subscribers in Beaumont, Texas later this year as a part of a strategy to help reduce congestion of its network by a minority of consumers who pay the same monthly fee as light users.

The company believes the billing system will impact only heavy users, who account for around 5 percent of all customers but typically use more than half of the total network bandwidth, according to a company spokesman.

Slowing network congestion due to downloading of large media files such as video is a growing problem for Time Warner Cable. The company said the problem will worsen as video downloading becomes more popular.

But the move could prove controversial. Unlike with utility bills such as the phone or electricity, which have traditionally been based on usage, U.S. high-speed Internet subscribers have come to expect a fixed monthly charge. An Internet bill typically only varies based on the speed of the consumer's Internet access.

Time Warner Cable, which has 7.4 million residential Internet subscribers, is hoping the move will not confuse consumers if introduced nationwide and is planning a trial period.

"Largely, people won't notice the difference," said the Time Warner Cable spokesman. "We don't want customers to feel they're getting less for more." News of Time Warner Cable's plans was originally leaked on an online industry forum BroadbandReports.com.

Other cable operators may follow Time Warner Cable's lead and phone companies such as Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc are likely to be watching the New York-based cable operator's plans.
As U.S. consumers have become more used to streaming and downloading digital media over the Web, their Internet service providers have started to come under pressure to be able to keep up with growing demand in a cost-effective manner.

Comcast Corp, the largest cable operator with around 13 million Internet subscribers, has been accused by consumer groups of blocking Web traffic moving across its networks, prompting a notice of inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week.

Comcast denies it blocks any Internet traffic saying it uses bandwidth management technology to help improve the customer experience but which may slow down some file transfers.

(Editing by Lincoln Feast)
Click to expand...
:bomb:
 
I'm glad I'm not a time warner customer caught up in this test. I'm curious to know what the costs would be. Would they charge per MB or gig? I'd be afraid to know what an average person who d/ls around 100 gigs a month would be charged
 
In all seriousness (and this story puts me in a serious frame of mind), I'll bet what it comes down to are 'adjusted' flat rates (read: raised) for "heavy users", and usage-based packages for everyone else. I should say, one will have a choice, but pricewise, they'll make the latter far more attractive to most people than the former. We'll see more confusion and 'options', kind of like cel phone plans.

At least I hope we've got a choice. Only one way to let 'em know how we feel, as usual....
 
Well, it'll save money for a bunch of grandmas that only use the Internet to check their email twice a day and maybe buy a figurine online once in a great while.

For anyone registered here, or anyone subscribing to an MMO...ugh.
 
I like the part where they won't charge less for the people who use it less, just more for the people who use it more. Even if you never log on, you'll still pay what you're used to paying monthly.
 
Looks like the media companies are getting their way. This would stop a lot of online piracy if people couldn't just download to their heart's content.
 
[quote name='jeffblack12']I like the part where they won't charge less for the people who use it less, just more for the people who use it more. Even if you never log on, you'll still pay what you're used to paying monthly.[/quote]

that's fucking bullshit. it's time these companies start to get regulated
 
[quote name='jollydwarf']Well, it'll save money for a bunch of grandmas that only use the Internet to check their email twice a day and maybe buy a figurine online once in a great while.

For anyone registered here, or anyone subscribing to an MMO...ugh.[/quote]

An MMO player is using a trickle compared to someone who is pulling stuff from BitTorrent or the newsgroups 24 hours a day. I see what Time Warner is trying to do, and I can't say that I blame them, but it will not end well.
 
fuck this sucks.

[edit]

Slowing network congestion due to downloading of large media files such as video is a growing problem for Time Warner Cable. The company said the problem will worsen as video downloading becomes more popular.
Click to expand...

Network Congestion? Wouldn't the most obvious solution be upgrading the system to say, fiber optics? Oh, but then that means it would come out of their pocket! How terrible! Let's just charge the consumer more instead!

Bet your ass I'll cancel my service w/ these holes if this comes to fruition. /rant
 
Considering that I've nearly filled my 1TB HDD that I got in October, I'll be pretty pissed if this becomes Time Warner's standard practice.
 
Since I recently agreed to a 2-year contract with Time Warner In New York (to get a 10% decrease), I've already shot an email to them asking if this goes into effect, whether the 2-year contract I agreed to is effectively over since the billing on the Internet component is something very different to what I initially agreed upon.

No anger or threats - just a nudge, nudge pre-emptive note to them saying that I am preparing to leave your service should this "test" be successful.
 
Theres a reason I fucking pay for high speed intenet.
I want to Download things fast in order to Download more after thats done.
Not download one single thing fast then sit on my ass for the rest of the month being scare to go over and get charged up the ass.
Its like fucking buying a 350 Horse power car but you can only drive it 20 miles a month.
It destroys the whole god damn point of it.
If this goes through theres no doubt i will cancel my service of 3 1/2 years with them.


sorry.. but this news really pisses me off :bomb:
 
[quote name='wildnuts02']that's fucking bullshit. it's time these companies start to get regulated[/quote]

We wouldn't need regulation if there weren't so many "computer illiterate" fools out there. The informed consumers will be able to take one look at this situation and say, "forget that, I'm switching providers." But if it's done right, regulation could help all consumers. Unfortunately, the media companies have a very strong foothold in the government right now. If the United States wants to stay competitive in the Information Age, we might need to begin regulating our internet companies in order to protect consumers and foster creativity.
 
[quote name='greydt']Since I recently agreed to a 2-year contract with Time Warner In New York (to get a 10% decrease), I've already shot an email to them asking if this goes into effect, whether the 2-year contract I agreed to is effectively over since the billing on the Internet component is something very different to what I initially agreed upon.
[/QUOTE]

Legally they would have to let you opt out in a certain time frame, otherwise I smell lawsuit.

This is the worst news ever. If the industry followed in their foot steps I would have to consider... dial up? fuck!
 
I'm surprised nobody's come in here yet supporting them for doing something to support a capitalist economy or some other bullshit.

Perhaps everyone realizes how fucking stupid this is?
 
Is it 1995 again when I have to pay AOL a certain ammount per month and I can use the internet for 100 hours?
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']oh if Verizon FIOS does this, I am going to be pissed.[/quote]

Agreed. They are basically saying "we're going to screw 5% of our customers." You know they aren't going to lower the monthly bills of 95% of their customer base. There's no way people need to start worrying about how much they download in a given month.
 
[quote name='bigdaddy']Is it 1995 again when I have to pay AOL a certain ammount per month and I can use the internet for 100 hours?[/QUOTE]

That's pretty much what sprang to mind for me. I still remember when a small local company started allowing unlimited time for a set monthly fee. It was such a relief. Hopefully Time Warner's "test" results in a million pissed off customers and other companies decide not to test the waters elsewhere.
 
I'm going to guess that the 5% of people it will apply to will drop the service. This will free up bandwidth for the other 95%. Not a bad strategy at all. It just has to get by the public opinion machine.

Also, when 'mr computer illiterate' gets a high bill because he is unknowlingly sending spam from his computer, he will get if fixed.

If it's relegated to the highest users (by bandwidth, not time) then it seems more like charging trucks more to drive on highways than what AOL used to do. Remember that you would have to be the higest user in a random group of 20 users to fit in the new pricing structure. I'm going out on a limb here and I'll say that netflix watch now and xbox live users probably will not be charged more.
 
This will never catch on. All these huge corporations who are pushing ala carte style on-demand content online, are going to be pissed. Someone who has this internet service might think twice about downloading or streaming that movie off Netflix, or that demo off Xbox Live.
 
[quote name='UnderwaterMadman']Time Warner is already f'n with my connection whenever I try to download something of considerable size my modem needs to be reset.[/QUOTE]
Just noticed this this very hour. My boyfriend was downloading shit while he was at work on his home computer. I got home before him and noticed his downloads had stalled for no reason, and the internet connection wasn't working until I reset it, even though the lights were on.

fuck Time Warner. They will lose so much business if they do this nationwide.
 
TW really needs to learn how to build internet like Korea.

Cheap and insanely fast. One of the few things they've done really, exceptionally well.
 
Maybe information being the primary source of commerce isn't that far off. Maybe A.I.* had it right. Maybe Robin Williams will someday voice all your Mapquest and Wikipedia needs.

*--Can't go a day without my "gimmick", right? Regardless, I just wanted to give the finger to anyone who hates this movie, especially for it's supposed 'cop out' ending.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']I'm surprised nobody's come in here yet supporting them for doing something to support a capitalist economy or some other bullshit.[/QUOTE]
Don't be stupid.

They're welcome to do whatever the fuck they want with their subscription fees because this is a capitalist society, just as we're welcome to take our dollars elsewhere.
 
The fact of the matter is, this is going to be a moderate to enormous price increase for all "heavy users." Pretty much everyone else probably won't see much of an increase or decrease, and those grandmas who delve into the tubes once every two days might even see lower rates. But because most people supposedly won't be affected, the mainstream media won't raise a stink at all.

On the other hand, who else thinks that the "five percent" estimate is rather low? I'm willing to bet that Time Warner's going to have quite a few irritated MySpace-using teens in the test area. We'll see if that actually translates to enough cancellations.

Also, to all of those people comparing this to AOL, circa 1995: remember that this company's full name is AOL Time Warner.

One final note: Time Warner still has a lot of money in the television industry. What do you suppose the vast majority of the people who are in that top five percent are doing with their internet connections? They're downloading/watching videos on Youtube and similar sites, Bit Torrenting movies/TV Shows/Music, and playing MMOs and console games online. All of those things are alternatives/distractions from television. Meanwhile, the bottom 95% consists mainly of people who are in most TV station's largest demographic, and who might not even know how to do those three things I mentioned (especially Bit Torrent). I'm no conspiracy theorist, but don't doubt that they factored that heavily (pun semi-intended) into consideration when formulating this test.

[quote name='Chacrana']I'm surprised nobody's come in here yet supporting them for doing something to support a capitalist economy or some other bullshit.

Perhaps everyone realizes how fucking stupid this is?[/quote]
That's because every single user of this forum knows that they are a high-bandwidth user, whether it's from Xbox Live, Bittorrent, or whatever. We know what this test implies. That's a good point, though. Time Warner will try to spin things that way.

[quote name='jollydwarf']Maybe information being the primary source of commerce isn't that far off. Maybe A.I.* had it right. Maybe Robin Williams will someday voice all your Mapquest and Wikipedia needs.

*--Can't go a day without my "gimmick", right? Regardless, I just wanted to give the finger to anyone who hates this movie, especially for it's supposed 'cop out' ending.[/quote]
Well...I liked A.I, if only because of that robo-teddy bear. He was great.
 
[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']If the test is successful and therefore makes them more money, I'm all for it.

Maybe I just like seeing the pirates get fucked[/quote]Yes, because everyone who uses a lot of bandwidth is a pirate. :roll:
 
[quote name='docvinh']You guys realize that most of the big providers already have caps, right? They just don't tell you they have them.[/quote]

You're missing the point. Time Warner isn't announcing caps, they're saying that anybody who even approaches that level of usage is probably going to have to pay through their nose.
 
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