“In a move that’s sure to rile many of its’ customers, Time Warner says it plans to test a new pricing structure for high-speed Internet usage that charges subscribers based on the amount of content they download,” Scott Nichols blogs for PC World.
“Time Warner currently charges customers a flat monthly rate for Internet access. According to reports Time Warner will test a new pricing model that creates a multi-tiered pricing plan based on broadband usage,” Nichols blogs. “Time Warner would put caps on usage and charge more should you use too much bandwidth based on your monthly plan. For example, if you view too many streamed online videos, buy too many songs from iTunes, or are a heavy user of P2P services than you might get hit with a Time Warner ‘overage charge.'”
Full article here.
The Associated Press reports, “Company spokesman Alex Dudley said the trial was aimed at improving the network performance by making it more costly for heavy users of large downloads. Dudley said that a small group of super-heavy users of downloads, around 5% of the customer base, can account for up to 50% of network capacity.”
“Dudley said he did not know what the pricing tiers would be nor the download limits. He said the heavy users were likely using the network to download large amounts of video, most likely in high definition,” AP reports. “It was not clear when exactly the trial would begin, but Dudley said it would likely be around the second quarter. The tiered pricing would only affect new customers in Beaumont, not existing ones.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader ” Ampar” for the heads up.]
Ok, well might be time to switch to DSL if I will need to pay for bandwidth.
SAT tv has more HD channels and better packages. This just might be what pushed me to go with SAT tv over cable. Cable has been a nice easy format but for sure has less quality in comparison to SAT line up, but the draw was the open bandwidth of internet access.
Take that away and there is no point.
lack of competition gives one cable company per city too much power.
here, it is either cable internet or DSL.
I prefer cable internet over DSL.
I hope cox cable doesn’t get any bright ideas and copy this bandwidth limiting idea.
Time-Warner concurs with Apple that the web will be inundated with music and video downloads, and has cleverly devised a plan to build a toll road to iTunes.
Who would you rather have as your ISP?
(i) Time-Warner
(ii) Apple
(iii) some other company
This is the thin end of the wedge. New customers now, then on to the existing customers. What’s the betting that your TW bill will not decrease if you are a low bandwidth user?
Comcast already has a “secret” limit, above which they will shut you down.
Wonderful! There must be big smiles at Apple and Google. The cable industry has fallen into the trap and is committing suicide. The competition, led by Google, will soon route around the cable companies’ declining service in order to deliver the content that the cable companies have been providing.
Apple will benefit enormously, by having one of their chief rivals in content access and delivery gutted by the short swords with which the latter have chosen to slit their own bellies.
Ok, well might be time to switch to DSL if I will need to pay for bandwidth.
Absolutely! Because DSL will never start charging for high-use, will they?
Face it, all internet providers that sell “all you can download” are selling something they don’t have: unlimited bandwidth. With larger and larger files being downloaded in ever greater numbers, the providers’ capacity is being used up. This leaves them with two options: expensive capacity upgrades, so they can continue to sell “all you can download”, or stop selling “all you can download”.
Now which option do you think a for-profit corporation will choose?
——RM
Interesting.
No mention of limiting uploads, most of which is caused by P2P traffic, and AFIK, are as much or more of a problem for the network operators.
What everyone is missing is that TimeWarner may b e targeting “heavy” users today, but as movie downloading (iTunes) becomes more popular, nearly everyone will be doing it.
This is nothing more than a tax on movie downloads. A way to cash in on Apple’s/iTunes success.
Reading everyone’s comments it occurred to me there was another reason for this pricing change.
Time Warner is positioning themselves to make up lost income from their own on demand movie rental business.
iTunes will be a hit, I have no doubt about that, And as the number of available movies increases on iTunes, there is a very real possibility that movie rentals on Time Warner will go down.
Time Warner is just the first to come up with a strategy to offset revenue declines brought on by iTunes movie rentals. As an investor in AAPL I view this move as very positive confirmation of future Apple growth.
ISP business really just a fraud. Selling customers high speed connections and hoping that people would never use them.
Record companies want you to keep paying forever and ISPs want you to pay, but not use. When you do use, they get pissed off.
Google and Apple will be better at providing a digital library of media than the cable companies have been. Over time, the cable companies will be providing little more than cables.
If they increase their bandwidth price, I could imagine canceling my basic subscription for programs and just pay the for the internet access alone. This will be plausible once more tv shows and channels such as HBO are available via the iTunes digital library.
If this happens, then TW will be competing on a strictly technical basis with Verizon or any other pipe-providers. Its their choice.
Ah, Ampar. Source of both yuks AND timely info!
The other side of the coin is also on today’s MDN…
“Time Warner tests multi-tiered pricing structure based on broadband usage”
If the ISP’s start charging big-bucks for big-bandwidth, it could take a big-bite out of Apple’s plans for a wireless download utopia.
Ok guys, some perspective here….
This has nothing to do (directly) with iTunes. This would have had to be in the works for some time. Certainly longer than a week. I imagine this has more to do with P2P than iTunes. That or the few people like me who have been getting ALL their TV from streaming websites. I’ve probably downloaded 500 GB of data in just the last month.
To Jayavarman VII: I do what I can. I thought structured broadband had something to do with bondage. The safety word is upload.
The repositioning continues. Cable Companies continue to scramble to get a piece of this ever shape-shifting pie of $$$$. Federal Communication regulatory mismanagement over the past 10 years will become more and more obvious as one-cable markets demonstrate how lack of competition ultimately screws the consumer.
I wonder if that Verizon FIOS service is any good. Does anyone here have it and like it?
Everyone! Get off Time Warner. If this is allowed to continue, all companies might start doing it, and that’s really, really bad. Send the message that you won’t stand for it.
I don’t personally have FiOS, but it has gotten very favorable magazine coverage.
I consider Time Warner to be one of (if not THE) most arrogant and incompetent companies in this country. They do whatever they want to whenever they want to. And with their cable TV you are constantly bombarded with bullshit propaganda and FUD about Dish Network and AT&T;. They are dishonest, dishonorable, and their customer service is nonexistent. Oh, and with their emphasis on HD, the standard video and sound sucks even worse now. And a lot of times RoadRunner isn’t much better than dial-up in my neighborhood.
I feel better now.
“He said the heavy users were likely using the network to download large amounts of video, most likely in high definition,” AP reports.”
It sounds like they don’t really know what’s causing the usage. So why do they attributed to HD movie downloading?
This sounds like so much MPAA propaganda.
Yeah, I want FIOS. I’m sure Verizon will screw you one way or another, but it will be a lot faster screwing.
No wise cracks, Ampar.
“No wise cracks, Ampar.”
Are dumbass cracks acceptable then? BTW, the worms on the moon are pretty pissed off at you.
Greed is standard with these guys. Give little, charge a lot.
While I can understand wanting to limit those who use TONS of bandwidth, if the company cannot list what it is trying to do in clear terms and tries to hide it in general BS, that means they either do not know what they want to do, or more likely, they just want to gouge us but do not want to all it that.
en
Ampar,
“Are dumbass cracks acceptable then?”
Yes, I prefer dumbass cracks. It’s my personal modus operandi.
“BTW, the worms on the moon are pretty pissed off at you.”
Stupid worms.
LorD1776 : The worms may be stupid but they are loyal. Sound familiar?
Time Warner has got to be kidding!
In San Diego, I’m thinking of putting together a class action suit due to Time Warner’s breach of services for the totally malfunctioning cable boxes and software they use. Re-boots of their boxes on a daily basis, pixelated TV, screwed up sound, etc., etc., etc. This has been verified and expounded upon by their own technicians while visiting my residence. Even they are sick of the problems!
TIME WARNER NEEDS TO FIX THEIR PROBLEMS BEFOE THEY TRY TO PUT THEIR HANDS DEEPER IN OUR POCKETS.
Ampar,
Baaaaaa?
To those wondering about FIOS –
My wife and I made the switch from Time Warner Cable to Verizon FiOS. We are GLAD that we did. When connected with a cable to the wireless router, which is in her office, my wife gets very close to the rated 20 M download speed and 5 upload speed. I connect wireless and usually get between 10 M and 15 M download and 3 – 5 upload. Time Warner’s speed was 5 DL max. In addition we had a lot of problems with TW. Every time we had a service call, the cause of the problem seemed to change. The line is running too hot, no too cold, we didn’t have a good splitter, etc. We are not big fans of TW and will even consider switching to FIOS TV once it is offered in our area. (We are staying away from DirectTV which is currently being offered.)
Pros – FASTER than cable; – cost about the same as cable; -a lot less problems than with TW; – wireless router is ours to keep
Cons – Verizon needed to install a data node box in our garage – which interfered with the door opener. (Verizon is aware of this problem and said they are coming out with a paint to help provide shielding. We’re using aluminum foil.) – Phones are now through data mode which requires power to operate. There is a 4 hour battery in case of power loss.
I strongly recommend getting FIOS if it is offered in your area.
Peace.
Frustrated Time Warner Customer,
I always enjoy their extremely helpful guide. Half the time when you are surfing, the channels have the wrong program title and info, or “no information available”. And if they do have it correct, it is truncated and worthless.
And how about the fact that you are paying out the nose and still have 25% of programming being paid infomercials. And after midnight it’s probably over 50%.
Bunch of bloodsucking sonsabitches. They must all be lawyers.
For some reason, I don’t feel better this time.
LorD1776: The barn is now closed. Please inflate your shoes and move carefully and slowly sideways. A Proto-Mate will take your ALAR card and gently coax you to the Tomorrow Pad. DO NOT step off the path. Your fine body hair will be returned to you in the form of your selected nightmares. This is normal. Do not be alarmed. We are monitoring your
Lurker_PC,
Sounds great. Does Verizon demand a contract for FIOS? I know they do here for DSL.
Ampar,
I think right now I need a little Silent Lucidity.
Anyone seen ‘anti-creative cretin’ lately?
LorD1776 –
Good point. Unfortunately yes Verizon does require a year long contract. We signed up last somewhere around last April and May. Very pleased so far.
We were told that Verizon of course would switch over the phone back to copper wire if we ever decided to terminate our FIOS contract. Right now we are planning on staying with FIOS – will probably try out the triple pak – TV, Phone, Internet – once the television service is offered through the FIOS lines.
Would strongly recommend to you and others to research FIOS. We’re very pleased with the service.
Peace.
@Lurker_PC
Thanks for the information. Very good to know.
All hale the rabid whole.
Lurker_PC,
Sounds good to me. I can’t wait till they get it in my area. Thanks.
anti-creative cretin,
No apology necessary; I took no offense. We all need to vent.
I think we all have a little Mad Hatter in us at times.
Ampar,
What’s up, doc? Off with their heads!?
How many of you know at this very moment know how much “bandwidth” you have consumed?
How about last month?
Don’t know? Neither do I.
How many people do you think actually do?
Time-Warners attempt to act like a cell phone carrier and start charging you overages, something like $2 dollars a Gig over your limit?
$10?
This issue is quite simple. Apple should just buy Dish Network and then develop an airport link from the satellite receiver to the Macs. Imagine receiving satellite signals to an iPhone. The actual phone transmission of voice could go to a ground based cell tower. The highest bandwidth is in receiving internet signals to the iPhone, not the voice transmission.
Time Warner is not worried about the bandwidth usage. They are worried about competition for media usage. Why have cable tv if you could get your favorite tv shows over AppleTV without commercials. Why have cable tv to see movies after Apple develops a subscription system. You would not need cable TV is the reality. 80% of what you get is content you probably do not watch anyway.
The only reason I went back to cable last year is that I got tired of not being able to get the local stations in high definition on the Dish system. Once they get the satellite system loaded with HD, cable goes away.
At Verizon’s web site where they compare FiOS to Cable, they say “Don’t be confused by misleading information. Currently no cable provider can provide fiber optic service all the way to the home.”
So I wonder what they buried in my yard a few months ago? It was fiber, alla way to the side of my house (phone, cable & internet). Does Verizon lie about other things?
“How many of you know at this very moment know how much “bandwidth” you have consumed?
How about last month?
Don’t know? Neither do I.
How many people do you think actually do?”
Very wise. Repeat this over and over again.
@Bill If you have a lot of HD channels in your area go to http://www.antennasdirect.com for the price of an ATSC antenna for off air digital and HD broadcast you will get local high def channels for free and IMHO sharper than cable.
This harkens back to an earlier attack on net neutrality: ISPs charging more to visit some pages than others under their defined terms. When they control the pipes, they also control access. Is TW’s next move to the holy subscription model of the RIAA/MPAA: charge per access differentiated by which page the users goes to – a page that pays TW costs less and has faster response.
Pure and simple: TW’s greed and arrogance is showing. May they watch their subscribers quickly disappear to DSL. And then their advertisers.
We have to put up with these kinds of rubbish plans in Australia all the time.
How’s this for a criminal plan, a plan from our major telephone company, 200meg per month (yes, meg, not gig) on a fast cable, with excess usage at $150 a gig.
We have families getting $20,000 internet bills. Just criminal.
Reject these plans !
@Wingsy…no, I believe that was copper line from the local node.
twofruits,
Are you talking about Telstra’s BigPond cable? I did some searching and found this:
http://my.bigpond.com/internetplans/broadband/cable/plansandoffers/default.jsp
And here is the fine print. Apparently it’s .15¢ per MB after you pass your limit. Looks like this fits the bill.
http://my.bigpond.com/internetplans/broadband/cable/fineprint.jsp
Wow, you aren’t kidding. These guys make Time Warner look like saints! At least for now.
I have TW cable, with Roadrunner Turbo, for 10MB down/1MB up. I’m already paying $10 more for the Turbo, so presumably we already have tiered pricing. Of course, I don’t do alot of downloading, I do alot of uploading, from my Slingbox so I can watch my tv on my Macbook while at my second home, which has no tv service. Soon, I’ll be able to watch on my iPhone.
If you want to track your net usage, just get Menumeters, and leave your mac connected for a month, to see your total usage.
So, right now, I pay tiered prices anyway, because I buy 10 Mbits per second, something I don’t really ever realize, and now they want to charghe me by quantity, as well as the so-called throughput – not really something I every realized – never do i ever see 10 Mbits per second download. WTF? They are inept now, maybe by charging by the bit/byte/whatever, they’ll speed up? Interesting…. But I don’t think I’ll ever get more… no matter what they charge me. I am of the impression – who needs cable – i get all I need through downloads/P2P – So, they see my ploy – cancel cable, get satellite, and download all the movies I care to watch via P2P… Alas, what will be will be…. Bill
Years ago, I was using the wireless internet when hardly anyone else even knew cell phones could do that sort of thing.
I got overage charges of hundreds of $$ a <strike>year</strike> month.
So I bought a Macintosh and got online the “normal” way.
http://homepage.mac.com/mac.zooks/Musings/Personal12.html
If ISPs start charging overages, it may be the salvation of the cellphone companies getting walloped by the iPhone!!
Unfortunately “unlimited” plans are not workable because 5% will leach all they can and end up being subsidized by the other 95%, which isn’t fair. At the other end of the spectrum, some ISPs and cell providers are guilty of deceitful marketing practices that end up costing unsophisticated users many multiples of their expected bills.
We need some regulation here. No plan should use the “unlimited” word unless it is really unlimited. There really shouldn’t be any unlimited plans anyway but realistic caps with the following options:
On reaching cap,
a) bill becomes due and bandwidth resets; or…
b) plan automatically upgrades to the next bandwidth limit; or…
c) bandwidth speed limited until user selects a) or b)
(a) is better than (b) because you wouldn’t want to upgrade the plan on the last few days of the bill cycle, but you’d consider upgrading it around the middle of the month. For these to work, checking usage should be simple, and choosing resets or upgrades online should be easy and instant. Once you’ve upgraded the plan, any requests to downgrade plans should take effect at the end of the cycle.
Amp:
All hale the rabid whole.
Did you mean:
(i) All hail the rapid mole.
(ii) All kale the rabbit hole.
(iii) All mail the abbot’s pole.
Phr: Go away, Phred. Seriously.
exactly the reason why AOL failed in australia… they signed up a lot, but we wernt told our internet slowed for over usage… and we couldn’t even get emails necessary for our business…
we changed to telstra, and they still wanted us back… I sent an email telling them either compensate me for the loss or pi$S off
There should be a nationwide pullout of their service right away JUST FOR TESTING THE CONCEPT to send a message. This must be nipped in the bud, and punishing them with a preemptive walk away would send a signal to the other asswipes that we are not standing for this lie.
Ampar,
I really don’t think he’s going to go away. We are probably being punished for terrible infractions we committed in previous lives.
It could be worse. We could be MicroSoft fans. Shudder !!!
“We could be MicroSoft fans.”
Bite thy tongue, sinner ! ! !
Ampar,
As you wish. CRUNCH !!! That doest much smarteth!
LorD1776,
Yep, they are bigpond plans I’m talking about in Australia.
They do offer some capped plans, but the really cheap ones that suck people in are the 200meg plans. Its very easy to go over these with a 30mbit/sec cable plan. You can imagine what happens when windoze users here get a virus !
I have a bigpond plan myself as its the only option I have for fast broadband. I live too far away from the exchange for ADSL2+.
I have a capped 25gig plan. I could get an uncapped 60gig, but once over that 60gig I’m racking up $150 per gig. ick !
I heard rogers cable in Canada charge $1.50 per gig excess. At least that wouldn’t send me bankrupt.
twofruits,
I feel for you and anyone else under those circumstances. It seems like since everything is geared toward the internet anymore, it should almost be a fundamental human right to have affordable high speed access. Of course, the same could be said for healthcare, but that’s another story. Good luck.
@ LorD1776 – Right you are. Internet access is like roads. It is infrastructure, which is the purview of government. TW is about to learn a hard lesson, I think. Just 131 miles east of Beaumont, TX is the town of Lafayette, LA. When the cable and phone companies failed to provide fiber-optic cable to the homes in the town, the town formed a public utility company and put it in themselves. Instead of building out the infrastructure to meet bandwidth demand, TW is attempting to create artificial scarcity. I hope there is a special corner in hell for greedy bastards, so I won’t have to mix with them in the hereafter. Wouldn’t want them spoiling the neighborhood.
Does anyone know if this applies to BrightHouse too? Central Florida used to have Time Warner until a few years ago when they either merged with or sold everything off to BrightHouse. All of my equipment still has the TW swirly eye logo… If this is a BrightHouse thing too – I’m dropping them and switching to AT&T;or Adelphia for cable/phone/internet
@ LorD1776 – we have government healthcare in Australia, thank heavens.
We do, however have some crap broadband plans offered by the major telcos Optus and Telstra. Much better to go ADSL2+ with a smaller provider if you can. Adam, Do Do, Chariot et al offer far better deals.
Lurker,
Kudos to Lafayette. And that was a good one about the “special corner”.
Sweeny Todd,
The term government healthcare is deemed to be evil socialism here. Under our current regime, the word socialism has taken the place of communism . We sure can’t have all of those tax dollars actually going toward helping people.
Like ‘lurker’, I hope there is a “special corner in hell” just for the lawmakers responsible for this. And don’t get me started on global warming.
Now, what were we talking about?
@Newton (“no, I believe that was copper line from the local node.”)
Well, you believe wrong. It is fiber. I saw it. I saw them testing it at the entrance to my house. And as an electronics engineer, I can recognize a fiber optic cable when I see it.
Sounds to me like TWC is trying to keep ppl from downloading a lotta HD movie rentals via iTunes. I freaking hate those criminals… over-charging for old technology. There’s no way they need to continue charging $45/mo for something with increased users and that isn’t all that great to begin with—and apparently not kept up to date either. Don’t get me wrong, I still prefer it over DSL, but it’s old technology and they don’t really upgrade like they should for the cost they charge. I mean, they’re gonna explore a price-tier based on usage (of about 5% of the users) instead of simply increasing/bettering their network… classic example of the good having to suffer with the bad, i guess. TWC frustrates me to no end!! It’s like someone said already, the lack of competition gives them too much power. How much ya wanna bet the pricing-tiers will start at $45/mo (if not higher).