So Time Warner is finally making their caps official...

Also I wonder how this will affect the online gaming industry with companies like Blizzard and Microsoft because online games take up a ton of bandwith.

 

Crapcast will follow really soon. This cap is awful. I don't even download any torrents(maybe 1 GB per month) but I am appalled that I will be having to monitor my internet activities in order to keep it under the bandwidth.

If I want to download 50 GB worth of movies, I should be able to do it whenever I feel like it. It's not about movies either, the PS Store releases new demos every week, most of them are over 1GB, if I want to download every single free demo, why the hell can't I? This doesn't even count digital distribution of movies and downloading games sold exclusively over the internet.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that online gaming itself takes up a lot of bandwidth. However, demos, HD videos, downloadable games, firmware updates, etc., definitely can (demos alone seem to range 1GB-2GB).

 

Oh I forgot about the Xbox live market place, GTA: The lost and the damn alone was like 1.5 gigs or something close to that. How is microsoft going to stand for this? A lot of people will be upset that they cant get DLC on xboxlive whenever they want to.

 

That was my thought too. Only an apologist for them could make such statements. Or someone who just knows absolutely nothing about it.

I say let them shoot themselves in the foot with this plan. It's greed, nothing more. They have that right, it is a free market after all, but in a free market, failed ideas also have the freedom to crash and burn. Yay.

 

One problem I see with TWC adopting this new plan is the old contracts. Some people may have signed 2-year contracts, so that gives TWC a sort of buffer time where people will suffer for another year until it finally hits TWC's pockets.

 

so just browsing clutchfans takes up a lot of bandwith?

EDIT: haha I remember that thread that was posted about them testing. some people were talking about how 250 GB and such was more than enough...and others said well they'll start making it lower and lower..well TWC just said screw even implementing their crap in stages, just do it right off the bat.

 

Any answer?

 

Post #44

 

I though I read awhile back, playing games online didnt use much bandwith, or is it just when you d-load DLC?

 

That's an answer? Looks like the same question to me.

 

I didn't really have that good of an answer either, but I sort of addressed it in my post (#41).

Basically, AFAIK, if you just play games online and nothing else, you might not have to worry too much about using up a lot of bandwidth (especially as long as you aren't the host). But since most people I know with online accounts also download demos, full games, DLC, firmware updates, HD trailers/videos, etc., it will probably be a problem. At the very least, it will be difficult to take full advantage of digital distribution, which will be pushed more and more in the next few years.

 

I've won too many enemies here to respond to everyone, so I'll just take the abuse (even though most of the arguments suck ) without comment.

I expect my cost savings to come more from keeping a static rate as their costs increase instead of a pro-active reduction in rates. So, I don't lose now, and I'll gain in the long-run.

Pay-as-you-go would also be acceptable. Though, I'd point out that electricity companies are trying to get away from a straight $/kwh model because usage is much higher at certain times, and the wholesale cost at those times is also higher. TWC should do a model where the price would change dependent on the time of day so they could even out the usage of their infrastructure.

I work for Gexa Energy.

 

I have Gexa energy! They give me a great rate (11 cents/ kwh?) and then charge me about 20 dollars in fees that a college graduate can't decipher!

 

Quick google search:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=25072

Youtube or threads with alot of pictures will probably eat up more usage.

Seriously though, I think I'd rather have dialup or ASDL than worry about going over a small limit like 5GB. In comparison, 5GB is 198 hours of 56Kb/s or 8.25 straight usage days. Who needs bandwidth if makes you "run out" of it quicker.

 

Is this Gexa that refuses to give its customers that awesome low rate unless they call each month and specifically ask for it? That's what I saw on the news anyway....

 

well, this news was somewhat expected, but may throw a wrench in my entire life. Just great.

I just finished negotiating, today, with my boss, to gain the ability to telecommute from Austin. This was no easy sell. The files we work with are rather large (Marketing/advertising high resolution stuff). I also play some games online. If they cap my $#!@ I'm going to get screwed on this, and it may ruin the whole thing. If I can't telecommute without incurring an extra $200+ in fees each month, it no longer becomes viable.

Perfect timing. I hope there are options out there, because if there are, I'm kicking this robbery to the curb. I'm not asking to freaking torrent files or download demos or HD movies every day, I just want to be able to keep my job in Htown and live with my family in Austin. and get the occasional rockets game via my good friend's slingbox (about 1 gb/game), and play the occasional meager online game a couple of times a week. Is that so terrible? I mean, I was promised unlimited internet, I'm not abusing it... do I really need to be charged double triple or quadruple what I agreed to for my usage?

The fact that they gain a huge client base selling unlimited use and blazing fast speed, then take tax money to put the infrastructure in place, then oversell it beyond their capability to deliver, then tell us all that we are going to be charged according to limits and downgraded in speeds really smacks of some of the worst business tactics I've ever heard of.


!@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$

 

i'm hoping that's a different gexa energy at 20 greenway plaza suite 600 because I don't call every month. I mostly just turn my bill 90 degrees in different directions to try and get a better idea of what the hell its trying to tell me

 

You're delusional. Sites like Youtube etc consume a ton of bandwidth and just about everyone that connects to the internet has used. This is a very bad business plan and there is no way it succeeds.

 

holy crap. I can download 40 gigs in 2 days.