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Time Warner to bill on Internet Usage rather then flat fee

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by tbplayer22, Jan 17, 2008.

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tbplayer22 Member

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22707271/

NEW YORK - 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.
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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.

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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.

#1 tbplayer22, Jan 17, 2008

tbplayer22 Member

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But I bet they won't charge less to the people that don't user that much band width.

#2 tbplayer22, Jan 17, 2008
hotballa Contributing Member

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good thing I live in NYC where TWC has to compete with Cablevision and now Verizon FIOS for customers.

#3 hotballa, Jan 17, 2008
pirc1 Contributing Member

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Greedy bastards!

#4 pirc1, Jan 17, 2008
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This sucks. I'll probably switch to DSL.

#5 weslinder, Jan 17, 2008
MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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So why does America's internet connections suck compared to other countries?

Would everyone going satellite help with congestion?

#6 MR. MEOWGI, Jan 17, 2008
Supermac34 President, Von Wafer Fan Club

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MR. MEOWGI said:

So why does America's internet connections suck compared to other countries?

Would everyone going satellite help with congestion?
Click to expand...

America already had a vast network of hardlined infrastructure in place compared to a lot of other countries. Almost all new technology in America has been built to piggy-back the existing infrastructure.

Other countries, with little or no infrastructure skipped old technology and went straight to newer better technology when they advanced.

That's why America is actually behind the curve on a lot of bandwith and wireless, among other things.

#7 Supermac34, Jan 17, 2008

pirc1 Contributing Member

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MR. MEOWGI said:

So why does America's internet connections suck compared to other countries?

Would everyone going satellite help with congestion?
Click to expand...

I think Internet2 would help.

#8 pirc1, Jan 17, 2008
Rockets2K Clutch Crew

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weslinder said:

This sucks. I'll probably switch to DSL.
Click to expand...

temporary relief at best

If TW gets away with it, the other companies will follow.

Anyone leaving from a service that is imposing usage fees liek this needs to make sure they let the company know why they are leaving, adn let the company they are going to know why they are signing on.

The only way the consumer can stop this once it starts is to hit them in their pocketbooks.

I know one thing....if this happens around here...I will not be able to continue seeding videos...and as for your ratios on torrent sites? heh, good luck with that unless you are willing to pay (which you obviously arent since you are getting them from torrent sites)

a truely f'ed up situation all around.

#9 Rockets2K, Jan 17, 2008
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I think this could be a very good thing. Obviously, not so much for people like BBS posters, who are probably above average in bandwidth use. They probably won't be offering a break to light users. But, once they break the flat-rate paradigm, other competitors will offer light users a price break on this model to steal market share.

#10 JuanValdez, Jan 17, 2008
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Rockets2K said:

The only way the consumer can stop this once it starts is to hit them in their pocketbooks.
Click to expand...

Thing is, they don't care if the highest bandwidth users leave.

#11 AGBee, Jan 17, 2008
hotballa Contributing Member

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AGBee said:

Thing is, they don't care if the highest bandwidth users leave.
Click to expand...

i would leave even though i'm a low bandwidth guy, because i know eventually it will hit me in the pocket somehow.

#12 hotballa, Jan 17, 2008
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MR. MEOWGI said:

So why does America's internet connections suck compared to other countries?

Would everyone going satellite help with congestion?
Click to expand...

um, I'm not sure how familiar you are with satellite connections, but they suck ass

the latency (ping) on them is horrible...as in like worse than dial-up pings even, so you can't do online gaming with them at all

the only thing a satellite internet connection is good for is just downloading files, since they do have good speed bandwidth

#13 KePoW, Jan 17, 2008

Xerobull You son of a b!tch! I'm in!

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Where for art thou, FIOS? Save us from greedy bandwidth mongers!

Just fyi, the upper limit for cable is HUGE. I've seen speeds comparable with speeds available with FIOS now. This is just a bunch of posturing by the cable cos.

Anyone using DSL- how is the upload now?

#14 Xerobull, Jan 17, 2008
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Sucks.

#15 Lil Pun, Jan 17, 2008
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BS! Instead of trying to improve the infrastructures, they are putting cap on the people who needs the Internet the most!

#16 LegendZ3, Jan 17, 2008
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So we're going backwards now, then?

#17 Apollo Creed, Jan 17, 2008
pirc1 Contributing Member

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Apollo Creed said:

So we're going backwards now, then?
Click to expand...

Imagine the ads from the competitions.

#18 pirc1, Jan 17, 2008

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here's a suggestion, get your fat ass off of the computer and get a life.

#19 CoolGuy, Jan 17, 2008
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hmmm that suck.......change isp?

My ISP SAID they would charge 2 dollar per gig over limit. But i go over limit by like 150+ gig, and i never get charged. But that b/c me and my friend all know my ISP don't have people monitoring the usage unlike gay CABLE ( i use ADSL).

When I was like having my pc on 24/7 and hosting a server, my total usage was aroung 250 gig a month, lol. and the limit its suppose to be like 40 gig or something like that back then.

#20 demon77, Jan 17, 2008

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