Why you should be disgusted with Time Warner Cable
In a move that shows how deplorable cable and phone companies truly are, Time Warner Cable will soon start testing metered Internet access in an attempt to curb use of its services.
According to CNET News.com's Jonathan Skillings, "In a test of metered Internet access that's set to begin Thursday, subscribers who go over their limit for uploading and downloading material will be charged $1 per gigabyte."
"The tiered pricing will work this way, for the Internet portion of subscription packages that also include phone or video use: At the low end, users will pay $29.95 per month for service at a speed of 768 kilobits per second, with a 5GB monthly cap. At the high end, users will pay $54.90 per month for service at 15 megabits per second, with a 40GB cap," he continued.
"We think it's the fairest way to finance the needed investment in the infrastructure," Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable's executive vice president of advanced technology, said in Monday's AP story.
Is this really what we've come to? A system that penalizes you for using the one tool that will carry almost every industry going forward?
Time Warner Cable and the rest of these cable and phone companies should be ashamed of themselves.
If nothing else, metered Internet access shows how out of touch these companies truly are. 768kbps and 5GB of data? 10Mbps and a 40GB cap? Are you kidding me?
I just don't get it. For some reason, Time Warner Cable is constantly trying to find ways to penalize those users who utilize the Internet in the greatest way possible: using every inch of it to their advantage. Suddenly there's a problem with that now too? Is this 1996?
The Internet is, without a doubt, the most valuable element of our lives. Without it, we wouldn't be able to communicate with people across the world, businesses would be clinging to outdated strategies, and the great benefits we enjoy in life would be nothing more than a hope for the future. In essence, the Internet is bastion of all that is both good and bad, profitable and poor, materialistic and charitable; it is the greatest technological innovation we've had in centuries.
And yet, the very companies that provide us with the ability to use that Internet as we see fit are now developing schemes that would help make them more profitable while we get charged exorbitant fees for access to what is rightfully ours in the first place. That's simply not right.
For years, I've sat back and accepted the fact that companies like Time Warner Cable need to turn a profit and are forced to charge us for access to the Internet to do just that. But now that it's planning on holding our feet to the fire and forcing us to play nice "for the good of all users", I can't accept that.
This plan is nothing more than a ploy for that company (and surely others that will follow suit) to turn an even greater profit under the guise of doing what's best for us. Do you want to know what's best for us? Letting us do what we want, how we want, when we want. Sure, we shouldn't be committing crimes or viewing illegal images, but as long as we're acting within the confines of the law, we should be allowed to do whatever we want.
And therein lies the rub. Without saying it, Time Warner Cable executives and the rest of their flunkies can see the writing on the wall and just now have realized that the future of this business is video. And as video becomes more popular, the strain on these companies will be even greater. And by deciding to initiate ridiculous programs before it reaches critical mass, Time Warner Cable will be able to capitalize on this phenomenon not once, but twice.
Of course, don't expect Time Warner and the rest to actually admit that. Instead of telling us that all it really wants is to find a new pricing scheme that turns a bigger profit, Time Warner Cable sent one of its brainwashed flacks out to allay our fears with a cryptic message: "it's the fairest way to finance the needed investment in the infrastructure."
Sure, buddy. Keep telling yourself that one and maybe a few suckers will believe that there are no ulterior motives here.
Once again, Time Warner Cable has gone out of its way to show us that the executives in that industry have lost touch with reality and truly don't care about what the customers actually want.
The Internet should not be viewed as a privilege anymore, but rather a right of all individuals to use in any way they see fit. As I mentioned above, the Internet is truly as important to all of us as any other facet of our lives and without it, the world would crumble. But if we're constantly held down by companies that don't provide us with our right to unlimited usage, I don't see why we should stand for it.
Time Warner Cable is wrong in every way by instituting this policy, and if it ever decides to expand it nationwide, we should do everything we can to stop it.
I invite Time Warner Cable onto my show, The Digital Home Podcast, to explain itself and give us concrete reasons why we should be forced into this predicament. I would gladly give any representative of that company the opportunity to tell us where I'm off and why it's a good thing. So if Time Warner Cable truly believes in what it's doing and has faith in its decision-making, I call on it to tell us all exactly why that is in a forum that isn't so one-sided. If it's willing to do that, it knows where to find me.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Ok, enough cynicism at this being a crazy idea. I'm guessing this may be a response towards companies putting content that was delivered over TV on the net. You have hulu, the new netflix set top box, apple TV, etc. I wouldn't have a problem with this if the pricing wasn't crazy. If it was something like $.10/GB, then I could understand, but $1/GB? thats crazy expensive.
Nice rant by Don. I see no problem with charging heavy users for hogging resources. I do not download movies or large volumes of audio files so why should my bill be higher to cover the infrastructure upgrades that are made necessary by the heavy users.
I think most access providers will go this way. Heavy users may switch providers but this only validates the move by TW. They reduce the load on their system and move it to a competitor whose costs will now be increased by the heavy users. Bandwidth is not free for the ISPs.
I used to work for an ISP and there were a very small percentage of users that were responsible for the majority of the bandwidth being used. Kind of like the old 80-20 rule but probably more like 90-10.
Just my 2 cents.
I'd much rather pay per GB on a 100Mb/s connection than get an unlimited 5 or 10 Mb/s connection. As long as my price per month works out about the same, I'm happy.
The bandwidth hogs will have to pay more. That's fair, isn't it?
Jazzy
In the USA, "flat-fee" service for a number of things has become standard practice ... unlike things are in other countries. In short, we have become "spoiled" by it. So, Time-Warner is taking a big gamble in attempting to foist measured service down customers' throats. Slowly but surely, newcomer ISPs are exploiting the wireless-via-cell-tower realm (ie., millenicom.com) and, in time, will surpass cable and DSL entities in their ability to move traffic cheaply. "Wired" internet access is becoming "old-school."
So, besides being confronted with upstart wireless entities, Time-Warner and other ISPs championing measured service are championing it at a time when consumers have less money in their pockets. Even so, these consumers continue to demand more (unlimited) not less (measured) service for their internet dollar.
Time will tell. But, putting on my futurist hat, I think measured service will be proven penny-wise and pound-foolish. And those who "limit" the consumer will sink as those who "stroke" the consumer will swim.
P.S. An article in the Washington Post refers to Time-Warner's experiment as "going medieval."
My ISP has a 40Gb cap and has had one for a while. I am a avid online gamer who likes to watch videos, download music, and surf the net. Last time I checked my back log, I only hit a whopping 11Gb in one month. Let's face it, the cap will only affect a very small percentage of people, and those people who are going way beyond the 40Gb limit should be on a business connection anyways.
My ISP is SunflowerBroadband
- by ofmyony June 4, 2008 1:54 PM PDT
- Don is right, but there is more to add, Time Warner is so restrictive that users are not allowed to enjoy their content the way they want. With terrible set top boxes to bad hd choices to long wait times for service, its all about Time Warner. I only use Time Warner for Internet service and I will leave, if this effects me in any way. I am an early adopter and have been streaming video for about 10 years and that now we are now able to enjoy our content the way we want they are desperate to keep control over a few. Well be prepared because this is how you are going to view your content (streaming video) and just because you like paying for both cable tv and internet (late internet streaming adopters) is not a reason for me to do so especially when streaming video is a better way for me to enjoy my content, if you are a late adopter, have fun with your lousy set top box and high cable tv bills plus you are most defenitley paying more for the internet than I am and I enjoy a higher speed. Right now I am loving Time Warner but not for long if they chase me away. Time Warner will surely keep some loyal customers who are clueless and surely do not read Don's blog,
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