TWC – Time Warner Expands Metered Broadband Rollout by Stacey Higginbotham of GigaOm
[Excerpt from GigaOm Article here.]
Update: Time Warner finally got back to me to clarify a few points. First, the important stuff: They will create a “super tier” that offers up to 100 GB before overage charges apply, but they haven’t yet decided how much it will cost. Also, Time Warner will monitor downloads starting in April but the actual metered billing in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, will begin in September. Three months before they plan to charge folks under the tiered plans, they will notify customers, offer them a meter and let them see how the metered billing will affect them. Read the official statement.
Time Warner is joining other ISPs in trying to squeeze more money from their broadband pipes, generally in the name of needing to upgrade the network or to stop bandwidth hogs. But in truth, caps and tiered plans are about limiting competition (especially from online video), and squeezing customers, because a lack of competition means they can. Here’s the money quote from the BW article:
“We need a viable model to be able to support the infrastructure of the broadband business,” Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt says in an interview. “We made a mistake early on by not defining our business based on the consumption dimension.”
As an Austin Time Warner Cable customer, I’m completely in the dark about these plans, but maybe I’ll have a notification email in my inbox tomorrow. A customer support person didn’t know about tiered broadband plans, but thought they might be cutting off people who are dubbed excessive users in Waco, Texas, about 45 minutes away. Calls to the Time Warner PR folk have not been returned.
Read the entire article here.
Speak Up Folks!
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