Time Warner Cable Again Testing Metered Billing Despite Significant Consumer Backlash the Last Time Around Time Warner Cable faced unprecedented consumer backlash and a public relations nightmare when the company tried to impose caps as low as 5GB and per byte overages as high as $5 per gigabyte back in 2009. Consumers clearly understood that there was no practical justification for imposing such limits on modern, upgraded networks in an age of plummeting bandwidth costs, and that the move was simply a cash grab and a way to protect TV revenues from Internet video. As we noted at the tail end of 2009 it was inevitable that Time Warner Cable was going to try again, and Bloomberg suggests the plan is in the works: quote: Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), the second- largest U.S. cable-television operator, is testing technology to measure consumption-based billing for broadband Internet use, said Chief Executive Officer Glenn Britt. The New York-based company is working on installing meters in its network that calculate Internet usage, Britt said in an interview yesterday at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s show in Chicago. Time Warner Cable hasn’t decided if it will introduce the system, he said. Britt hasn't learned much from 2009's events, and still oversimplifies the issue as one of fairness, when for Time Warner Cable it's one of control, pipe constriction, and price increases -- all of which would only be made possible by the lack of competition in many Time Warner Cable markets . With the continually plummeting cost of hardware and bandwidth, and the costs of broadband delivery fixed, there remains Britt hasn't learned much from 2009's events, and still oversimplifies the issue as one of fairness, when for Time Warner Cable it's one of control, pipe constriction, and price increases --. With the continually plummeting cost of hardware and bandwidth, and the costs of broadband delivery fixed, there remains absolutely no financial justification outside of greed for shifting away from the profitable and simple flat-rate billing model on landline broadband networks. The idea that costly overages are "inevitable" is the wishful thinking brain child of executives and investors , who are intent on shoving the model down the throats of consumers.Since Time Warner Cable's last clumsy effort, AT&T has moved ahead and imposed caps ranging from 150GB-250GB (with overages of $10 per 50GB). AT&T claimed the move was to counter congestion issues, despite the fact they've provided no solid evidence supporting that assertion -- something that didn't seem to bother an unskeptical tech press or timid regulators. Expect Time Warner Cable to mirror AT&T's approach in order to help minimize public backlash. The goal will be to at least get the public used to some idea of consumption-based-billing, with the hope of tightening the noose at a later date -- particularly in un-competitive markets where users have no ability to vote with their wallets.







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Donut

join:2005-06-27

Romulus, MI ·Comcast XFINITY

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2 recommendations Donut Member Are they going to learn?

......

When are these idiots going to learn? Have then not sat and watch Comcast, ATT, and Charter go through a Shit Storm because of these caps. When are these idiots going to learn? Have then not sat and watch Comcast, ATT, and Charter go through a Shit Storm because of these caps.