Time Warner Cable Internet Modem

Time Warner Cable is raising the price of its Internet service an average of $3 a month for retail stand-alone service, beginning Aug. 9.

(Michelle Gabel | mgabel@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, NY - Time Warner Cable is raising the price of its Internet service, but most customers will have to wait for their bills to find out exactly how much more they'll be charged for their Web surfing.

On average, the retail price of stand-alone Internet service will rise $3 a month starting Aug. 9, said Joli Plucknette-Farmen, public relations manager for the company's Northeast region.

Plucknette-Farmen said the increase was necessary for the company to be able to provide the best possible broadband service.

The exact amount of the increase depends on what level of service people are receiving and whether they also receive cable television, telephone service or both from Time Warner, she said.

For example, standard Internet service, which provides up to 15 Mbps download speed and up to 1 Mbps upload speed, will rise from $51 a month to $54.99 a month, she said. The increase could be more or less for customers who purchase slower or faster speed service, she said.

Plucknette-Farmen said the majority of Time Warner customers will not be affected by the increase right away because it does not apply to people who are receiving promotional-rate packages. She said about 60 percent of Time Warner's approximately 600,000 customers in Central New York receive limited-time promotional rates that are lower than the company's standard "retail" rates.

It can be difficult, if not impossible, for Time Warner customers who are receiving bundled services or promotional prices to figure out how much they pay for any single piece of their service because their bills do not provide such breakdowns. The company's website only lists promotional rates available to new customers.

A notice sent to customers this month lists what the new prices will be for stand-alone Internet service. They range from $34.99 a month for "lite Internet" to $104.99 a month for "ultimate" service. However, it does not say what the old prices are.

Plucknette-Farmen declined to provide them, saying most customers pay less than retail rates because they are in promotional or bundled packages.

Time Warner marketed its Internet service as Road Runner High Speed Online until last year, when it dropped the Road Runner brand and images of the speedy Looney Tunes cartoon character of the same name in favor of simply Time Warner Cable Internet.

Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148. Follow him on Twitter @RickMoriartyCNY and on Facebook at rick.moriarty.92.