Time Warner Unveils 40 GB Bandwidth Cap
Time Warner Cable will soon be expanding its bandwidth capping plans to more cities.
At a time when new media and entertainment delivery systems are evolving and leaning on internet distribution, internet service providers are cracking down on the bandwidth that its users consume.
Time Warner Cable, which owns the Road Runner internet service, will this month begin monitoring the activity of its customers in Austin, TX, San Antonio, TX and Rochester, NY, according to BusinessWeek. Roll out of the new program will happen sometime closer to summer, with Greensboro, NC being the first city to see the change.
New customers in those markets will be put on tiered and capped plans with monthly bandwidths limits starting at a miniscule 5 GB for the entry level $29.95 fee all the way to an paltry 40 GB for $54.90. The levels will be 5, 10, 20 and 40 GB, with overages charged at $1 per GB.
"We need a viable model to be able to support the infrastructure of the broadband business," Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said in an interview. "We made a mistake early on by not defining our business based on the consumption dimension."
With competitors such as Comcast offering 250 GB cap, Time Warner Cable’s top limit of 40 GB seems backwards in comparison.
With video streaming services such as Netflix on the PC, Xbox 360 or other set top boxes, such a cap could severely limit utility or make internet bills skyrocket. Analysts estimate that a family who opts for the 40 GB plan and streams 7.25 hours of online video a week could end up spending $200 per month on broadband usage fees. For the sake of comparison, the average American household spends 60 hours per week watching TV.
Time Warner Cable defends its plans by saying that most people do not use that much data. Basing its claims from a trial of 100,000 customers in Beaumont, TX about 14 percent exceeded their cap and had to pay about $19 in overages. Time Warner Cable added that the top quarter of users consumed 100 times more data than the bottom quarter of users. We explain this simply by that there are those who use the internet for modern services such as video delivery, and another type of customer that just uses it to send emails.
For the sake of the progression of new technologies, we hope Time Warner Cable at least offers its customers a little more freedom in how they use the internet.
200 GB is fairer, but 40GB? I'd exceed it every month. I'd already cut down a lot to use fit my 60GB limit here with Rogers.
200 GB is fairer, but 40GB? I'd exceed it every month. I'd already cut down a lot to use fit my 60GB limit here with Rogers.
40GB? Thats 10 movies a month, and nothing else, for $50. That's $5 a movie without including the cost of the download rental from my XBOX.
I could understand a 200 GB limit.
40GB? Thats 10 movies a month, and nothing else, for $50. That's $5 a movie without including the cost of the download rental from my XBOX.
I could understand a 200 GB limit. And if I don't use all my bandwidth can I carry it over at least?
Only alternative is 1mpbs DSL from Verizon. Guess what, for my usage 1mpbs UNCAPPED is a GREAT. I can watch Hulu, download the occasional update to SuSe Linux DVD, and have some patients. I don't know who really needs 10mbps that fly by on a 40gb cap.
Ok, 250GB like comcast offers, I could understand, thats at least resonable. Or better yet has TW considered THROTTLING beyond xGB per day for the 'abusive users'? No, this is a plan to gouge the user with a ridiculous $1/gb charge. So my copy of Suse 11.2 costs $4.50 to download??? Or my Occasional DVD purchase for $10 costs $5 in internet charges?
It's bad enough the hairbrains in Albany were considering a tax on among other things sugared sodas, and internet downloads... Now this?
Verizon, I hate you, but here I come. $17/mo 1mpbs UNLIMITED!!!
Only alternative is 1mpbs DSL from Verizon. Guess what, for my usage 1mpbs UNCAPPED is a GREAT. I can watch Hulu, download the occasional update to SuSe Linux DVD, and have some patients. I don't know who really needs 10mbps that fly by on a 40gb cap.
Ok, 250GB like comcast offers, I could understand, thats at least resonable. Or better yet has TW considered THROTTLING beyond xGB per day for the 'abusive users'? No, this is a plan to gouge the user with a ridiculous $1/gb charge. So my copy of Suse 11.2 costs $4.50 to download??? Or my Occasional DVD purchase for $10 costs $5 in internet charges?
It's bad enough the hairbrains in Albany were considering a tax on among other things sugared sodas, and internet downloads... Now this?
Verizon, I hate you, but here I come. $17/mo 1mpbs UNLIMITED!!!
Only real solution is to build independent mesh network. Start by connecting your neighbors with local server and local content. Also we need to fight to free the TV spectrum that will be unused after the DTV transition.
It's funny tho to see the TimeWarner cable guys work so hard to convince me to switc to their service saying that theirs is far better than my FiOS.
They wish!!!! lol.
I can't wait to see the next guy trying to convice me to switch just to scrub this news on his face.
I usually download 20 GB per day and maybe 600 GB per month,
that is the my bandwidth usage without P 2 P (ie: emule),
in the time of P 2 P it was apx 40 GB per day...
Well I have 4 mbps and pay apx U$ 49.00 per month (R$ 109.90)...
All I would like to say is I was always criticizing ISP here but now it seemed that it isnt that bad...
Completely agree on the first part about switching providers, it wont help at all. As far as the fighting to free the unused bandwidth after the DTV transition, politically, it's already gone to public services and mobile radio providers from what i've seen coming down the pipe.
If bandwidth were the TRUE issue, there are better ways. For example, before TW or DSL became viable options when we first moved her I was considering satellite internet. Obviously upgrades to a satellite would require a very substantial investment so bandwidth is a true limitation. So the answer there is to throttle heavy users who don't pay.
Here is their "Fair Access Policy".
http://www.wafa.ae/en/vsat/products/fapenglish.aspx
Now, surely IF bandwidth were the TRUE ISSUE here, wouldn't this be one of the FIRST options TW should announce and offer these plans as an alternative. I.e. Pay $60/mo for your residential and be throttled after the first 2GB/day down to 1mbps, or "buy additional Gigabytes".
Something tells me either they don't understand the purpose of "broadband" or they are thinking they can somehow pull this over. Hate to say it, but until recently there WAS NO BROADBAND access at all in many areas so TW IS the only choice. And telcoms have struggled in lower population areas. So they might pull it off... but I for one am on the fringe of DSL and would even consider satellite at $70/mo over what they propose.