Time Warner COO Talks Revised Capped Plans

By Marcus Yam
published

Time Warner Cable COO has posted a public letter announcing revisions to the proposed bandwidth capped internet plans.

The proposed trial internet plans from Time Warner Cable has customers livid at the restrictions that they would impose, along with the associated price hikes for those who make full use of internet services.

Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs wrote in an open letter, “We’ve heard the passionate feedback and we’ve taken action to address our customers’ concerns.”

“The feedback we’ve received from our customers has been very helpful,” Hobbs wrote. “We’ve made changes to the terms in our current and upcoming trial markets as follows:

“To accommodate lighter Internet users and those who need a lower priced option, we are introducing a 1 GB per month tier offering speeds of 768 KB/128 KB for $15 per month. Overage charges will be $2 per GB per month. Our usage data show that about 30% of our customers use less than 1 GB per month.

“We are increasing the bandwidth tier sizes included in all existing packages in the trial markets to 10, 20, 40 and 60 GB for Road Runner Lite, Basic, Standard and Turbo packages, respectively. Package prices will remain the same. Overage charges will be $1 per GB per month.

“We will introduce a 100 GB Road Runner Turbo package for $75 per month (offering speeds of 10 Mb/1 Mb). Overage charges will be $1 per GB per month.

“Overage charges will be capped at $75 per month. That means that for $150 per month customers could have virtually unlimited usage at Turbo speeds.

“Once we implement this trial, we will not immediately start billing customers for overage. Rather, we will first provide two months of usage data. Then we will provide a one-month grace period in which overages will be noted on customers’ bills, but they will not be charged. So, customers will have an opportunity to assess their usage and right-size their service packages before usage charges are applied.

“Trials will begin in Rochester, N.Y., and Greensboro, N.C., in August. We will apply what we learn from these two markets when we launch trials in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, in October, but we will guarantee at least the same level of usage capacity in these trials.

“As we launch DOCSIS 3.0 in the trial markets, we plan to offer a 50/5 MB speed tier for $99 per month.”

So how about it, Time Warner Cable customers? Is this enough to convince you to douse the torches and put away the pitchforks?

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
100 Comments Comment from the forums
  • duckmanx88
    absolutely worse idea ever. i hope the customers that have another option for an IP will switch. they did not listen to customers at all. are we going to go back to aol days where we pay for how long we use the internet to?
    Reply
  • tayb
    AT&T and Verizon offer unlimited bandwidth and Comcast caps it at 250GB. If you were to pretend that AT&T and Verizon cared how much bandwidth you used and had a cap at $250 the price per GB from AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon would still be less than a third of what Time Warner plans to charge per GB used.

    The COO can sugar coat it all he wants and pretend there is some actual reason beyond reaping in profits but the math doesn't lie. Anyone who is placed under a Time Warner cap is being unmistakably and undeniably ripped off. Operating costs went down in 2008 11% while revenue went up 11%. There is no justification. None.
    Reply
  • ParadoxMind
    Total BS!
    Reply
  • magnus962
    I dont think they are understanding where the concern really is. I dont care if they have a superultramega tier that accommodates all my needs. I care they that want to add the tier system altogether. As the internet grows and computers become faster and faster, the gap between how much data a person uses on a day to day basis will continue to increase. These types of ISP services are another step to assign costs for people who make full use of their service. Cell phones are very identical and it is very easy to go over your plan with your phone unless you pay for the highest possible plan, and even that can have penalties. The more they include these tier systems the more likely we are going to see restrictions and harsher punishments, just for the transfer of the same amount of data I am sending now.

    Im not saying that I dont understand why they are making the changes, I am simply disagreeing with the system altogether. I want to pay a price that is reasonable ($50 or less) and be able to use the internet as much as i want. Paying a price like that will already affect the speed at which i can download, but now paying that same amount will also affect the maximum amount I can use before the penalties start rolling in.
    Reply
  • ParadoxMind
    Total F'n BS! I will switch over to the fastest DSL i can if they pull this crap. I live outside of Greensboro,NC and i will be gone if they even try this crap!
    Reply
  • saturn77
    The only other option in my area is Verizon. I hate Verizon sooooooo much. I can't belive another company could get worse. AS SOON as these prices are implemented, I will be calling Verizon up.
    Reply
  • Vettedude
    Hello U-Verse! And FIOS is coming around me soon too!
    Reply
  • fancarolina
    Well I get to be one of the pissed off customers who gets to enjoy the trial program. How the f&(* did they choose Greensboro, NC? I know the Triad RR network covers 3 cities but I would have thought they'd pick a big market.
    Reply
  • tayb
    saturn77The only other option in my area is Verizon. I hate Verizon sooooooo much. I can't belive another company could get worse. AS SOON as these prices are implemented, I will be calling Verizon up.
    You should call Verizon right now. Verizon Fios is far better than the best Time Warner has to offer.

    Compare their packaged deals.

    Time Warner $119 gets you 7MB internet, basic digital cable, and home phone.

    Verizon for $140 gets you 20MB internet, digital cable with 45 premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc), and home phone.

    Time Warner doesn't even offer an internet service that fast and upgrading your television service to match Verizon's will run you an extra $25 a month minimum. It is a ripoff already then they have the balls to try and cap your usage???
    Reply
  • Keep sending the hate mail I sent plenty already.
    Reply