Time Warner Cable cancels usage caps

[Modelworks]

Looks like TWC has decided it isn't worth all the bad PR to implement caps. A reprieve for customers, for now. This shows us that you can do a lot of things to consumers, but don't touch our bandwidth ! I guess they will go bankrupt now since they can't afford to provide service without caps



4/16/2009

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that Time Warner Cable will be shelving its plan to implement a tiered broadband plan in the Rochester area. Time Warner?s decision came in response to Schumer?s and others? call, shortly after Schumer announced his opposition to the plan. Schumer spoke to Time Warner CEO, Glenn Britt, to discuss overwhelming opposition. Schumer will be working with Time Warner Cable going forward to make sure that any future changes in internet pricing are in line with what the community wants and needs. If the pricing scheme was implemented, it would have raised rates for many users. Schumer?s office has been in contact with TWC, expressing to them the Rochester community?s outrage over the proposed change.

?By responding to public outrage and opposition from community and elected officials, Time Warner Cable made the right decision today,? said Schumer. ?I will make sure that any changes going forward are in line with what Rochester?s families and small businesses need.?

Time Warner Cable (TWC) recently announced its plan to switch its 8.4 million cable broadband customers to metered internet billing. The plan would essentially cap internet usage and charge users by the gigabyte. Local leaders and politicians have opposed the plan saying usage caps will cost users more and hurt innovation on the net as subscribers begin to scale back on their internet usage to save money.

TWC?s new tiered pricing structure for its internet service would have started at $15 for a plan that allows 1 gigabyte (GB) a month with an overage charge of $2 per GB. A gigabyte is approximately 1,000 megabytes (MB) and equals about three hours of online video, about half of a rented online movie and approximately 250 songs (at 4MB a song).

In the face of enormous community opposition and at Schumer?s urging, TWC will shelve the plan for ALL of their test markets.

Time Warners Response

New York, NY) ? Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) today announced it would alter plans to test Consumption Based Billing, shelving the trials while the customer education process continues.

Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Officer Glenn Britt said, ?It is clear from the public response over the last two weeks that there is a great deal of misunderstanding about our plans to roll out additional tests on consumption based billing. As a result, we will not proceed with implementation of additional tests until further consultation with our customers and other interested parties, ensuring that community needs are being met. While we continue to believe that consumption based billing may be the best pricing plan for consumers, we want to do everything we can to inform our customers of our plans and have the benefit of their views as part of our testing process.?

Time Warner Cable also announced that it is working to make measurement tools available as quickly as possible. These tools will help customers understand how much bandwidth they consume and aid in the dialog going forward.

Britt added, ?We look forward to continuing to work with Senator Schumer, our customers and all of the other interested parties as the process moves forward, to ensure that informed decisions are made about the best way to continue to provide our customers with the level of service that they expect and deserve from Time Warner Cable.?

4/10/2009

Update on the TWC caps plans. Apparently they are now doing it because , other providers are doing it ! If they can make more money, why shouldn't we !

1GB plan for $15 and only $2 a GB after that , grandma can afford that , heh

"Sitting still is not an option. That?s why we?re beginning the consumption based billing trials. " , how about they spend some money on infrastructure and stop pocketing it ?

"As we launch DOCSIS 3.0 in the trial markets, we plan to offer a 50/5 MB speed tier for $99 per month." , with a 60GB cap Yay, I can use it up in less than a day !

Some recent press reports about our four consumption based billing trials planned for later this year were premature and did not tell the full story. With that said, we realize our communication to customers about these trials has been inadequate and we apologize for any frustration we caused. We?ve heard the passionate feedback and we?ve taken action to address our customers? concerns.

With the ever-increasing flood of content on the Internet, bandwidth consumption is growing exponentially. That?s a good thing; however, there are costs associated with this increased Internet usage. Here at Time Warner Cable, consumption among our high-speed Internet subscribers is increasing by about 40% a year. As a facilities based provider, we?ve built a network that must be maintained and upgraded. We have increasing variable costs and we have to continue to invest in the network itself.

This is a common problem that all network providers are experiencing and must address. Several other providers have instituted consumption based billing, including all major network providers in Canada and others in the U.K., New Zealand and elsewhere. In the U.S., AT&T has begun two consumption based billing trials and other providers including Comcast, Charter and Cox are using varying methods of monitoring and managing bandwidth consumption.

For good reason. Internet demand is rising at a rate that could outpace capacity within a few years. According to industry analysts, the infrastructure may not be able to accommodate the explosion of online content by 2012. This could result in Internet brownouts. It will take a lot of money to fix the problem. Rather than raising prices on all customers or limiting usage, we think the fairest approach is to move to a tiered model in which users pay more if they use more.

If we don?t act, consumers? Internet experience will suffer. Sitting still is not an option. That?s why we?re beginning the consumption based billing trials. It?s important to stress that they are trials. The feedback we?ve received from our customers has been very helpful. 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.

Again, the Internet is dynamic and continually evolves, so our plans will evolve as well and aren?t set in stone. We appreciate the feedback we?ve received. We?ll look forward to more dialogue as we progress in these trials. You can send your comments and feedback to us at realideas@twcable.com.

Landel Hobbs
COO
Time Warner Cable

For questions, etc:

Jeff Simmermon
Director, Digital Communications
Time Warner Cable

Apparently they are doing it for our own good. It is the way most consumers want it !


Speeds up to 100mbs ! Great you can use up your cap in a hour !


http://a.longreply.com/101892

Statement From Time Warner Cable's Chief Operations Officer on Tiered Broadband Trials

Time Warner Cable customers,

We have heard a lot of feedback and commentary about our upcoming expanded consumption-based billing trials in Texas, North Carolina and New York state. Some accounts have even characterized our plans as punitive. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We continue to make improvements to the infrastructure which will allow us to offer the following new services in the tiered broadband test markets:

1) Wideband service (DOCSIS 3.0) -- speeds up to 100mbps, as available

2) Higher speeds for existing standard and turbo services

3) Powerboost to all standard customers

With regard to consumption-based billing, we have determined that as broadband usage and penetration grow, there are increasing differences in the amount of bandwidth our customers consume. Our current pricing plans require all users to pay the same amount, whether they check email once a month or download six movies a day. As the amount of usage has dramatically diverged among users, this is becoming inherently unfair and not the way most consumers want to pay for goods they consume.

When you go to lunch with a friend, do you split the bill in half if he gets the steak and you have a salad?

However, we are not conducting these tests in a vacuum. We have heard customer feedback, and understand that a 40 GB tier seems low to heavy Internet users.

We are developing a "super - tier" now that allows for up to 100 GB of broadband usage per month in all of our test markets. We haven't confirmed pricing details as of this moment, but you have my word as Chief Operating Officer of Time Warner Cable that we will make this tier available to our customers.

We?re also providing a ?gas gauge? tool to our customers so they can see how much bandwidth they?re using as they go along, and to make it easier for them to move to the tiers that best serve their needs.

Please bear in mind that this is still a test. We are approaching this as a test because broadband consumption and the internet itself continue to evolve rapidly and in ways no one can foresee. As we continue to hear from our customers -- and as broadband consumption continues to change -- we will adjust our tiers to make sure that we offer something for every family. We want to allow households to pick the data plan that works the best for them.

Furthermore, I am convening a series of meetings this week to develop plans that will allow customers to choose among tiers that provide tradeoffs between speed and consumption. If one family prefers to have lower download speeds but a higher data tier, or vice-versa, we want them to be able to make that choice.

We'd like to make enough speed and data tiers available so that it's possible for customers to reduce their monthly Internet bill based on the choices they make. Obviously this is still in the planning stages and details are fuzzy, but this is a priority for me this week.

I think that such pricing options are not only fair, but also will actually encourage more use of broadband overall.

Your feedback is important to us during these tests, too. We encourage you to email your reactions and comments to us at [realideas@twcable.com ].

We can?t respond to everyone individually, but we will review your thoughts and comments internally and use them to try to improve our services and options going forward.

Again, thank you for your comments and input. We hope this helps to explain why we think testing new pricing models that give people greater choices and control over how much they pay for internet service is a positive development for our customers.

Landel Hobbs
Chief Operating Officer
Time Warner Cable

For questions, contact:

Jeff Simmermon
Director, Digital Communications
Time Warner Cable
jeff.simmermon@twcable.com
Twitter: jeffTWC

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Someone tell me this is a joke. 40GB as a cap ? Give up downloading the latest beta OS or watching too much netflix. $55 a month for 40GB ?
Glad I don't use them.


http://www.businessweek.com/te.../tc20090331_726397.htm

Web users, the meter is running. In a strategy that's likely to rankle consumers but be copied by competitors, Time Warner Cable (TWC) is pressing ahead with a plan to charge Internet customers based on how much Web data they consume. Starting next month, the company will introduce tiered pricing in several markets.

In April, Time Warner Cable will begin collecting information on its customers' Internet use in the Texas cities of Austin and San Antonio and in Rochester, N.Y. Consumption billing will begin in those cities later this summer. In Greensboro, N.C., the billing changes will begin sooner. Spun off from Time Warner (TWX) this month, Time Warner Cable had been testing a plan to meter Internet usage in Beaumont, Tex., since last year.

By charging a premium to the heaviest broadband users, much the same way cell-phone providers collect fees from subscribers who exceed their allotted minutes, Time Warner would upend a longstanding pricing strategy among Internet service providers. Typically, phone and cable companies charge flat fees for unlimited access to the Web. "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." Time Warner Cable has 8.4 million broadband customers.
Four Proposed Broadband Tiers

Consumer advocates and Web site owners say tiered Web-use pricing limits customer choice and could stifle innovation by crimping demand for high-bandwidth services such as online video and music. Cable and phone companies say they need flexibility in setting prices for use of large, expensive, heavily used broadband networks.

In the case of Time Warner Cable, customers will be charged from $29.95 to $54.90 a month, based on data consumption and desired connection speed. Customers will be charged $1 for each gigabyte (GB) over their plan's cap. Time Warner Cable offers four cap levels of 5, 10, 20, and 40 GB. A download of a high-definition movie typically eats up about 8 GB. A recent report from Sanford C. Bernstein suggests that a family on the 40 GB plan that streams 7.25 hours of online video a week (a fraction of the 60 hours Americans spend watching TV in a week) could end up spending $200 per month on broadband usage fees. And that's just for video viewing, before factoring in such Internet activities as music downloads and photo sharing. "To put it mildly," says Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett, "the decision to limit data consumption can be expected to have profound implications for [consumer] behavior."

But Time Warner says most people are not using that much data. The company's trial in Beaumont, Tex., lasted several months. Of the 10,000 broadband customers enrolled?about 25% of the company's total for Beaumont?about 14% exceeded their cap and had to pay additional fees that averaged about $19 a month. Time Warner Cable also discovered that the top 25% of users consumed 100 times more data than the bottom 25% of users, suggesting an enormous gap in usage patterns.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

They pull this in my city, I'll be finding a new ISP

 

[edro]

This will raise the awareness of unsecured wifi networks.

 

[Vette73]

"about 14% exceeded their cap and had to pay additional fees that averaged about $19 a month"

Sorry but what happened to the only the top 1 to 5% use to much line?

Pages Spidey BS statement alert.

 

[Deleted member 4644]

Honestly, fuck Time Warner.

If they can't make money in a virtual monopoly without doing this, they are doing something wrong.

 

[winnar111]

Doesn't sound unreasonable. Given how much I, and a lot of people I know, use it, anyway.

 

[Aikouka]

I believe Rochester doesn't include STNY, which is good :x.

EDIT:

Yeah, based on some googling, it looks like Rochester has its own addresses for e-mail services and such, which makes me believe that it is a separate entity from STNY.

 

[cheezy321]

This is fucking bullshit.

250 GB was at least reasonable. 40 GB a month? Thats freakin insanely low! All you need to do is watch 2 hi-def movies and POOF! Half of your GB usage for the month is gone.

I hope there is a huge uproar about this and they change it back.

 

[trmiv]

Screw you Time Warner! Unfortunately they are pretty much my only option for Internet access around here. I can't get DSL where I'm at.

 

[TruePaige]

When they came for my bandwidth,
there was no one left to speak out for me.

 

[RaiderJ]

I don't have an issue with people who use more bandwidth to pay more... but 40GB cap? That's just plain silly.

Glad I have FIOS!

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: trmiv
Screw you Time Warner! Unfortunately they are pretty much my only option for Internet access around here. I can't get DSL where I'm at.

And that is what is wrong with cable companies. They monopolize the cables in the city they are selling service to. Nobody else can come in and use the lines. If TWC does this nationwide there isn't anybody who can stop them. People will subscribe if it is the only service because they have no other choice.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: cheezy321
This is fucking bullshit.

250 GB was at least reasonable. 40 GB a month? Thats freakin insanely low! All you need to do is watch 2 hi-def movies and POOF! Half of your GB usage for the month is gone.

I hope there is a huge uproar about this and they change it back.

Aye..One of the websites I run can require me to upload 6~GB of files a month. That'd be over 10% of my limit there. Not to mention getting the files downloaded in the first place throughout the month..12~GB...it adds up.

Add in some movies and it's gone.

 

[ViviTheMage]

glad we have comcast...never thought i'd say that hahah!

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: TruePaige
When they came for my bandwidth,
there was no one left to speak out for me.

REVOLUTION! TO ARMS!

 

[Beev]

I use TW and have actually been very happy with them, but if this change goes into affect in my area I'm dropping them instan-fucking-taneously.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: TruePaige
When they came for my bandwidth,
there was no one left to speak out for me.

REVOLUTION! TO ARMS!

Let us go forth and lay the fiber of revolution!

Let the optics of a new age dawn on America!

Viva La Bandwidth!

 

[Insomniator]

These companies don't give a shit about what the customers think, there is no competition so oh well.

What are you gonna do? Go Satellite with 56k upload?

Hopefully FIOS is available.

Also, they do realize that the product people "use" is NOT TACTILE. Its like if we charged people based on how much air they breathe.

Sure it takes more powerful equipment/lines but jesus, they expect us to believe that people using 40GB costs them more than people using 5GB?

 

[tbooth]

I'm in one of the affected cities. I buy/rent a lot of TV shows and movies from iTunes and stream stuff from Hulu (I don't have cable TV), as well as the occasional beta OS release and game demos/arcade games from XBOX Live. Looks like I'm going to have to switch to DSL (and move down from 8Mb to 6Mb). Blah.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
glad we have comcast...never thought i'd say that hahah!

Haha... Yeah, I can live with Comcast's 250 GB cap right now. Only reason I haven't switched to Verizon yet is because I got a one year promo price from Comcast.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: tbooth
I'm in one of the affected cities. I buy/rent a lot of TV shows and movies from iTunes and stream stuff from Hulu (I don't have cable TV), as well as the occasional beta OS release and game demos/arcade games from XBOX Live. Looks like I'm going to have to switch to DSL (and move down from 8Mb to 6Mb). Blah.

I think that may be one of the reasons TWC is doing this. People are starting to get more and more video content online and are dropping channels.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: Beev
I use TW and have actually been very happy with them, but if this this change goes into affect in my area I'm dropping them instan-fucking-taneously.

I hear you. I've been very happy with them but if they do this, I may even consider going back to Verizon DSL <shudders>

FIOS can't come to my neighborhood fast enough.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

i wonder where this is implemented? i'm assuming at the modem level?

 

[tbooth]

Originally posted by: Modelworks

Originally posted by: tbooth
I'm in one of the affected cities. I buy/rent a lot of TV shows and movies from iTunes and stream stuff from Hulu (I don't have cable TV), as well as the occasional beta OS release and game demos/arcade games from XBOX Live. Looks like I'm going to have to switch to DSL (and move down from 8Mb to 6Mb). Blah.

I think that may be one of the reasons TWC is doing this. People are starting to get more and more video content online and are dropping channels.

Makes sense, although now they lose all my money.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
i wonder where this is implemented? i'm assuming at the modem level?

It is on their equipment . When you turn on a cable modem it downloads a profile from their servers that is unique to your modem which sets the speed and tells it the ip. Then they can track all usage to that ip.