Changes in TWC internet charges?

[chmsam]

This is not just another story about how lame they are around here -- well, actually, IMO it really is.

I'm in upstate NY and the local Time Warner Cable company has announced that this summer they will shift their cable internet plans to be more like a cell phone. That is, they plan to shift to be more like bill-by-the-usage and they want to charge by gigabytes of download per month. Plans will start at $29.95 for 5 gig's/mo. up to an undisclosed amount for up to 100 gig's/month. There would also be an overage charge of $1/gig/month. There will be not be an "unlimited use" plan. They will offer a free software package that's a usage meter (as if that's a deal breaker). I assume this would not be a flat rate plus the usage surcharge but they really haven't even made that crystal clear. Seems like they are doing this already in parts of Texas., but trying to get information off of their local web site is pretty futile and around here anyway, that is pretty typical of the company.

I could be wrong and yeah, it is pretty clear the company here does not thrill me, but it sounds to me like they might have found a new way to get more money from people and will be pushing people into buying more gigs than they need, just like cell phone companies over sell minutes. Sure am glad I don't have a teenager in the house. I'd also be willing to wager that movie downloads and online purchases of large software packages to be downloaded drop like a stone. Etc., etc.

Anyone else hear about this in their area or have any actual experience with it already? Will this be a reason to dump TWC or has it really been OK for you?

Thanks for any input.

 

[raggie33]

i just signed up for a 2 year contract with charter was 35 bucks for 5 meg service a month garanteed but then i asked how mucha modem was thru them she said 30 bucks to buy it then i dont have to pay rental fees so my charge droped to 29 a month not bad if ya ask me

 

[f22shift]

what if someone uses ur wifi illegally :shrug:

 

[binky]

Here south of Boston we've got either [RCN or Comcast] or Verizon. RCN/Comcast is over cable. The Verizon is offering fiber optic service and old DSL for the areas not covered. Nothing here is usage-metered only speed-throttled. Payment is as you probably have now, stated as X Mbps/sec max up/down, which if you actually use it you find it's throttled down even much more than that after the first 100 MB of a file gets downloaded, then it slows to a crawl.

Business-class doesn't seem to be throttled down in the same way, but it's enormously more expensive than residential.

Anyway, I have to agree the usage-metered idea sounds pretty horrendous to me too. I can't image that if they're being that obnoxious that they have any competitors in your area, do they? (No FiOS anytime soon, for example.)

A colocation facility will go by usage metering sometimes. I'm sure CPF has experience with that nightmare, in fact I seem to remember way (way) back that it was temporarily offline once or twice when it went over but I could be wrong.

 

[chmsam]

Well, after a huge amount of calls from subscribers, a protest in front of their facilities, and enough calls that even US Senator Charles Schumer got involved, they postponed it for now. So that is what it takes to push back against that company. Also, TWC made it sound like they were dropping those plans completely in an initial press release but later ones definitely state that they will reconsider it at a later time. People here are keeping an eye on Time Warner and no one is buying into this just going away. Satellite service is through the local phone company (and they suck too) so they have a virtual monopoly.

Of course in the meanwhile the cable and internet service out in my area have had a large number of interruptions to the point where it's almost every day. Sure glad I don't have VoIP service -- that's been out too and for hours at a time. In fact they just had a four hour outage of internet and VoIP service today. Time for some tin cans and a long piece of string I guess.

If they're planning to change the rates in your area, you can fight them but you can't be wimpy about it.

 

[mechBgon]

what if someone uses ur wifi illegally :shrug:

Good point. I'd guess 80%+ of typical home users wouldn't know that their WiFi needs to be encrypted and password-protected (at the bare minimum) and would be easy prey for that abuse.