Time Warner to bill internet per download
Time Warner Cable Inc said on Wednesday it is planning a trial to bill high-speed Internet subscribers based on their amount of usage rather than a flat fee, the standard industry practice. The second largest U.S. cable operator said it will test consumption-based billing with subscribers in Beaumont, Texas later this year as a part of a strategy to help reduce congestion of its network by a minority of consumers who pay the same monthly fee as light users. The company believes the billing system will impact only heavy users, who account for around 5 percent of all customers but typically use more than half of the total network bandwidth, according to a company spokesman.
Slowing network congestion due to downloading of large media files such as video is a growing problem for Time Warner Cable. The company said the problem will worsen as video downloading becomes more popular. But the move could prove controversial. Unlike with utility bills such as the phone or electricity, which have traditionally been based on usage, U.S. high-speed Internet subscribers have come to expect a fixed monthly charge. An Internet bill typically only varies based on the speed of the consumer’s Internet access. Time Warner Cable, which has 7.4 million residential Internet subscribers, is hoping the move will not confuse consumers if introduced nationwide and is planning a trial period. This sounds like an interesting pricing model for me, but most p2p users won’t be too happy about it, as they usually fit this “heavy users” category…
Source: Reuters
Comments(142)
i think they are gona lose allot of costomers…
that could be a problem for me hehe
Ugh… hopefully comcast won’t do this…
you ‘mericans really need to kill this idea EARLY or else u will be just as screw3d as the ppl in aussie land… and they are SCR3w3D!!!
If Comcast does this they will lose me as a customer for sure.
Screw this! So downloading a pirated movie will be just like actually paying for it!
Guess it depends on the limit. We have similar offers overhere, but the limits are way too low. You just have to download like 2-5gb a month to match the flat rate offer, so pretty much everyone goes for the flat rate offer.
that wont affect me though left time warner three years ago and am sticking to dsl elite.
This is fine with me. I won’t mind spending a little more if they use the extra money to improve the infrastructure and raise my speeds. I doubt they will lose any customers at all. If you don’t like paying for extra bandwidth, just don’t download so much and you won’t hit the threshold. Of course they are going to have to provide tools to the customer so we know how much we are really using. They can’t just say “oh you downloaded XX number of gigabytes, you pay more” without having some way to regulate yourself before you hit that magic number.
Why couldn’t Comcast have done this instead of being sheisty about it? If this trial run is a success I think you will see other providers quickly follow suit.
trust me, its naive to think that the extra money will go to the infrastructure. It goes everywhere and infrastructure only get the upgrade if they have oversold their bandwidth about 3-4times. Ive see this practice before. Heavy user will pay more, get the same service and TW can sing about how “just has been served” and “its a benefit to all users”. Sorry you are screwed
Well, if there is a way to make money at something, the american’s will find it. I mean to a LOT of people; me included, I view the net as an ultimate freedom. From speech to information, a WORLD WIDE WEB!
However if you are a TW customer, you pay by how ‘free’ you want to be. That’s common in the US now, the bigger the bank account, the more free the citizen.
aye terrible news, no doubt england will follow suit soon enuff
… and i highly doubt the extra cash they make will go on upgrades lol more like in there back pockets, lets face it they already make a huge profit, they could just as easy upgrade there lines to compensate all the new heavy users .. but no that would mean they would have to spend some of there own earnings, greedy bastids would rather just up the price and make u pay for it
Companies complaining about users USING the bandwidth they pay for is ludicrous. Enjoy your Australia 2.0
Not a cent of that money goes to a use that benefits the customers so shut your moronic yap and vote with your wallet while you still can
If they do switch over to this ridiculous plan then I’ll guarantee you that they will lose more than 30% of it’s customers to another company.
Consumers will view it this way.
“Why am I paying $40 a month if I can only download 100gb of material. Whereas if I am with COX or Verizon I pay about $50 I can download an unlimited amount of bandwidth regardless of how much internet I use.
Sure it’s a bold idea but it’s only as good as buying a prepaid phone. It’ll last you but what if you really need it but you don’t have any minutes to use? Go to the payphone. Right?
LOL Well I’m trying not to be cynical here. In a perfect world, paying more would mean better service. That’s what I am hoping for.
In any case I’ll be watching to see how this turns out. I think it’s inevitable that I’ll be paying more eventually one way or another. Time Warner does love to nickle and dime you to death.
So that means, if I rent a move streamed threw the PC, I will be paying for it twice. Greed, Figures it would be time warner to start something like this.
dont for a second think they are going to use the extra money for upgrading infrastructure, in fact that has to be the dumbest thing i have ever heard!! its a business and businesses are in it to MAKE money and that means skimping any which way they can…
i cant believe some ppl are open to this idea… u ppl need a dose of aussie reality, how would u like paying $110 a month for only 80gig of bandwidth?!
Glad I moved to Europe!
Amerika is screwed no matter how you toss the dice. Since (my)torrent/BitTorrent is encrypted “they” can’t tell what your downloading. Unlike the old P2P days when I got a MPAA letter every other week. This just shows that Internet providers know the game and want to make some cash on it. LOL, When PirateBay got busted, Internet traffic in Europe dropped 70% during that week. Bun’cha bull turds!
Since moving to Denmark. No problems. They don’t care. I download 20+ gigs a week. My biggest concern is whether to upgrade to BluRay or HDD…
My advice to my former country men. Find a local ISP that doesn’t care, or that charges a bit more for “higher” level service.
Peace!
Good.
U.S peoples will start to realise the value of data transfer now.
Im in Australia, all ISP’s have always counted data transfer here (phat pipes through ocean cost lotsa moneys).
I will be cancelling Time Warner when this happens. $50/month is already high. Hopefully DSL2 will be in my area by then! If DSL2 comes first I’m switching.
I personally think this is total BS…
I not only download things off my PC. But I also download things through XboxLive on my 360. So that’s going to take and raise my download total even more. Typically lately I haven’t downloaded alot of things off the net lately. But the things I have are usually about 2-8 gigs.
Then demo’s which is what I download through XboxLive are usually about 1gig each….
This is getting beyond a joke, as the internet becomes more widespread and more users are going to be downloading things from the internet, ALL the service providers are realising they are going to have to shell out for more upgrades.
Instead of doing so, they are limiting users to what they can access.
If they keep doing this, eventually the internet will only be a place for the rich to use and will become obsolete!
They keep getting the customers and are unable to deliver what they are offering in the ‘incentive’ adverts.
Imagine buying a used car, it’s like being told you have to pay the previous owner $1 for every mile you put on the clock!
I want what I’m paying for, not limited this, limited that because their customers decide to USE it! FFS, sort it out, PAY for that upgrade, catch up with the Japanese!
Sheesh!
This is completely rediculous. It kinda sounds like the national Internet tax that is trying to be placed b the goverment. I tell you, they want to get our kong any way possible. These greedy corporations really need a good spanking (and I mean the old fashion way, with a belt. )
so I d/l some linux iso and time warner gets money?
that is a great idea….I’d like to earn money like that.
@ 19
quote:
Im in Australia, all ISP’s have always counted data transfer here (phat pipes through ocean cost lotsa moneys).
Erm, Satellite numbnuts!
Phat Pipes through the ocean! LOL. Great plan that one!
They are probably fleecing you lot worse down there!
Get with it! ISP’s are ripping everyone off. Take a look at the Japs Service Provider and find one even close anywhere else. You wont!
1GB connection upstream & downstream per household… Is being done!
HA HA
All i can say..
they should update their crappy network instead of doing such thing..
it’s not only the people who download warez that suck their bandwidth anymore. now even the average joe downloads 1GB sized HD movies. thanks to web2.0, streaming and Video on Demand
forgot to add their network has always been congested and slow at peak time and that since back to 98-2k…
I wouldn’t mind, but just wait and see all the bandwidth “stealing” that will start happening. Unsecured wireless networks WATCH OUT!
So what will happen if your wireless connection is being used by one of your neighbors who’s downloading terabytes of stuff. How the hell are you going to prove that it wasn’t you. What a stupid idea. I give it a week.
Thank god you posted and changed the black theme.
I have TW and will be switching if they use this plan here.
Hate to say it, but this plan is a really good idea. The majority of the customers that they lose will be the 5% that are causing losses for the company anyway. They will have to tweak the number to keep as many Good Customers/Overly Heavy Downloaders as possible; that is where the limit will be. I have a feeling this is the only thing they are testing out in Beaumont rather then if the plan as a whole is feasible. Yes, DSL will start getting more business but the majority of it will be us bandwidth hogs that will actually lose them money. It will kinda be like when Cuba dumped their prisons on the US in the 80’s. Soon enough everyone will have to use the model to keep from having the hogs dumped on them.
It’s simple economics. If you raise the price for whatever reason you will lose customers. And with so much competition that really is a dumb move.
It is ridiculous to ask so much when there was a time in the past promised that Internet would be free for everyone.
And with the new cables it is possible to transfer more info than ever. And they only use half the amount of the capabilities of that cable. I think Time Warner self is to blame for the so called bad infrastructure.
As some of my other “aussie” brethren said “welcome to our world”. Like all good things – they come to an end. And someone has to pay the bill at the end of it. The texas cowboys wrecking out telecommunication systems have past onto their boyfriends back in the US of A – there’s money to be made by charging by bandwidth. And don’t worry over in the UK and Europe – they’ll get around to you to, all to soon.
TTFN
Countries like Portugal are moving to the flat rate after having started by charging downloads.
Every company introducing flat rate around here was a huge success, the main cable network lost around 50% of their market before noticing and now they are doing the same thing…
USA is going back in time if they do implement this idea.
At the end of the day quite a few of us are stealing a lot of stuff. They have tried avery other way of catching us and stopping it and failed.
Maybe they will come up with a system “free download” websites (think of 0800 numbers) which large companies like microsoft, Apple etc pay for and can put thier patches, music on.
Why don’t they just upgrade the internet backbone for couple of Gbps (or better Tbps)
In our country there are 8+ ISPs so there is no worry (yet) we’ll see this type of charging for teh internets.
8/1 Mbps for around 20€ a month.
Oh, it’s Slovenia.
Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I hope comcast does not do this. Many people will be switching to new internee service from Time.
Here in Sweden some companies had this for awhile in the begining when dsl came but they soon figured out that it was a bad idea, since one of the main reasons people changed to dsl instead of dial-up except for speed ofc was the flat rate, and started charging flat rates like everyone else.
Hope for your sake that they wont take a step backwards so to speek.
Interesting reading. Also you get a lot of info about different countries fiber access.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_premises
I was stationed in the US for three years and had comcast as ISP. Living in Sweden used to my 100/100mbit connection for 45$/month I was pretty horified what they classfied as “highspeed internet”, and for 90$/m.
They should really just lay down new fiber, they can do it at the same time they bury the telephone/power cables, its just dumb having them above ground in a country which has a hurricane season.
Had to spend two weeks without power after a hurricane hit and this was in the Maryland/DC area, I don’t say things as we were unprepared because you have had hurricanes since you built your country.
The communication businesses will just have to come together for once before their own infrastructure implodes on themselves. Bill bandwidth is just a temporary fix, it wont hold up for more then 2-3 years max with more people and services being connected everyday.
Another one from Slovenia where there is cool and heavy ISP competition. Just got my fiber optic with 10/10 Mbps for 14€ per month with NO quantity limit of course. No complaints here
Comcast won’t do this, their approach on the business model is totally different. If anything they hope time warner does this so they gain more customers.
We already have capped bandwith deals here in the UK, where you pay more per MB over the agreed monthly limit. They sit happily alongside the ‘unlimmited’ deals which in reality tend to be restricted by a Fair Usage Agreement.
Usuage billing is OK if you only use the internet for email and a few hours web browsing a week. If you download much or even just watch streaming TV then you’re fecked.
I live in Beaumont so, I’ll keep you guys posted with the details on IRC…
Everyone is talking about how physical media will be going away and will be replaced by digital downloads. This sure seems like a major conflict if your ISP is going to start charging you per GB. So if you use TW you will be screwed just for watching IPTV.
This really isn’t just about screwing pirates. I mean I download several video podcasts every week. And I always download the highest quality copy they provide. And for the ones that provide them in high definition, the files are usually 700MB or bigger. Then you think of how many youtube or other online videos you watch per month and also however many times you use Netflix online video streaming as opposed to waiting for the DVD in the mail. Or what about XBox Live users that can download demos and video trailers, those are often fairly large. PC game demos are quite large these days as well, as well as if you want to watch Apple’s HD trailers on it’s website. What if you are a linux geek and download different distros every week or always have to have the latest build versions of said distro ISO’s.
I could go on and on with examples of large downloads that are totally considered NORMAL use for many people and not just media pirates like those of us that frequent rlslog. Of course there are also those people that pay for broadband and only check their emails and download virii for their grandkids to remove from their computers, but more and more the average internet user is getting into Internet based video, etc.
This is a damn shame if you ask me. Leave it to the cable companies to screw everyone. As I said, it just doesn’t make sense when everyone is talking about someday moving to all online media content.
I’m still currently enjoying my 6MB DSL Elite for $30 a month and I’ll continue to do so until AT&T tries to screw it’s customers the same way. Makes me want communism to take hold in the US.
…That was a bit of a rant but this story made me almost as angry as when I read about the stupid Sh#@ that the RIAA pulls with people. F-ing fellow Americans.
the model already exists in Indyeah and trust me its hell…..i have a limit of 1gb per month (from 9am-11pm) and unlimited transfer from 11pm-9am…..the speed is 512 kilobits/s
besides, the rates charged by ISP’s for 24hour unlimited (flat fee) is astronomous…(around 25-30 times the normal rates…..)
besides if you look at the value of the content that internet provides (voip, tv, movies, gaming etc etc) and the rate at which data consumption is growing (eg:HD instead of Xvid), its only a matter of time before other countries/ISP’s with a weak backbone adopt this…
The best business model is to offer bot! I work for a danish ISP and we offer our costumers both solutions! We’ve had great success selling consumption charged connections to “old” people and to peoples vacation homes with a low subscription fee and then charge them per MB! this is great if all you use is e-mail or if you only use the connection once or twice per month! We still offer flat rate at a higher subscription fee and most people still buy this type, but we’ve seen a lot of costumers buy two connections: a flatrate for their home and a consumption charged for their beach house! as long as they also offer flat rate I think its a smart move by Time Warner!
Damn this virus spreading that is from Australia.
OK they need to look at it in both directions.What if I did not use my internet a lot are they going to give me my money back? Things should not work only on one side I remember going on vacation for two weeks and still pay the same amount I been paying every month. I they do that I can guarantee you now that they are going to loose a lot of their costumers including me.
its like broadband with a dial up billing hahahahhaha
What a horrible plan.I remember when the internet first really took of the only internet provider in my area at the time was charging by usage,it was dial up and you were charged by the hour and it was pricey.Prices quickly dropped as other isps moved into the area and speeds increased,but I still have those horrible memories of constantly checking the clock and keeping a tally in my head.I can understand if this is just one option but if its the only option its a bad move.
So you pay to use a service, and then pay more if you use the service you already paid for. wow.
please guys answer this? will comcast do this? if there smart they’ll go hell no we dont want to loose our customers. if they do then i will have to find somebody else thats pays for unlimited bandwidth
Notice:
“The company believes the billing system will impact only heavy users.”
This implies that people who are “light” users of download capability won’t be getting a price break!
Typical.
Exactly what I would expect from an AOL owned company…absolutely the worst..get this monkey off your back.
PS If you’ve ever had contact with them, you may want to check your bank account for unusual activity…they will knowingly bill you for services you don’t want and aren’t aware of.
Why is everyone assuming this will end up costing them more? If the situation now is really how they describe it, most people’s monthly cost is higher than it needs to be at the moment.
@46
Exactly. Another consumer rip. All Glory to Global Corporate Fascism.
Comcast is already doing this in a different way, they are reducing the bandwidth of customers who use a great deal of it (through Downloading and Uploading) through the use of file sharing program.
Consumer groups are suing Comcast and the FCC is looking into it:
http://news.google.com/news?q=comcast&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS224US224&um=1&hl=en&ncl=1126341402&sa=X&oi=news_result&resnum=1&ct=more-results&cd=2
I used to be a Customer with Comcast and then Time Warner Cable and both companies sucks;
When I was with Time Warner, If I have used a great deal of bandwidth (usually over a 30 days period), they would redirect my Firefox to an Abuse page saying I violated the User Agreement.
I then have to click on Agree at the bottom of the page, which I was agreeing not to hog the bandwidth and share copyright material and to do have my Anti Virus updated, a Firewall running and an Anti Spyware program installed; also if I was using a Wireless router, to secure that with WEP and also to do a FULL Anti Virus and Anti Spyware Scan of my PC within 24 hours before they give me back Full Access to the Internet.
I now use Verizon FiOS and they don’t care how much bandwidth I use!!
AT&T is considering filtering copyrighted file sharing out of it’s internet traffic and I don’t think it’s their job or the job of any Internet Provider to play INTERNET TRAFFIC COP plus I also Feel it is an invasion of Privacy:
http://www.news.com/Podcast-Should-ATT-play-traffic-cop/2324-11424_3-6226691.html?tag=nefd.only
I find it amusing that you guys are annoyed because you are the ones using all the cheap bandwidth. God forbid you have to pay for what you use. That would be just ludicrous! Down with capitalism! Down with society! Down with technology!
@Mr.Smizler:
“So what will happen if your wireless connection is being used by one of your neighbors who’s downloading terabytes of stuff. How the hell are you going to prove that it wasn’t you. What a stupid idea. I give it a week.”
LOL that’s the funniest thing I’ve read all day. If your neighbor is stealing your bandwidth and you aren’t doing anything about it, then it sounds like you are the fool. What difference does it make to the company selling the service to you who is using it if YOU are the one responsible for it? LOL So if your neighbor has an extension cord strung across the lawn to steal your power, I suppose that’s ok too? Man I wish I had you for a neighbor.
this is not about file sharing or use of bandwidth; this is about ISP like TWC who wants to start providing digital media downloads but at the same time they want to maximize profit and reduce costs so this way they can free up Bandwidth and at the same time making more money WITHOUT Upgrading their Network!!
“I then have to click on Agree at the bottom of the page, which I was agreeing not to hog the bandwidth and share copyright material and to do have my Anti Virus updated, a Firewall running and an Anti Spyware program installed; also if I was using a Wireless router, to secure that with WEP and also to do a FULL Anti Virus and Anti Spyware Scan of my PC within 24 hours before they give me back Full Access to the Internet.”
I LOLed hard at this… This is borderline fascist. So to have the service you were paying for you had to agree to be sodomized this way? Unbelievable…
i say fucc using the internet if all ISP’s do that
then its not worth it :S
so saying that if this does go on some company accep this. i will be paying for videos that i watch online like on veoh or movieforums or youtube? because i upload power rangers eps for people to watch that are still fans of the show.but i only upload the new eps series. not the old ones. because the old ones are already up on youtube. so i watch the eps online and if its the whole no missing parts then. i sav them on my playlist section. i still need like 4 or 5 more seasons left. then i have the whole series on playlist section.
Time Warner Cable realises that the larger bandwidth usage is generally used to download movies. In order to combat the illegal download of movies, the parent company , Time Warner Inc. comes up with a clever idea : limit the bandwidth therefore stop the illegal movies download. They calculate that losing a few dollars from subscriptions will be compensated with revenue-lost prevention from movies. If this move is successful, as one of the largest media company in the US, Time Warner will use its clout to force other company to follow its lead. The larger portion of revenue for Hollywood comes from the ticket and DVD sales in North America.
well if it happens just give a list that sill offers unlimited bandwidth
Online gamers will have to find a new home, too. Not sure what constitutes a download by TW’s definition, but any packet transferred could constitute a download. Heavy WOW players and the like will have additional costs tied to their accts. I am sure too that people using VOPP will be affected by the additional costs.
And since the Internet is shared, congestion could be attributed to other networks outside of TW’s reach but they’re going to make all TW heavy users pony up for that?
It’s not just the illegal downloads that are the factor.
TW along with other major players intend to offer Video-on-demand. The video streaming charges will be nominal but imagine when they get their Inetnet bill and see this whopping extra charge. Which to me would seem to be double-billing…
@9, I think you are missing the point. Yes, we could reduce our downloads, but in my view, and those of Google, and many other forward-thinking companies… the internet should be free. Internet access should be nationwide, wireless, high-speed, unrestricted and acccessible for no cost – it’s now a right, in my view. Yes I don’t mind paying the $30 a month for high-speed access, but when Google roll out free connection, I’ll jump on it and so should everyone else. I’d leave Time Warner in a heart beat, and I’ll also now throw away the flyers I get from them EVERY WEEK, advertising a low-cost flat service, which will obviously increase to consumption-based billing, and that’s bullshoot. If they are that hard up for cash, diversify or grow their business model… don’t just try and shaft your customer base.
caveat: If they start charging Margo, the sweet 75 year-old, $1 per month for high speed access so she can check e-mail from her granddaughter 500 miles away, then I’ll give them a slight clap, because that is a good idea, and would be fair… but if their low rate is pretty much their current standard rate, then I’ll continue to bad mouth them.
cheep asses. Reminds me of the ridiculous pay as you go approach of AOL back in the 90’s! (those $400 internet bills really stung!)
i have 2 unsecured wifi connections and 4 cracked ones at my disposal, so this news doesnt bother me
why do people pay for a fast internet connection while it is beaming for free through their room? strange.
for the samaritans out there who say its stealing… well, what are you doing on this site then and the goverment and big companies are the sneakiest thieves of them all, organized mafia
Some people even use their phones through the modems I wonder how much of an effect that has on the bandwidth. I know when I download file my phone isn’t as clear. I also have Verizon PDA that has internet, unlimited usage is 44 bucks, limited is 29 bucks and the rest is per megabit, when I did the per use service I ended up paying 400 dollars on my bill opposed to 135 for 2 PDA phone without using internet at all. I only looked at 2 web pages and check my email once. I am trying to wait on fios here or if I move because verizon really doesn’t sell out their customer base. I know timewarner will I am an x- employee and alot of ip addresses are flagged mine included and that’s just in upper NY state. I do buy my DVD’s blanks lol
@johndoes
“When I was with Time Warner, If I have used a great deal of bandwidth (usually over a 30 days period), they would redirect my Firefox to an Abuse page saying I violated the User Agreement.”
Exactly how much were you downloading? I regularly download over 250GB a month and that isn’t enough to attract any attention. I’m not sure what the cutoff is before getting a nastygram from Time Warner because they won’t tell you, but I do know that I’ve never gotten one whereas people with Comcast have gotten them for as little as 40GB. So let’s assume hypothetically that 300GB is the cutoff. If I pay $49.95 a month for Roadrunner, that’s still only 17 cents per gig. It’s not as cheap as some countries but it’s still fairly cheap.
Yes, if increased rates DO help bandwidth problems (i.e. money will be spent to better the infrastructure), that’s understandable and fine. I imagine, though, nothing will change…except for the bill.
If you want to charge per download, you better open that thing up. WIDE OPEN. I don’t want to monkey around with slow speeds if I’m being charged on a per packet basis or however they decide to do it. Just seems like more bureaucracy to me.
@#72, not more than a 10 GB a month but I would upload and seed back the same files for weeks; my UL speed limit was around 60 kB/S and I would use all of it where I have to set a limit if I wanted to browse the internet.
I was paying for Road Runner Broadband and there is no limit on it, at least not in any paperwork that came with it when it was installed; nothing said anything about any limit to how many MB/GB I could or could not UL and DL each month.
@prime
I you DL 250 a month you have been flagged a long time ago. They just haven’t gotten to you yet. I know I was just there my buddy that still works there showed me my IP address I have not received any complaints yet, hoping I will not get any before I switch. It doesn’t matter how much they should only care is who’s paying for it, I pay alot I have 2 modems 1 for business one for entertainment so I pay more than the average joe 70 bucks for Turbo and 44 for regular and i was getting internet on my PDA phone as well. Somebody should offer me some Stock somewhere oh yeah I kept my Timewarner stock when I left. ain’t worth much…Fios is the Shiznit 50mbs. Cable could handle up to 170mbs per modem no one here is putting a dent in that yet, there isn’t any bandwidth hog we have not reached the tip of the iceberg, TW just makes it seem the technology is getting better as we go along it has been that way for more than 10 years, they just started turning up the faucet. Don’t get caught up in the lyes from TWC They are full of shyte. that’s why I am not there anymore…. oh yeah they can see what files are being seeded that’s just why I use RS instead of Bittorrent. if you do you are being watched..
reminds me of the 90’s pay for each hour of connection, it will flop because of the advances being made, they will only screw the consumer
@OrthodoxAthiest
I see where you are coming from. Believe me, if Google offered a similar opportunity in my area, I would jump on it in a second. However for now I am stuck with a single cable provider and a single lame dsl provider. FIOS is still a year or more away from my area. It comes down to supply and demand and they know what they can get away with. If they give us something back for our money or reduce the price for the current flat-rate then maybe I wouldn’t mind as much. I’d much rather choose a free option of course but beggers can’t be choosers. If/when this “pay as you go” plan from TW comes to my area then I’d have to judge what their bandwidth is worth when compared to the local competition. Seeing as there is little competition right now TW can do pretty much as they please.
i download 30 GB per day and upload 50 GB / 24 hours
in Romania ……on bittorrent network ..and DC++ runing 24/24 H
look up docsis and check out the specs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS
Here in Canada our biggest Internet provider has taken steps along this line by limiting torrents and shaping traffic all the while promoting video downloading in their advertising. Off the record i met one of their tech support guys and he pretty much told me straight up that they do not even want heavy download customers because it slows the flow of the internet all these IP want are customers who buy the high speed option but only check emails and surf that way the ip’s do not have to purchase extra internet bandwidth or improve there systems.
Someone hack time warner pls
@kkash
Maybe you are right, maybe my ip(s) have been flagged. I really couldn’t say. I have a few friends that work in IT there but even they couldn’t really give me a straight answer as to what the cutoff might be. I don’t think anyone really knows because it’s not a set policy yet. All I do know is that I’ve never gotten a nastygram. So maybe I’ve been lucky or they don’t really care or just haven’t said anything to me yet or I haven’t hit the threshold. I can’t really say. However if they start charging per gig in my area then I imagine that they will be able to keep track better and I might really be screwed. LOL
@johndoes
Weird. I’m easily over 10GB in a couple days. LOL
Honestly I have no idea how they decide who gets busted and who doesn’t. It may even vary from one service area to the next if TW corporate isn’t handing down guidelines. As kkash said, I might be next on their hitlist. If they do get around to me they better give me some solid numbers as to what they consider “reasonable” because their official Usage Policy couldn’t be any more vague.
WHAT ARE YOU GUYS MOANING ABOUT! Here in South Africa, billing per usage is the ONLY way to have ADSL/CABLE/WIFI/3G/HSDPA/LEASE LINE, there is no other billing method… get use to it! DAMNIT!
TW has been Hacked before but the problems is when you get caught no internet for ever. This one Cat uncapped the cable modem the spike got notice 2 mins after and the ip was traced and the internet, cable service and everything was suspended indefinitely bye bye. letters were written to other isp and you will never work in this city again. that’s power. Excuses, they put them out there as feelers to get reactions. It’s a promotional play so to speak don’t believe the hype. The best thing any one can and should do is allow full media access to home networks for a fee. Download a movie release for 1-2 nights in your homes for 50 bucks or give away at the movies for 10 bucks on a disk no extras until the official dvd. No more piracy. I have been a so called pirate for 15 years the biggest mistake I made was sharing that information to a few friends who told 2 friends and so on and so on.
@werner
Wow Sorry to hear that Shame full Shyte happens
ISPs are desperately trying to increase their revenue from these services. The internet will be a long life animal and getting as many hooks in now will pay of big for decades.
The internet exists because of general public effort in software and research and government money thrown at provisioning the infrastructure. ISPs themselves are for the most part reaping the benefits of the unpaid work of a hugh number of people.
Any efforts to curtail internet use will most assuredly slow the evolution of the internet, it is nowhere near finished.
There are major efforts underway to address the next evolution of the net in terms of capacity and capability. This will most likely result in more government funding thrown at provisioning ( as has happened before). This will provide the bandwidth and the shaping capabilities required.
Everyone should resist these charging per use billing strategies. Once they are in place, they will never be removed even when the problem has been addressed at the technical level.
Besides, EVEN if bandwidth wasn’t an issue large ISPs would be trying this cash grab anyway.
The ultimate goal is for more capacity built out on the internet, which will most definitely require government funding, so you will be paying for it anyway. Accepting a pay for use billing strategy just means you will pay more for it …. forever.
Bloody hell! I wouldnt care so much if I had several choices for cable providers! But I dont (thank you Hilary and friends!) What the government needs to do is allow capitalism to do its thing, then problems like this wouldnt happen…
Point being, if Comcast began doing this for all its costumers, I would either have to go with Verison DSL, drop the internet entirely, or take it up the rear and try to enjoy the soreness…
Its fair, but I would avoid it.
They could also institute a reasonable soft cap, where anyone who goes over is billed on usage.
i hate to say this but it work for time warner then all dsl and cable company will do it too.because more an dmore people going high speed and bandwidth is getting slower.
They’re probably going to lose me if the price is too high.
Hopefully it won’t be that high, also there is a new law for cable companies in Wisconsin, so it won’t be too bad for me, in case this happens more companies to choose from.
They do it to me its see yea! Hello DSL
Lol I pay 80 a month for the extra speed, If they do put this into effect I doubt it will effect all areas. If I had to guess people in big citys will most likely get the pay by use. Smaller towns shouldent do the same. I dont really feel like explaining myself so just think about it and if you cant come up with the reasoning yourself maybe ill explain ^_^. Im busy.
i’m glad time warner doesn’t operate in my area… choices here are DSL and freakin comcast (with the secret cap). you can’t sell somebody champaign for years, then switch it out with piss water for the same price… consumers don’t like being taken for a ride.
@83 Werner
Just because some folks take it up the a** doesn’t mean everyone has to.
Of course, most will when push come to shove
If Time Warner pulls that crap nationwide I’ll reluctantly switch to another provider…..even if I have to go with DSL. There is no way I’ll stay with TW and have to guess how much my bill will be every month. How can you make a budget on a system like that….cell phone company’s used to charge for their services in the same manner ….but a few of them wised up, gave the consumers what they wanted and took over the entire industry. Maybe this will be the end of Road Runner.
This is stupid, it could cost thousand of dollars for half the stuff people download and it doesnt have to be pirate things either. How about 1.2 gig demo’s, 2 gig patches etc.. It is called high speed internet cause of the low price for more speed. This is turning into britain.
It must cost them money to provide bandwidth for the 100gb+/month users… why not charge them more? (or better, charge normal users less)
This smells like the start of a price fixing scheme by the major broadband monopolies.
Someone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner plsSomeone hack time warner pls
In country Australia I was only getting 25 gb a month for 70 dollars, at just 512kb speeds!
Now working in Romania of all places,I get unlimited downloads for 14 dollars, at 3mb speeds.
Funny how the ‘primitive and poor’ Romania can provide a service that screws the ‘First-world utopia’ of Australia down into the dust. F@rk, I bet pygmies in the Kalahari get better broadband than in Australia!
Damn, I meant that now in Romania I get 10mb speeds, not 3mb, thus even further crushing what I had in Australia. What they are doing there is criminal. Never got into online gaming precisely cause of poor speeds, low limits and high cost.
They started with this in Holland, when broadband was just coming around the corner. You payed a relatively small fee for a basic connection, but you started paying more pro gigabite downloaded. Eventually, some companies started offering unlimited downloads for a slighty higher fee. In the end, ALL companies offered the latter!
If other companies follow, then Time Warner has a chance. Otherwise…I’ll sell any Time Warner stock I’d have!
“In country Australia I was only getting 25 gb a month for 70 dollars, at just 512kb speeds! Now working in Romania of all places,I get unlimited downloads for 14 dollars, at 3mb speeds.”
Yeah, and 20 years ago I couldn’t even e-mail! And thousands of years ago, they couldn’t even write!
Dude, ever heared the phrase “the times they are-a-changing”? You can’t compare these things, because of the enormous leap these kind of technologies made. And if you are trying to make a “Romania is great” statement, you’ve failed
To #9…you’re not thinking correctly. Your internet speeds will NOT increase. No internet service provider, let alone the internet period is anywhere close to max capacity so your download speeds arent even being effected right now. Time Warner is just saying that a lot of their bandwidth is going towards heavy downloaders who pay as much as everyone else- not that there is a bandwidth comsumption problem that is effecting their customers…so yeah…so ahead and pay a little bit more- people like you deserve to for not knowing what they are talking about.
You sound like my grandmother.
I pay in Belgium 42euros for just 12gb of traffic,
and it costs additional 1euro for 1gb,
pathetic.
What!? the $60 they charge each month for a crappy 700k line is suddenly not enough? Netscape should go after these bastards for being a monopoly! If time warner were serious about improving peak network speed they would just get rid of their crappy on demand service, block myspace and save us all from this terrible internet ‘death tax’!
in the netherlands you dont have lucky enough from that stupid jokes
@ Quadrupel(sic)Q
Times AREN’T a changing. Go live in Moree, NSW and see what a great broadband service you get. This is what I was paying just a year ago. Now it’s even worse. My parents are paying over 70 dollars for just a 15gb limit at 512kb speed. The point isn’t that Romania is great, the point is that this poor country has a far superior broadband service than Australia despite Australia having supposedly far greater infrastructure and wealth, not to mention a decade worth or more head start into internet communications.
What has ancient history got to do with it? Did I mention what happened 100 years ago?. Get back on the sofa, open a XXXX and enjoy Punter and Bing Lee!
@ Quadrupel(sic)Q
Times AREN’T a changing. Go live in Moree, NSW and see what a great broadband service you get. This is what I was paying just a year ago. Now it’s even worse. My parents are paying over 70 dollars for just a 15gb limit at 512kb speed. The point isn’t that Romania is great, the point is that this poor country has a far superior broadband service than Australia despite Australia having supposedly far greater infrastructure and wealth, not to mention a decade worth or more head start into internet communications.
What has ancient history got to do with it? Did I mention what happened 100 years ago?. Get back on the sofa, open a can and enjoy Punter and Bing Lee!
@ QuadrupelQ
Times AREN’T a changing. Go live in Moree, NSW and see what a great broadband service you get. This is what I was paying just a year ago. Now it’s even worse. My parents are paying over 70 dollars for just a 15gb limit at 512kb speed. The point isn’t that Romania is great, the point is that this poor country has a far superior broadband service than Australia despite Australia having supposedly far greater infrastructure and wealth, not to mention a decade worth or more head start into internet communications.
@ QuadrupelQ
Times AREN’T a changing. Go live in Moree, NSW and see what a great broadband service you get. This is what I was paying just a year ago. Now it’s even worse. My parents pay over 70 dollars for just a 15gb limit at 512kb speed.
oops, sorry for all the multiple postings. they weren’t showing up so I thought it was the oversensitive protection. Once again sorry guys.
SPAM ALERT SPAM ALERT, DANGER THE DUDE DANGER DANGER
I hope they file chapter 11 soon. Google needs a cable company. LOL!
That’s original idea. So cool… if you are TW executive. As for me, I have no time to write here any more, as I have to look for part time job to start saving for my soon to be $2,000 a month cable bill.
What are you complaining about? I pay TW $70 a month and get between 18 and 25mbps all day every day. And I just got a card that said they are increasing their business accounts to between 25 and 50mbps.
I mean get real here people…any connection above 7mbps is almost like having a dedicated T-1 directly to the net. I have seen some of you say you download 250GB a week…Hell I dont download 250GB in 3 months! There is nothing out there that I need that badly to do this. My last bill said that I had downloaded less then 60GB in a month, and that was a heavy usage one.
And before you say anything, TW came in and replaced all the copper cable in my town with fiber optic cable. And considering that with Sprint, the same costs would be $1500. a month for a dedicated T-1 and the other ISP’s around here think they are doing REALLY well when they charge you $60. for a small 1.5mbps account and call that “high speed” I would say $70 a month for between 18 and 25mbps and a 400GB per month limit is and will do most of us quite well than you.
I am using Verizon FiOS for $150 a month and I get a 700 MB file in no time!!
So you think poor speeds and limited bandwidth is the only thing Aussies can give the Internet world. Well just wait for uploads counting against your limit as well as downloads.
Thats the problem with Cable medium and Cable ISPs know it. The shared medium can’t handle it w/o major infrastructure upgrade and Docsis 3.0 is just a temporary bandaid. Welcome to FiOS. This will be the final nail in the coffin if Comcast tries pulling this BS.
to 116 good luck. getting a job is hard. because you have to take this test. and is hard to past test. if anybody here lmows the answers please post them here please please thank you
I dont give a sh*t if they charge me more for bandwith, I can afford it. I will hug the bandwith and download illegal stuff even more. fu*k time warner.
dont know much about bandwitdh. basicallly with the bandwitdh limit you wont be able to download faster. it will have to be at a specific time and day to go fast? but just read on this just now people say comcast has bandwith but how can i tell how much so i will go over it. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19038478-Comcast-Bandwidth-AbuseLimits-Discuss-here-only
RE: 70 a month for between 18 and 25mbps and a 400GB per month limit is and will do most of us quite well than you.
Where do you get the 400GB limit figure? anyone got a link to this? It is a slipper slope….next thing you know they will change more for less and less and the internet will die like aol did
what program tells you have bandwith you use in total. does bandwith also effects videos you watch on youtube and other sites. and also uploading?
well the bill my mom pays now is 64 a month. but i still download fast
though only if it has high seeds then my downloading speed goes fast. but low seed like around 20 or 30 around there
donjo
January 19th, 2008 | 05:23
RE: 70 a month for between 18 and 25mbps and a 400GB per month limit is and will do most of us quite well than you.
Where do you get the 400GB limit figure? anyone got a link to this? It is a slipper slope….next thing you know they will change more for less and less and the internet will die like aol did
—————
Just call your TW head office/corporate offices and talk to the techs. Bypass the regional ones as they cant find their heads with both hands and a road map.
The TW head office stated that they are going to set up the following tier and no this does NOT include your e-mails uploads or IM’s, just downloads
$45. a month
6 to 7mbps 100gb max
$60. a month
8 to 14mbps 250GB max
$70 a month
18 to 25mbps 400gb max
$85 a month
30 to 40 mbps 600GB max
$100 a month
40 to 50mbps 750GB and up
*this is ONLY for business, like GM and Hospitals and Colleges/Universities that need this kind of bandwith. To get this kind of speed, you will have to have a tech come to your site and set it up)
All of this is sorta moot anyway as there is a bill in Congress right now that is Veto proof when it goes up for debate this year. Once it passes, ALL ISP’s will be required to give high speeds at no less then 10mbps
You can read all about it at Speed matters
http://www.SpeedMatters.org
I mean you Brits have got it made
Plan for high speed Internet access for British students
Posted by Speed Matters team | January 18, 2008 |
Jim Knight, the British minister of schools, is working with major British IT firms and parents to develop a plan to make sure every student in England has high speed Internet access, in part by requiring parents to provide it. Currently, there are more than one million children in England without home computer access.
Knight said that they are working with the IT companies to try and work out a deal to lower the cost of high speed Internet equipment if the access for over six million children becomes a requirement. “Knight said there were ‘some crunchy negotiations ahead’ with the big firms but said the government could in effect procure millions of new customers for them.” He said he is trying to make high speed Internet access as regular for students as a pencil and piece of paper, and a vital part of education.
“The initiative is part of a major push which could also see the parents of every secondary school student given access to continuous online updates on their child’s lessons, performance and behavior as early as next year.”
In addition to the exponential educational benefits for the students, the parents would be given access to learning tools and progress reports to assist in their child’s learning. The compilation of weekly reports for parents is worrying to some in the teacher’s union because of a possible increase in work, yet the benefits that come from closer contact and communications with the parents makes the progress report a real possibility. But perhaps most importantly, making high speed Internet access available to all students will start to significantly narrow the digital divide.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicservices/story/0,,2235297,00.html
And look at the japanese
In the U.S., DSL generally reaches speeds of up to 1.5 – 3.0 mbps at a price averaging $30-$50 per month (not including fees) while cable modems generally reach speeds of 3-5 mbps for $40-$50 per month. In Japan, the cost of an average connection with the speed of 26 mbps costs about $22.
The contrast is even more striking when expressed in terms of cost per 100 kbps. The top speed generally available in Japan is 51 mbps at a cost of $0.06 per 100 kbps. The top speed generally available in the U.S. is 6 mbps available at a cost of $0.72 per 100 kbps.
In other words, the Japanese have 8.5 times the speed at 1/12 of the cost.
Soon we in the US will have this as well
Guess people in apt complexes should start securing their wireless cause if Time Warner (or any cable company) puts some kinda stupid cap on the downloads there is going to be a lot of people looking into cracking the wireless protocols to get free access… thats what I think anyways…;)
well well well…If this really happens than it will be the end of TWC…I will instantly DC my TWC and move to Verizon FiOS…Corporate America should be shame on themselves and should follow the path of Japan…Japan is the LAND OF HIGH TECH…America is just doing the opposite…No wonder why terrorist are so mad at this country…
I mean you Brits have got it made
Plan for high speed Internet access for British students
///
Dont believe all you read. OFCOM are having to prosecute ISPs in the UK for false advertising. They are also having to take BT to task for not ploughing profits back into internet infrastructure. It will be a decade at least till you find fibreoptics outside the main cities. It was the same with ADSL when it came out.
Privatization was the biggest mistake ever made for all our public utilities. Investment ceases as it all becomes about profit and boardroom bonuses. I mean what kind of company has to be taken to court to ensure that it can remain competitive in the changing world. A daft one, thats what.
If only getting your own T1 was more affordable.
What a American nonsis
i got put on soft disconnect for the second time for downloading 600 + gigs in dec ,guess the 12 mb connection
with unlimited newsgroup acess is asking for it lol.
anyhow they cant just tell me a number to shut it down after so im still somewhat confused on how much is too much. they said just dont be in the top 5% peace
delete that post above me could be a damn malware or virus
What’s happens when people reinstall windows and have to redownload patches. Will people be charged for downloading a lot? this is ridiculous. Time Warner is going to lose lot’s of customers.
I hate cable Internet. One has to share the connection with the whole neighborhood. I rather pay a higher echelon ISP that provides ADSL/DSL/T1s and provide you a direct line. Plus one has the choice to set up your own server. It is a bit higher in price, but worth it. As for Time Warner, I’m still fighting with them in why they messed up me credit report when I didn’t owe them any money. Time Warner is not worth paying for..
well to have a 2.4mb connection i pay 70 bucks a month for a 40 gig limit but you dont get charged when u go over you get shaped to near dial up speeds!!! the main reason why the internet is so bad in Australia is because one company basically has a monopoly over all the phone lines! the most common services you can get here are adsl or adsl2 not dsl because Telstra make so much from charging all the other ISP’s to use their telephone exchanges! that is one of the major contributing factors to why there is a high price to poor service ratio!
and you guys are complaining you might get a charge when u go over a limit i personally would rather a charge then get stuck on dial up speeds because u go over your limit and have to wait till your next billing period before you are back to normal.
however a fibre optic network is meant to be getting set up and guess what telstra doesnt want anything to do with it because they cant control prices!!! typical!
So do they charge LESS for people who don’t use as much bandwidth? Hell no – stick it to the people who actually USE their “always on, high speed” that you advertise so much.
They push the ‘it’s so fast, it’s always on’ then if you use it for big files (is there another reason?) they want you to pay MORE.
They have to AT LEAST provide some sort of monitor so you will know how much you’ve used. Otherwise you can’t question the billing. Which is probably how they want it.
This sucks, not just for us who download videos, but also for developers – has anyone ever heard of MSDN Subscriptions???? Maybe (hopefully), Microsoft will realize that charging for the amount downloaded will hurt their product, and use all that power($) they have to stop ISPs from doing this…
Oh, and just a question, does anyone know how much they would charge? I downloaded about 600GB in one month, and just wondering how much this would cost. Can anybody in Oz (or anyone who pays for the amount downloaded) please let me know how much this would have cost them?
being an employee with the free benefits does have its advantages especially since i’m quite certain i fit in the high usage category