You just discovered that the center of the volcanic red-hot lava flow of anger that crashed your consumption based billing scheme to the ground was located in Rochester, New York.  Customers were burning those annoying mailers they get every day and casting voodoo spells on Mike O’Brian.  A congressman had to moderate a debate in a town hall meeting filled with angry customers vs. Time Warner representatives.  A senator came to town and put a podium on your lawn.  So what do you do to placate the masses?

Send company representatives to people’s homes!

StoptheCap! reader Corrine in Rochester writes:

Hi, Phil. A very nice TWC “Residential Account Specialist” stopped at my house this evening. She said she was visiting the customers in her area to make sure everything is ok with their service. She obviously had a printout of what we subscribe to from TWC and took notes of my feedback. Yes, TW is attempting to overcome the bad publicity. I indicated that I am sure she is familiar with Stop the Cap! and knows that it isn’t the local TW employees that there is a problem with — the comments all indicate that the service is great. The problem is with TW management and tiered service.

She admitted that there has been a lot of negative publicity.  The only “propaganda” that she provided was that people don’t understand that it is only the 14% high-end users who are downloading two or three movies a day who would be affected.  I said that although I don’t download movies, I will soon be retired and on a fixed income.  However, when I am home, my computer is up all the time.  With all of that on-line time, I have no idea how many GB I use.  Of course her response was that it would not effect me — even on RR Lite.

I asked for and received the representative’s card, which includes her cell phone number and e-mail address.  As all TWC representatives I have had contact with, whether on the telephone or as service representatives, she is a very personable lady.

I’m sure she, like the majority of local Time Warner employees are friendly, personable, and professional.  We’ve said repeatedly we have absolutely no beef with any of them.  None of our issues are their fault, and nobody should blame them or be disrespectful of them over this.  They are playing the hand of cards they were dealt.

That being said, I am surprised Time Warner is sending representatives out to homes, unless this person is trying to get people to upgrade service.  She obviously has her talking points, and for our statistical department, there is another number – 14%!  I remain utterly unconvinced by their numbers parade.  If you were on the 1GB Road Runner Lite, I guarantee you if you spend your day online just taking care of a website or doing other non-download/non-video applications, you’d blow way past 1GB in a month.

My usage, doing nothing this month except this website, and I'm already over 50GB in/out just writing articles and answering e-mail.

I want people to see something.  My router already tracks usage in this house.  I have basically done little more since April 1, the Day of Infamy, than taking care of this website, penning articles for it, and sending and responding to e-mail.  I have watched ZERO streaming movies or television shows.  The only files I’ve downloaded were the “monthly visits from Microsoft — bug fixes and updates,” backups of this website, and an iTunes upgrade.  I haven’t had time to download music and I am so bad at online/videogames, I don’t embarrass myself by even trying to play.  You can see my usage on your right.  Ten thousand megabytes equals ten gigabytes.  I am already past the initial “heavy user” plan and will probably finish the month close to 60GB of usage.  This is abnormal usage for me, because I’ve used the Internet for little more than old school browsing and e-mailing, and moving text around.  I’ve used Hulu and other services in the past, but not since the beginning of this month.

If you did for two hours a day what I do for many more, you’d be past 5GB by now, not below 1GB.

The numbers just don’t add up, but the bill sure will.  Time Warner doesn’t need to send representatives to anyone’s home.  Just cut the doubletalk and say, definitively, no usage capping or tiered pricing based on usage.  Tier on speed all you want – Verizon does it, as do others.  And there are customers waiting to hand you more money for faster speed today!

If you live in North Carolina, get writing. We need a full court press opposing North Carolina Senate Bill 1004 and North Carolina House Bill 1252, immediately!  Protecting the city of Wilson is also going to protect your choice to consider municipal broadband in your community.  A sample letter follows.  Be sure to modify it so that you are writing to the State Senate about SB 1004 and to the State House about HB1252.  Please write one in your own words for maximum effectiveness.  You can find e-mail addresses for your representative at the bottom.  Cut and paste the correct one and send an e-mail today!

April 24, 2009

Dear Senator [insert name] -or- Dear Representative [insert name]:

I am writing you to express my strong opposition to [Senate Bill 1004] -or- [House Bill 1252].  At a time when North Carolina continues to face the perils of a difficult economy, our state must do all that it can to work towards recovery.

As you may know, in 2007 the city of Wilson was confronted with a challenge.  The incumbent cable provider, Time Warner Cable, declined multiple requests by city officials to improve their broadband service for residential and business customers.  City officials decided that with the intransigent position by Time Warner, it had no other choice but to consider building its own municipal broadband system, with state of the art fiber optic technology.

It is unfortunate that most communities in our state have broadband service provided by a virtual duopoly – the cable company and the telephone company.  In markets where competition is less than strong, companies lack the incentive to improve service on an ongoing basis.  This left cities like Wilson confronting the fact they would soon be left in a broadband backwater when compared to Raleigh and other nearby cities.

You may have been told that tax dollars are being used to build this, and other, municipal broadband systems.  The city of Wilson’s system does not rely on one penny of taxpayer dollars.  Time Warner’s claims that this bill would provide a “level playing field” are dubious at best.  What this legislation effectively does is make municipal systems difficult and expensive to propose, untenable to administer, and give unwarranted protection to the existing commercial players.

Few municipalities in healthy, competitive markets, feel the need to build their own systems for the benefit of their communities.  But when competition barely exists, or does not exist at all, it would be devastating to limit a community to essentially “live with what they’ve got,” and this legislation is a one way ticket to that reality.  That means high technology businesses will locate elsewhere, good jobs will not be created, and our future competitiveness will be at serious risk.  Broadband is not just a convenience, it’s an absolute necessity.

Let me be clear.  It’s my opinion that any vote in favor of this legislation represents a vote for big business at the expense of the citizens of North Carolina.  It is an issue of critical importance to me, and others, and I urge you in the strongest possible terms to vote against this bill.

I appreciate your consideration, and look forward to hearing your views at your convenience.

Very truly yours,

[//signature//]

E-Mail Contacts [Find YOUR elected official here - don't bother writing to those outside of your district]

Lorene.Coates@ncleg.net, Harold.Brubaker@ncleg.net, Nelson.Cole@ncleg.net, Bill.Faison@ncleg.net, Russell.Tucker@ncleg.net, Kelly.Alexander@ncleg.net, Hugh.Blackwell@ncleg.net, Angela.Bryant@ncleg.net, Becky.Carney@ncleg.net, Beverly.Earle@ncleg.net, Bruce.Goforth@ncleg.net, Robert.Grady@ncleg.net, Jim.Gulley@ncleg.net, Pricey.Harrison@ncleg.net, Hugh.Holliman@ncleg.net, Julia.Howard@ncleg.net, Linda.Johnson2@ncleg.net, Marvin.Lucas@ncleg.net, Danny.McComas@ncleg.net, Tim.Moore@ncleg.net, Wil.Neumann@ncleg.net, Ty.Harrell@ncleg.net, Earl.Jones@ncleg.net, Marilyn.Avila@ncleg.net, Thom.Tillis@ncleg.net

From time to time, I am going to go off topic a moment with something I find ironic or amusing and completely besides the point.  If you’re filled with the anger about usage caps, this is your place to take a deep breath and let it out.

One of my side interests is collecting older clips from radio and television.  Recalling when cable television was run by mom and pop cable companies who dutifully brought in those “superstations” we all wanted to see, one of them was WOR from New York (later WWOR from Secaucus, NJ).  While browsing around the Interweb Tubes, I ran into a promo for The John Davidson Show.  Now, for those “too young” to remember, Davidson and his hair were staples on network television variety shows, game shows, and anything that had an “all star cast” in it.  That could range from The Love Boat to “a major motion picture made especially for television;” the man was not hard to find.

What was hard to believe was that WOR was running these ads for his show claiming he was the most “provocative” talk show host on television.  Well, perhaps then.  But chairs were never thrown and hair was never yanked out on his program.  This was the era of Gary Collins on Hour Magazine after all.  The only thing controversial I ever recall Davidson doing was in 1974 when he turned up as a guest star in the Streets of San Francisco, as a cross-dressing lounge singer who killed his fans while in drag.

Plus, there has never been anything provocative about Bert Convy either, who turns up as a guest in the clip.  Trivia question, who is the other guest in this clip?

If you are 40ish, you’ll remember the big flying “9.”

[Editor's Note: My efforts to tell the story of Wilson in an orderly manner are being challenged by fast-moving developments in the state legislature.  So even though you have yet to see the story play itself out here in its entirety, if you live in North Carolina, this is something you need to act on today.  Wilson may not be a part of the Triad, but my friends, municipal broadband may be one way out of the cap mess once and for all, so you need to get involved in the fight.]

HB1252, a bill to severely curtail municipal broadband projects in North Carolina, was moved without prejudice Wednesday to the House Utility Committee for further consideration.

Brian Bowman, who runs the Save NC Broadband website, in addition to his other job — Public Affairs Manager for the city of Wilson, North Carolina, had some interesting observations of just how much involvement Time Warner has in this particular bill:

Several times, members of the committee asked bill sponsors Rep. Ty Harrell (Wake) and Rep. Thom Tillis (Mecklenburg) for clarification. The lawmakers turned to a Time Warner staff member and an attorney who represents the industry to speak on their behalf. You read that right. The sponsors, elected by their communities, had to ask a Time Warner representative to clarify what their own bill said.

Although the debate now moves to a different venue, the need for North Carolina residents to contact their state government representatives remains critical.  A comprehensive contact list is expected shortly at Save NC Broadband’s website.

The sponsors of this anti-consumer legislation are:

NC Rep. Ty Harrell, Ty.Harrell at ncleg.net, 919.733.5602

NC Rep. Earl Jones, Earl.Jones at ncleg.net, 919.733.5825

NC Rep. Marilyn Avila, Marilyn.Avila at ncleg.net, 919.733.5530

NC Rep. Thom Tillis, Thom.Tillis at ncleg.net, 919.733.5828

If any of these people represent you, get on the phones and/or e-mail them your profound disappointment for their anti-consumer position, and let them know you will remember their vote when they come up for re-election.  If your representative isn’t listed here, then you should be watching the Save NC Broadband site for further developments and contact information, and informing your elected officials of your opposition to HB1252.

Let them know this is a transparent effort by corporate interests to kill off municipal networks that are critical to deliver the high tech platform North Carolina needs to succeed in a high tech economy.  Remind them that municipal projects in Wilson do not rely on taxpayer dollars and are designed to be self-sustained by subscription revenue.  Also let them know these networks would not have been needed had the incumbent providers stepped up and provided an advanced level of service.  Because they didn’t, municipally-run networks for the benefit of their citizens are a positive development, and you want to make sure nothing is done to forestall their development.

Apparently not being sufficiently warned off by Time Warner’s earlier statements that municipal broadband would be expensive and a pain for the community of Wilson to administer, they found some friendly legislators in state government and helped push a bill that would effectively hamper, if not terminate the Wilson community’s broadband initiative. In a well orchestrated lobbying effort, cable industry officials began claiming that taxpayer funds were being used to leverage the public sector’s broadband product at the expense of “the free market.” But as Wilson city officials explained, their Greenlight project is firewalled from using public tax revenue. The project was paid for by a bond offering and is expected to be self-sustaining through ongoing customer receipts.

Cable industry officials continued to attack municipal broadband projects as failures waiting to happen, pointing to earlier projects that often relied on wireless networks, wi-fi, or older technology. Many cities with these projects have been unable to scale them to grow with expected demand, or have had difficulty expanding their network into other areas of the community. Others outsourced them to be administered by private providers in return for public considerations, such as free/discounted access in certain areas.

Fiber optic broadband projects are new to most municipal broadband projects, and come as a result of a lack of comparable service from private providers unwilling to meet the needs of communities. So having not succeeded in dissuading municipal competition, they now seek to effectively kill it with handcrafted legislation passed into friendly hands.

WRAL continues its in-depth coverage on the challenges Wilson, NC faces in building their municipal fiber network.  Time Warner officials, among others, make some unproven accusations and statements in this report that go unchallenged, but overall it provides a balanced look at the growing controversy.

[Update 3:20pm EDT: Corey writes back with some minor corrections:  "Standard Service is now 15Mbps down/2Mbps up; Turbo is 25Mbps(ish) down/2.5Mbps up" for him.  Don't forget Powerboost may play with your numbers on the download.]

You’ve just alienated the majority of your customer base with a harebrained scheme to Cap ‘n Tier people into the Internet circa 1990, and that didn’t work and a whole lot of people canceled.  So what do you do to placate the masses?

Increase their speed!

Before: Some of our heavy users (a/k/a Turbo tier customers I’ll bet) are using too much of our service and they are costing us too much.  We need to charge more and cap you to invest in better equipment.

Today: “As a valued (San Antonio) Time Warner Cable customer, we have automatically upgraded your download speed from Road Runner Turbo 10 Mbps to our new Road Runner Turbo 15 Mbps speed at no additional cost to you. More importantly, we’ve upgraded your upload speed from 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps for FREE.”

StoptheCap! reader Corey is confused:

“The ONLY thing that makes sense is that by increasing speeds and usage (especially upload speeds), they are trying to create congestion so that they get problems and complaints to base their “facts” on, so that they have ammunition to come back with at a later time.”

It could be that.  Or it could also be the fact the exaflood theory they based their earlier arguments on doesn’t hold a cup of water.  It does seem odd that they would increase speeds for the customers they claim were causing a lot of their “problems.”  Perhaps they also lost a whole bunch of those customers over this Cap ‘n Tier business and they want to get them back.

If one of our readers is keeping a spreadsheet of all of the various claims, rates, and percentages Time Warner keeps throwing out there when it comes to who usage caps affect, and who they don’t, here’s another percentage – 86%. Melissa Buscher, director of Media Relations for Time Warner down in the Triad region, tells viewers that’s the percentage of customers who will be completely unaffected by the proposed usage limits. Who is affected? “Very heavy downloaders and heavy gamers,” according to Buscher.

All of these random numbers reminded me of the scene in The Manchurian Candidate when a very frustrated Mrs. Iselin decided the only way her McCarthyesque husband, Senator John Iselin, would be able to remember how many Communists he accused of working for the State Department, was to try and memorize a single number.  The Heinz Ketchup bottle touting “57 varieties” served quite nicely, allowing Sen. Iselin to emphatically insist that there were 57 confirmed Communists infiltrating the State Department.

WETM covers the cap plan being shelved out of concern that it one day would reach the southern tier of New York, where Road Runner has a very substantial market share for broadband service. Congressman Massa hails from the nearby Corning area, as his district extends northwards all the way into Rochester’s southern suburbs.