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A green light for usage-based billing at Time Warner Cable.
Time Warner Cable announced its intention to expand its usage-based billing system for broadband beyond southern Texas, and is now considering new pricing tiers that will emphasize usage levels over broadband speeds, according to CEO Glenn Britt.
Appearing at the industry-sponsored Cable Show in Boston, Britt suggested consumers can “save money” opting out of unlimited broadband with its Internet Essentials program, which provides a $5 discount for customers who agree to keep their usage below 5GB per month. The company is now also considering additional service tiers that will offer different usage allowances at progressively higher prices.
Britt insisted the company will retain the option of unlimited use service, but did not specify whether that would be sold at the same price customers currently pay for the cable company’s Internet service.
Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski yesterday told cable industry executives he supports usage-based pricing, making it unlikely the FCC will intervene if companies substantially raise broadband pricing.
In 2009, consumers and elected officials protested the cable company’s earlier experimental foray into usage pricing which would have tripled the price of unlimited broadband service to $150 a month. The company quickly relented after customers picketed the cable operator in Rochester, N.Y., and Greensboro, N.C., in a campaign coordinated by Stop the Cap! The cities of Austin and San Antonio, Tex. also made their opposition clear through public meetings and input from local officials.
Other stories of interest:
- Breaking News: Time Warner Cable Relaunching Usage Based Billing
- Time Warner Cable CFO Wants to Introduce Usage-Based Pricing “The Right Way”
- Time Warner Cable CEO Reports Basic Cable Suffers While Broadband Gains, Still Thinks ‘Usage Based Pricing’ is the Future
- Our Concerns About Time Warner Cable’s New Usage-Based Billing
- Comcast Applauds Time Warner for Trying Usage Billing; Not Brave Enough to Try Themselves
Welp, just let us know when we have to start protesting…
Keep it up Crime Warner, Google will soon be a competitor of yours here in KC and then I can dump your internet and atrocious cable/cable box.
So for $5 they can get ripped off even harder. Hmm, think I’ll pass. I have been warning people about this in my area who use or are considering Time Warner, saying to avoid the Essentials plans if they see any mention of it anywhere for some money off the bill for the same speed.
“Appearing at the industry-sponsored Cable Show in Boston, Britt suggested consumers can “save money” opting out of unlimited broadband with its Internet Essentials program, which provides a $5 discount for customers who agree to keep their usage below 5GB per month.”
Uhhh Hahaha! Good luck with keeping your usage under a measly 5GB when you watch Netflix, or have a family that is reliant on the internet for entertainment like myself. I’ll go through 5GB in 2 days. This is Time Warner trying to protect their precious 35 year old cable TV model by forcing people to only use the internet like back in the 90′s when the interent was only good for information and not entertainment (dial-up). Like I’m going to subscribe to cable to watch Pawn Stars, Operation Repo, or that HORRIABLE sitcom on TV Land called Hot in Cleaveland? HECK NO! Get people together and protest this and kill it before it grows.
5GB a month?! AHHHAHAHAHHAA. Who do they think they are? A cell phone company?! I don’t care who you are, 5GB is impossible to stay under unless you use the internet once a day to download a couple text files… With all the markup and JavaScript, fat PNG images and ads pumped into websites these days, it would be impossible to stay under 5GB, and they probably have a clause that if you break the 5GB rule, you get charged a ton more.
A $5 discount? They are out of their mind. Internet service that caps you at 5GB shouldn’t even cost over $5. Time Warner is insane. I moved to Detroit and thank god Time Warner isn’t available – lots of competition – four cable companies available. I burn through 750GB a month in bandwidth and pay $50/month for 45MBPS down/6MBPS up. That’s including a modem and fees, and they even threw in basic cable for free.
There is a reason Time Warner only exists in local markets where there is no competition. They are criminals.
You’re lucky to have competition where you live. Down here in Tucson, AZ we’re stuck with Cox Cable and their ridiculous 200GB cap.