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Time Warner Cable’s new $3.95 monthly cable modem fee applies to customers signed up for broadband service, but if you are a Time Warner “digital phone” customer and don’t subscribe to broadband, the fee does not apply even though the same equipment can sometimes be used for either service.
Time Warner Cable claims the new modem fee was needed to cover the cost of repairing and replacing cable modems over time. But New York City customers have been asking why Internet customers have to buy their own modem to avoid the fee while those using the same modem only for telephone service do not.
The New York Times reached out to Time Warner Cable’s director of public relations Justin Venech, who had to acknowledge the logic disconnect between “digital phone” and Internet customers, but could only offer this weak explanation:
“The way we have decided to charge this fee is, we’re charging it for use of the Internet portion of the modem,” Venech explained. “It’s a business decision. It’s a matter of starting to treat this equipment the same way we treat our other equipment.”
That explanation did not seem to fly… with Time Warner Cable’s own customer service representatives.
When Manhattan resident Tom Arana-Wolfe demanded an explanation for the inconsistent fees, the representative put his call on hold to transfer him to a supervisor, but forgot to hit the mute button.
“She was discussing our conversation with a co-worker and said that they have to come up with something better, because ‘He has a valid point,’” Arana-Wolfe said.
Arana-Wolfe is considering starting a class action lawsuit against the cable operator relating to the modem fee, but is also considering switching his service to Verizon FiOS, which charges no modem fees.
Just this afternoon I personally spoke with a rep who set me back up with TV service. He said about the same thing. This whole deal has him confused as to why they are doing this. In addition, the sort of deal he handed out to me involved a guaranteed price for TWO years for internet and TV. This was because I dropped DirecTV to switch. TW is also paying for my DirecTV early cancel fee via a credit each month for 12 months on my monthly bill with them. But now, obviously, I will not be immune to the… Read more »
If you read the contract carefully, you will find TWC inserted their own out — equipment fees are not guaranteed, just service fees.
Contract customers with “price locks” will also be subject to the modem fee when it begins in each respective area.
I just bought my own modem. If they try and start this on phone service and there is no inexpensive path to a phone modem/eMTA, I’ll just cancel Time Warner phone service. I won’t pay them anything more for a landline.
Hopefully the popular SB6141 will come down in price at some point and I will be purchasing one soon. But I absolutely will not complain about the deal TW gave me. Another $3.95 a month (even thought I do not approve of it) will still keep me significantly under the regular rate for the services I now have.
The reason’s dead simple. For many years (10+ in Austin, TX), TWC has allowed customers to provide their own cable modems in return for a very small credit on their monthly bills (about $2-4). Logically, this reveals a modem rental fee which was simply not itemized on the bill. TWC is not now adding a “modem rental fee”. They’re raising their fees, while at the same time beginning to itemize the “modem rental fee” on the bill, and at a ridiculous mark-up. They’ll rent you a cheapo $50 modem forever at $8-10/mo, but insist you get the next generation top… Read more »
What is interesting is the models that they are requiring. TWC insists that only the 2 modems will work with their system. The 6141 being the “lower” end of DOCSIS 3.0 at $129. This is a new modem from Motorola that replaced the 6121. The 6121 is carried by Walmart and BestBuy but isn’t allowed on their system. After talking with level 3 tech about a 1 year old modem we had on their system, they admitted that the only reason our modem wouldn’t work is because their billing system will ONLY allow those specific modems. Not that the hardware… Read more »
“The 6121 is carried by Walmart and BestBuy but isn’t allowed on their system. ”
My understanding is that the 6121 only allows 4 channel Bonding, TWC is moving to 8 channel bonding in many areas thus making the 6121 obsolete.
Hob♠
Yes, this is exactly correct as it was explained to me by TWC directly. The 6141 is a superior product for the 8 channel bonding support. It’s not worth the current gouging price, but once it is in the $89-125 dollar range, this remains my top recommendation for customers considering buying a modem and don’t need the Wi-Fi home networking built into the modem.
The 6121 is apparently more common on Comcast systems, which has/had it on their supported equipment list.