I don’t bother wasting my time writing back and forth to the Time Warner employees trying to catch the wave of Twittermania and tweet it up with their angry customer base.  But StoptheCap! reader Carrie strapped on the long boots and waded in to get a taste, and escaped unscathed with some news.

Chairman Hobbs’ statement last week alluded to a new super fast tier for customers upgraded to the new DOCSIS 3.0 standard:

As we launch DOCSIS 3.0 in the trial markets, we plan to offer a 50/5 MB speed tier for $99 per month.

I actually received inquiries from people who were seriously contemplating this kind of tier, for a single reason.  There was not a word about whether it was also going to be capped, and people began to assume it was not.  More evidence that customers are clamoring to give Time Warner their money for faster speeds today, just so long as their usage isn’t capped.

Carrie brings home the answer:  Are you kidding me?  Of course it’s capped!

I’m unsurprised of course.  Why sell a $99 premium speed tier and not cap it, while asking everyone else who wants uncapped service to pay $150, just $110 more per month than they pay now?

In fact, the generous people at Time Warner, asking other Time Warner people what they think, are bandying about around 150GB of usage for that tier.  Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

tommy_morgan: I’ve seen TWC talk of a 50/5 offering for $99.  What size is the cap for that product?

AlexTWC: At least 150 gigs.

Screenshots below the fold

… Continue Reading

Bell Canada attempts to muscle the competition with "Usage Based Billing"

Bell Canada provides wholesale access to independent Internet Service Providers across their service area at wholesale rates.  This allows a limited number of competing ISPs to provide broadband service at affordable rates in cities where competition has been limited, at best.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC), which regulates telecommunications in Canada, ordered Bell Canada to provide equitable access to those independent providers at the same pricing they offer their own retail customers.  But now Bell Canada wants to introduce punitive Usage Based Billing on those wholesale accounts, which would immediately destroy many independent providers who could not begin to compete on price or service.

Not only would customers find their Internet access limited, but substantial overage penalties imposed for exceeding those limits would also be introduced.

TekSavvy, an Ontario-based company providing DSL service, has sent e-mail to their customers pleading with them to contact the CRTC and oppose Bell Canada’s petition.  If you are in Canada, you can make a difference by sending comments to the CRTC opposing this proposal.  You need not be a TekSavvy customer to participate.

Usage caps and limits designed to bolster big profits and thwart competition are not just an American problem.  These issues impact on customers wherever limited competition and lack of informed oversight is common.

The deadline for comments is midnight tonight!

Dear Valued Customer,

We are writing to you today as many activities are underway to shape/reshape Internet use as you all know it. Over the last year some of you have been made aware and/or have seen activities on throttling in the news or in your daily lives. Another proceeding relating to the Internet in Canada required Telecom providers (Bell/Telus/etc.) to provide ISPs with wholesale service speeds that match those that they offer to their own retail customers.

Specifically, Bell has been directed by the CRTC to provide matching speeds which would allow us all to have more flexibility in our day to day online requirements. Instead of adhering to these directives, Bell decided to take this issue to the federal Cabinet and at the same time file a tariff application with the CRTC proposing to introduce Usage Based Billing (UBB) on its wholesale customer accounts.

What does this mean for you, the consumer?

Bell provides TekSavvy with last mile, wholesale DSL access services, which TekSavvy uses to provide you with your Internet access. If Bell were to be allowed to introduce UBB on this service, a cap of 60GB would be imposed on all of its users, with very heavy penalties per Gigabyte afterwards (multiple times more than our current per Gigabyte rate of $0.25/GB on overages). This would inherently all but remove Unlimited internet services in Ontario/Quebec and potentially cause large increases in internet costs from month to month.

If you’d like to make your comments/concerns known about what Bell is attempting to do, please do so here.

Select the word “Tariff” from the drop down list.

Add the following in Subject Line “File Number # 8740-B2-200904989 – Bell Canada – TN 7181” and make your thoughts known!

The deadline for filing your comments is today at midnight, so hurry!

Regards,

Rocky

The Rochester Business Journal is conducting an online survey of its readers about usage capping ending tonight at 9:00pm.  Those interested in participating must first register for access, before they can vote in the poll.  The voting link may be tied to our tipster Pete’s subscription, but there is still a section in the poll to share your comments about the issue.

This is particularly a good place to discuss the impact of usage capping on your home-based business, workers who telecommute to office, thinking of starting a new business from home, or have a product or service already that could be impacted by usage caps.

KP writes:

Just for information, the Penfield Town Board is having a community discussion (as opposed to an official board meeting) Tuesday, April 14, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Browncroft Community Church, 2530 Browncroft Blvd. Additional information can be found here.

Penfield residents who wish to speak up about this issue and inform and educate their neighbors have a great opportunity to do so this evening.

I have been getting news tips {thanks Carsten, J, and others) about newspapers in Texas reporting that the Texas Internet Rationing Plan from Time Warner has been “postponed” until October, and this represents some sort of consumer victory.

Hardly.

First, this is not exactly breaking news.  Landel Hobbs, Time Warner’s COO, already made mention the cap plan would begin implementation in Austin and San Antonio in October, presumably with a trial period.  It sounds like Mr. Hobbs, bless his heart, already knew about the “consumer victory” that comes “as a result of complaints” before the Time Warner folks on the ground down in Texas knew, because they only started speaking about it this week.

Trials will begin in Rochester, N.Y., and Greensboro, N.C., in August. We will apply what we learn from these two markets when we launch trials in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, in October, but we will guarantee at least the same level of usage capacity in these trials.

Now, actual billing starts in January, up until they change their minds again.

A trial program intended to charge varying rates depending on usage was slated to begin this summer. The decision to delay the meter program was prompted mostly by customer reaction, said Gavino Ramos, Time Warner’s vice president of communication for South Texas.

“What happened as we’re continuing to listen was we worked in some of the comments and ideas that got sent to us,” Ramos said. “We came to the realization, let’s do this in October.”

Meanwhile, Rochester is the big “lucky winner,” joining Greensboro in starting the Internet Rationing Plan in August.  I suppose it was inevitable our two cities come closer together, considering a whole lot of people exiting Rochester end up moving to North Carolina.  Sooner is better in cities with fewer competitive choices anyway.

If Time Warner was truly responsive to its customers, it would drop this Titanic-like disaster of a rationing plan today.

There is no consumer victory here, and this company is still not listening.  Instead, by putting off the abuse for a few months, they hope you will fall complacent and not continue to engage in a united effort to resist unwarranted capping of your Internet access.  The first step of coping with an abusive relationship with your Internet provider is recognizing you are in one.  Being told you are not going to get hit with punitive caps today, but in a few months, doesn’t change that.  Don’t be a victim.