[Editor’s Note: The fast-changing news on the Time Warner metered usage plan and its temporary demise did not allow sufficient time to present a full history of media coverage of this issue across all of the affected areas. For historical documentation, and in case of any potential resumption of this type of plan, I feel it is important to have this material archived here for future reference. Some of the information in this news report may no longer be applicable.]

Time Warner’s metered billing plan for broadband Internet was one of the hottest stories this year in Rochester, resulting in overwhelming numbers of comments and calls to station newsrooms and websites.  For this reason, it remained a hot topic day after day, and got expanded attention.

WROC had a quick report on Time Warner’s change of the original plan to increase usage allowances, but also allowed the company to state, unchallenged, the “exaflood theory,” that claims the Internet will somehow run out of bandwidth as early as 2012, a notion debunked several years ago when it turned out the study promulgating that theory was paid by an interested party (AT&T) in coming to that conclusion.

Beautiful Beaumont, part of the Golden Triangle with Port Arthur and Orange, Texas.  Home to Lamar Univerity, the Texas Wildcatters, and the South Texas State Fair, the city is also known to online enthusiasts as the unlucky epicenter of broadband usage capping.

Time Warner’s Golden Triangle Division rolled out the first broadband caps on Beaumont residents last summer, implementing service plans ranging from 4-50GB of usage for new customers, or those intending to change their Road Runner service plan.  Company officials rolled out the usual dog and pony show about how the change wouldn’t really affect most people at all.

1GB gets you about 70,000 e-mails, 34 hours of gaming or 1,344 hours of Web browsing; or, it’s the approximate equivalent of downloading 569 photos, 277 music files, 7 hours of low-resolution video (YouTube), 3 hours of standard definition streaming video or 45 minutes of high-definition streaming video.

As StoptheCap! reported last summer, the “experiment” was met with mixed reaction.  Many customers felt the tiers had paltry limits, many didn’t like the fact an unlimited tier was no longer available, and the whole thing was too expensive.  Notably, nobody asked for this kind of rationing, and nobody seemed to advocate for it outside of the company itself.

Alex Dudley, corporate spokesman for Time Warner, used most of the same rhetoric about the Beaumont “test” he used about those to be conducted in Rochester, the Triad of North Carolina, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas.

Dudley argues that the usage cap issue is not a foregone conclusion at Time Warner.   Dudley told GigaOm that TWC’s experiment in Texas was just that “a test.”

A test that has now become indefinite, and today Beaumont is the only city in Time Warner’s national service area still under the thumb of usage caps.  Dudley, bless his heart, added this familiar proviso:

“If consumers don’t want it, the company is going to back away from it.  I think this is a trial and we are going to learn from this trial,” he said.

Consumers in Beaumont don’t want the cap.  Consumers in Rochester don’t want the cap.  Consumers in the Triad don’t want the cap.  Consumers in San Antonio don’t want the cap.  Consumers in Austin don’t want the cap.

Executives at Time Warner want the cap.

Beaumont is stuck with the cap.

It took thousands of protesters from all of these cities, a United States congressman, a United States senator, and pressure from investors, the media, and who knows who else to get them to “temporarily suspend” the cap nightmare, but with the allusion it will be back later.

The only thing they have learned from the trial is customers don’t like it.  But they’re going to get it anyway.  Just like in Beaumont.

WHEC-TV tried to explain what a gigabyte is to the average consumer, using small squares that remind me of those AT&T “milky minutes.”  Only Time Warner gigabyte allowances never roll over.  In fact, the only thing Time Warner wants to roll over is YOU.

Reporter Ray Levato gives it his best shot, and does generally well with his analogies (although everyone has different numbers about what equals a gigabyte), but things rapidly derail when he tries to explain Time Warner isn’t a monopoly in Rochester.

People in our area can get their Internet service from companies like Frontier, Comcast and Clearwire.

Comcast?  Don’t think so.  Not in metropolitan Rochester.  There might be a scattering of Comcast systems in some of the rural communities far away from the city, but you can be assured Time Warner doesn’t compete in those areas.  Frontier and Clearwire are options, but not for everyone.  Frontier DSL has limited availability in many rural communities outside of the city and adjacent suburbs, and Clearwire service is extremely limited outside of the city itself and a few nearby towns.  There are numerous Time Warner customers who have just three other options: outrageously priced satellite Internet, dial-up, or go without.

The report seems to suggest that consumers’ hatred of this plan is somehow now alleviated by Time Warner’s second plan, which I’ve yet to hear anyone suggest is an improvement worth discussing. The train comes completely off the tracks by the time Time Warner’s guy shows up.  I am certain he has heard from customers.  But I am also certain the overwhelming majority of them want to leave things just the way they are, profitable for Time Warner, rationally priced and worry-free for customers.  Then, short shrift is given to Rochester’s deaf community: “not a problem,” according to this report anyway.  That’s not what my e-mail inbox says.

By the way, since I couldn’t find their promised list of alternative providers on their website, here’s ours.

This was a tougher call, because some facts were wrong, and nobody seemed willing to challenge anyone else’s assertions, but it gave equal time to ordinary consumers who hate caps, a reporter willing to try and explain what the heck a ‘gigabyte’ is to the average person who has no idea, and Time Warner’s position on the matter.  A good newscast report will let the viewer decide.  I suspect most already have, but you still have to give them the chance.

Welcome to viewers of G4, the basic cable channel for video game and technology enthusiasts.  You found us courtesy of Attack of the Show’s The Feed.

StoptheCap! is in the fight against broadband usage caps, no matter where they are or what company tries to slap them on their customers.  Read up. Ask questions. Get involved. Join the fight!

StoptheCap! reader Maribel wrote to inform us she got her point across about Time Warner’s unpopular usage cap “experiment” on Elmira’s WETM-TV news.  The NBC affiliate in the southern tier of New York largely broadcasts to areas outside of the Rochester Road Runner system, but as you’ll see, some viewers in the northern part of their viewing area are affected, and they are angry and upset with Time Warner.

They should be.  What starts in Rochester, Greensboro, Austin, San Antonio, and Beaumont will be coming to your Time Warner city soon enough.  The time to stop the cap parade is right here, right now.

Starting today, StoptheCap! will rate the integrity and quality of the video news reports you see on this site. We feel it’s important to inform you when we think the reporter has gone beyond simply reciting a press release and accepting Time Warner’s assertions at face value. A “thumbs up” indicates a news report that provided fairness and balance, exposing viewers to multiple sides of an issue and/or a reporter willing to challenge the assertions made by those on camera. A “thumbs down” represents a report largely consisting of a rehash of company press releases, or a reporter who simply plants a microphone in front of a company spokesperson and allows them to ramble on, without any apparent hard questions or contrary viewpoints. You’ll quickly be able to identify which is which on your own soon enough.