$150 for unlimited bandwidth?!

[Rob Williams]

I'm not sure about you guys, but $150 for Internet service seems mighty ridiculous to me - especially when it's for a premium that should be free (at least, IMO). That's what Time Warner is asking for their top service though, and along with the top speeds, you'll have no cap to deal with. I'm a bit confused though, because apparently Verizon doesn't hold any such caps either, but their FIOS service begins at $45 for decent speeds. What gives?

Is this just a case of Time Warner sticking it to people who live outside a FIOS area?

http://www.dailytech.com/Time+Warner+Unlimited+Internet+for+150+Per+Month/article14820.htm

 

[Kougar]

This is a case of TWC either being grossly ignorant, grossly greedy, or some combination of the two. It doesn't help their COO doesn't know the difference between "MB" and "Mbps" when he stated it would be "10MB/1MB" service in his press releases and descriptions of their new tier packages.

TWC is so badly prepared for this transition... they cannot tell me right now what my bandwidth usage has been. Despite planning to put me under a 40GB bandwidth cap they have no clue what my bandwidth usage is, or else every person I have inquired is simply lying outright. According to them I won't know how much bandwidth usage I use until the day they put the bandwidth cap in place... am I the only one that sees a problem with this?

I don't plan to be a TWC customer much longer, the service is have decent but to even think they would try to impose 40GB caps on their formerly highest tier 10Mbps/1Mbps service is just stupid. I'd be happy to stick it to them over it. Especially since Ars Technica has looked over their numbers... TWC's operating costs were decreasing annually and their profits were also increasing... there was no reason TWC needed to do this. Instead of targeting the top 1% of bandwidth users like they make pretenses to be doing, this is targeting every single user. Can you honestly imagine having a 1GB monthly bandwidth cap for their low tier service?

 

[Rob Williams]

You don't have some sort of account on their website that shows you the bandwidth you've used so far in a given month? I can't even understand how that wouldn't exist even if the cap was unlimited. Some people simply like to know (and it's saved me in the past from going over my own limit).

The hassle of switching ISPs is not fun, but I don't blame you for moving... it's truly ridiculous. I'm not sure what their new 10MBit/s/1MBit/s costs, but 40GB is NOT a lot of bandwidth. I realize I'm not a typical user, but I hit about 50GB a month with just regular net usage, which might include downloading a Linux ISO one day or a game on Steam the next.

The only reason caps exist at all is to charge people more money... and that's sickening. It's not quite as bad as the cell phone companies, but it's up there.

 

[Doomsday]

thank God the bandwidth system got kicked out over here. nobody went for those 20GB a month ISPs. well its all unlimited now and we got upgraded from 512Kb to 1Mb(around $15) and the 1Mbs to 2Mbs($25) so on... but University/School/College students and teachers get a 30% life time discount so wohoo! 2Mb for $17...

wot speed u guys got?!?

 

[Merlin]

speeds

Just went to DOCSIS 3.0

 

[Kougar]

You don't have some sort of account on their website that shows you the bandwidth you've used so far in a given month? I can't even understand how that wouldn't exist even if the cap was unlimited. Some people simply like to know (and it's saved me in the past from going over my own limit).

None, they have nothing. TWC will implement a system to where after the bandwidth caps begin they will have a site users can navigate to to monitor their usage... but until then they cannot tell me what my usage history has been. Their entire company is unable to answer the question and fobs me off to teir 1 tech support "because they don't have the tools" to answer my question. Their tech support doesn't have the tools either.

The hassle of switching ISPs is not fun, but I don't blame you for moving... it's truly ridiculous. I'm not sure what their new 10MBit/s/1MBit/s costs, but 40GB is NOT a lot of bandwidth. I realize I'm not a typical user, but I hit about 50GB a month with just regular net usage, which might include downloading a Linux ISO one day or a game on Steam the next.

Exactly... Steam games, OS iso's or stuff off Microsoft Technet. I also have begun watching Hulu or other sites when I miss a program or just feel like watching a movie. I'd hate to imagine if I was a Netflix subscriber and received my content online instead of by mail... I know for a fact the high-quality radio stations will add 1GB a day for just a few hours of listening, as I have tested a few bandwidth usage monitors on just this single computer. But I am not the sole user on this TWC account, its a family account...

Currently we use the 10Mbps/1Mbps tier service for $55. I was happy with it until this came along... originally it was going to be a 40GB cap on this tier, but now TWC is making noises they will graciously raise it to 60GB. As if that is going to change anything...

thank God the bandwidth system got kicked out over here. nobody went for those 20GB a month ISPs. well its all unlimited now and we got upgraded from 512Kb to 1Mb(around $15) and the 1Mbs to 2Mbs($25) so on... but University/School/College students and teachers get a 30% life time discount so wohoo! 2Mb for $17...

wot speed u guys got?!?

The problem is there is only one cable company servicing any one part of America. All the cable ISPs have their own regions they hashed out to call their own turf... TWC is the only cable cmpany servicing this city even though we're the 7th largest in the US. I know Comcast covers Houston and much of that region of Texas, but not here.

Verizon does not reach this part of Texas with their FiOS service, which means the only alternative left is AT&T's DSL service...

 

[slugbug]

Videotron Cable's Extreme High Speed was unlimited until last year when they set a 100GB/month cap on it. They still offer one business plan which is unlimited but it costs $100 a month!

 

[Doomsday]

The problem is there is only one cable company servicing any one part of America. All the cable ISPs have their own regions they hashed out to call their own turf... TWC is the only cable cmpany servicing this city even though we're the 7th largest in the US. I know Comcast covers Houston and much of that region of Texas, but not here.

Verizon does not reach this part of Texas with their FiOS service, which means the only alternative left is AT&T's DSL service...

hmm, man competition is really important. these corporations would eat us alive if they dont have other corp. to compete with in the market. we have around 5 DSL companies working in our country and in all major cities and well, they compete like hell, eg. the speed upgrades and the 30% student discount i mentioned above. all of em try to get ahead!

 

[Kougar]

A little competition is exactly what the industry needs, in my opinion. TWC wouldn't be so eager to milk their cash cow if there was another farmer ready to jump in and sell their service for less, or with more features and less restrictions.

There are a few other DSL options I am overlooking, but basically they all use AT&T's infrastructure and therefore must pay AT&T... so they can't offer lower prices or better speeds to undercut AT&T. And generally speaking, from what I hear dealing with these smaller ISPs is more trouble than its worth, it'd be best to just go with AT&T directly if I did switch.

Gavino Ramos, Time Warner VP of communications for South Texas told the San Antonio Express-News, "What happened as we're continuing to listen was we worked in some of the comments and ideas that got sent to us. We came to the realization, let's do this in October."

Now they are delaying the rollout for Texas... probably so they can get the infrastructure in place to actually measure bandwidth use BEFORE the caps go into effect, instead of at the same time. It didn't help TWC any that their decisions have been plastered all over the front headlines of the local newspaper with warnings of "costs" and "raising prices" emphasized.

 

[moon111]

I'm on an old 'grandfathered' plan with Bell Sympatico. It costs more, but no download limits. I got seriously hammered when I first started using dial-up many moons ago and I told myself never again.

 

[Merlin]

I'm on an old 'grandfathered' plan with Bell Sympatico. It costs more, but no download limits. I got seriously hammered when I first started using dial-up many moons ago and I told myself never again.

Talking about a long time ago....
I remember dial up on AOL, and AOL was pay by the minute

 

[Kougar]

Time Warner was going to charge $150 a month for an unlimited plan. They were also going to introduce a $100 a month teir with slightly higher speeds, but mostly a larger cap.

The good news is TWC got to greedy and overreached far enough they got the attention of two Senators. They decided to back off and cancel current plans for line caps because one of the Senators was about to introduce legislation against line capping. It's rather amusing, now not only is TWC unable to implment their caps but they've ruined it for other ISPs that are considering unreasonable caps as small as TWC's were. TWC also spent the last week also currently lobbying Congress against the need for Internet Neutrality.

TWC states they " will continue plans to educate consumers" further about line caps in the interim, so this isn't over just yet.

 

[Rob Williams]

Merlin: What in the? ~11Mbit/s upload? That's freaking insane! I'd kill for that. I upload all the time.

Kougar: The fact that they aren't willing to give up is the sad thing. I still can't believe there is such things as caps. When I first got my DSL in 1999 or whenever it was, no one ever heard of a cap. It didn't take too long before one was implemented though. At that time, it was like $5 for an extra GB... sure glad those days are gone (I went over by 30GB on my Rogers plan a few months ago... even at $1.50, it's not fun to pay).

Hopefully the TWC thing will blow over. If they implement these asinine plans, hopefully the consumer will take a stand and move to a different ISP, even if it means they get a little bit less. TWC won't put up with that kind of outcome too long.