Time Warner COO Talks Revised Capped Plans

[Marcus Yam]

Time Warner Cable COO has posted a public letter announcing revisions to the proposed bandwidth capped internet plans.

Time Warner COO Talks Revised Capped Plans : Read more

 

[duckmanx88]

absolutely worse idea ever. i hope the customers that have another option for an IP will switch. they did not listen to customers at all. are we going to go back to aol days where we pay for how long we use the internet to?

 

[tayb]

AT&T and Verizon offer unlimited bandwidth and Comcast caps it at 250GB. If you were to pretend that AT&T and Verizon cared how much bandwidth you used and had a cap at $250 the price per GB from AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon would still be less than a third of what Time Warner plans to charge per GB used.

The COO can sugar coat it all he wants and pretend there is some actual reason beyond reaping in profits but the math doesn't lie. Anyone who is placed under a Time Warner cap is being unmistakably and undeniably ripped off. Operating costs went down in 2008 11% while revenue went up 11%. There is no justification. None.

 

[ParadoxMind]

Total BS!

 

[magnus962]

I dont think they are understanding where the concern really is. I dont care if they have a superultramega tier that accommodates all my needs. I care they that want to add the tier system altogether. As the internet grows and computers become faster and faster, the gap between how much data a person uses on a day to day basis will continue to increase. These types of ISP services are another step to assign costs for people who make full use of their service. Cell phones are very identical and it is very easy to go over your plan with your phone unless you pay for the highest possible plan, and even that can have penalties. The more they include these tier systems the more likely we are going to see restrictions and harsher punishments, just for the transfer of the same amount of data I am sending now.

Im not saying that I dont understand why they are making the changes, I am simply disagreeing with the system altogether. I want to pay a price that is reasonable ($50 or less) and be able to use the internet as much as i want. Paying a price like that will already affect the speed at which i can download, but now paying that same amount will also affect the maximum amount I can use before the penalties start rolling in.

 

[ParadoxMind]

Total F'n BS! I will switch over to the fastest DSL i can if they pull this crap. I live outside of Greensboro,NC and i will be gone if they even try this crap!

 

[saturn77]

The only other option in my area is Verizon. I hate Verizon sooooooo much. I can't belive another company could get worse. AS SOON as these prices are implemented, I will be calling Verizon up.

 

[Vettedude]

Hello U-Verse! And FIOS is coming around me soon too!

 

[fancarolina]

Well I get to be one of the pissed off customers who gets to enjoy the trial program. How the f&(* did they choose Greensboro, NC? I know the Triad RR network covers 3 cities but I would have thought they'd pick a big market.

 

[tayb]

[citation][nom]saturn77[/nom]The only other option in my area is Verizon. I hate Verizon sooooooo much. I can't belive another company could get worse. AS SOON as these prices are implemented, I will be calling Verizon up.[/citation]

You should call Verizon right now. Verizon Fios is far better than the best Time Warner has to offer.

Compare their packaged deals.

Time Warner $119 gets you 7MB internet, basic digital cable, and home phone.

Verizon for $140 gets you 20MB internet, digital cable with 45 premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc), and home phone.

Time Warner doesn't even offer an internet service that fast and upgrading your television service to match Verizon's will run you an extra $25 a month minimum. It is a ripoff already then they have the balls to try and cap your usage???

 

[Guest]

Keep sending the hate mail I sent plenty already.

 

[Guest]

They are going to take the speed I pay $45/mo for now and raise it to $75/mo and then cap me at 100GB. This is terrible and there should be something to protect the consumer from this type of thing. I've had this service for probably 6 years and now they are going to completely change everything. I hope Time Warner pays a hefty price for this BS.

 

[saturn77]

FIOS is not in my area. If it were, I probably would have it. TW charges way to much for cable TV, now they want to do the same for internet.

There needs to be at least 3 options in any given market that offere similar speeds/quality/content. This screws people with 2 options like myself. Now I will be forced to go with DSL from Verizon who will WITHOUT A DOUBT start charging more ASAP. That's just how Verizon works.

 

[tayb]

[citation][nom]saturn77[/nom]FIOS is not in my area. If it were, I probably would have it. TW charges way to much for cable TV, now they want to do the same for internet. There needs to be at least 3 options in any given market that offere similar speeds/quality/content. This screws people with 2 options like myself. Now I will be forced to go with DSL from Verizon who will WITHOUT A DOUBT start charging more ASAP. That's just how Verizon works.[/citation]

Ouch. Yeah. Verizon DSL is pretty slow. They do have some pretty nice packaged deals with the DSL, DirecTV, and home phone for $99 but you won't get faster than 3MB speeds.

 

[panhead20]

I have been a TW customer for over 10 years and I will be switching to Verizon as soon as TW starts this new billing system. Bye TW. You attempt to kill streaming video competition will kill your business.

 

[jhansonxi]

I have fond childhood memories of Road Runner. It saddens me to see him associated with this company. Willie E. must be a consultant.

 

[magicandy]

[citation][nom]tayb[/nom]The COO can sugar coat it all he wants and pretend there is some actual reason beyond reaping in profits but the math doesn't lie. Anyone who is placed under a Time Warner cap is being unmistakably and undeniably ripped off. Operating costs went down in 2008 11% while revenue went up 11%. There is no justification. None.[/citation]

Exactly, and the fact that most of the affected areas are markets where people only have TWC to choose from clearly shows this is only about money. They are afraid to expand it to markets with other broadband providers because they know people will just switch providers. They found an easy way to make extra income to push them further into the black and the method happens to be quite unethical.

 

[tipmen]

Dig your hole deep TWC, DSL sounds pretty good just about now if theses caps come true im done with them.

 

[Guest]

I will soon terminate my internert service with time warner. This is total BS. This is just another way for them to make more money and screw us, the consumers.

 

[shadow_1]

Im in the same boat as other people who are about to get ripped off. I'
ve been a customer ever since they have been in existance in our area. Now I have my phone/tv/internet and spend over $175/month. I will be like the others and TWC can go smoke there coke pipe and I will get on the AT&T bandwagon. I really feel sorry for the people who have no choice in this matter. I guess since verizon got in the game and they (TWC) see the how they shove priceing down thier customers who have no choice, so they want to get in the game too. Also the for those who wish the goverment is going to help, dont' hold your breath. The FCC and other agencies which over see this will do nothing but lip service to you cause this mean more taxes for them. The more useage they can charge for mean the goverment has more reason to charge you more(TAXES for thier earmarks). And most of them want to have a job after a few year working for these goverment agencies so they will not bite the hand the justifies thier existance.

I hope AT&T observes this and take avantage of this and expand in this market were TWC is about to screw up and take thier market share to teach them a lesson. What really funny is that many dont know is that TWC uses AT&T's major routing hubs for thier internet traffic. AT&T with profit either way. So in the end the consumer is screwed either way. LOL

 

[troye]

[citation][nom]tayb[/nom] Operating costs went down in 2008 11% while revenue went up 11%. There is no justification. None.[/citation]


Hi Tayb, I don't doubt your numbers, but could you reveal your source of information for the 11%? I just want to know that its credible information and that these numbers are accurate. Thanks for posting.

 

[mamw93]

Man screw them!! They don't have the right to tell us how much of something we can use, it's un-American!! Nothing we do is limited... water, food, gas, TV, and for a little while longer internet. They can't just say, "Hey, we are noticing that you guys like this whole internet thing so we are going to limit you to a lower bandwidth limit than what you normally use and charge you extra for going over, which we already know you will." Screw them!!!! I hope they go bankrupt!!!! If everyone would boycott it and not use the internet all this would go away cause they wouldn't make any money. But nobody will do it. I wonder if this limit will apply to them or if they will get unlimited.

 

[rigaudio]

Up here in Montreal, I get a 100 GB cap for $55/month. Canadian.

 

[fausto]

absofreaking stupid. the big corporations are just looking for another way to gouge the consumer. internet access stopped getting cheaper years ago and they've pocketed the profits. greedy bastards

 

[cliffro]

@ Troye
Source was probably DSLReports, as I saw the info there initially.
The post on dslreports mentioned TWC's 10k which can be found here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/cnjs25
Revenues section pic: http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1571/revenues.png
Cost of Revenues pic: http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8915/costrevenues.png

I am not an accountant, and I am horrible with math so I skimmed over it, noted a few interesting items.

In addition, TWC faces competition from a range of other competitors, including, increasingly, companies that deliver content to consumers over the Internet, often without charging a fee for access to the content. This trend could negatively impact customer demand for TWC’s video services, especially premium and On-Demand services, and could encourage content owners to seek higher license fees from TWC in order to subsidize their free distribution of content. TWC also faces competition in high speed data from second- and third-generation wireless broadband services provided by mobile carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile and broadband over power lines. Competition in voice services is increasing as more homes in the United States are replacing their traditional telephone service with wireless service.

Draw your own conclusions.