Time Warner Unveils 40 GB Bandwidth Cap

[Marcus Yam]

Time Warner Cable will soon be expanding its bandwidth capping plans to more cities.

Time Warner Unveils 40 GB Bandwidth Cap : Read more

 

[deltatux]

and I thought my 60 GB bandwidth cap is crappy, this is crappier. I already have to cut so much crap just to push my usage down to 45GB now (and leeway in case of emergency downloads).

200 GB is fairer, but 40GB? I'd exceed it every month. I'd already cut down a lot to use fit my 60GB limit here with Rogers.

 

[mindless728]

wtf, this will be b**s** if they implement this in my area, im not paying 10Mb/s to be limited like this, 200GB i could live with, 40GB is plain ridiculous and the worst part is i can't switch to another company, there is no competition in my area

 

[Ho0d1um]

Well it seems the fix to a bad economy is to over charge your customers. I love the fact that they base there cap on people that don't use a lot of the newer internet trends. Glad I don't have Time Warner, then again I am stuck with Charter.

 

[Homeboy2]

windstream is offering dsl and phone for 59 bucks in my area. Whenever they start this crap its goodbye Time Warner.

 

[geminireaper]

goodbye time warner here I come Verizon Fios with faster download speeds and unlimited bandwith.

 

[mcbowler]

Eventually there will be competition. Do what you gotta do Time Warner, just don't expect us to stay around.

40GB? Thats 10 movies a month, and nothing else, for $50. That's $5 a movie without including the cost of the download rental from my XBOX.

I could understand a 200 GB limit.

 

[mcbowler]

Eventually there will be competition. Do what you gotta do Time Warner, just don't expect us to stay around.

40GB? Thats 10 movies a month, and nothing else, for $50. That's $5 a movie without including the cost of the download rental from my XBOX.

I could understand a 200 GB limit. And if I don't use all my bandwidth can I carry it over at least?

 

[Guest]

I have TW Roch. I have a lovely 10mbps connection which is very fast considering they started with ~3mbps only a couple yrs back.

Only alternative is 1mpbs DSL from Verizon. Guess what, for my usage 1mpbs UNCAPPED is a GREAT. I can watch Hulu, download the occasional update to SuSe Linux DVD, and have some patients. I don't know who really needs 10mbps that fly by on a 40gb cap.

Ok, 250GB like comcast offers, I could understand, thats at least resonable. Or better yet has TW considered THROTTLING beyond xGB per day for the 'abusive users'? No, this is a plan to gouge the user with a ridiculous $1/gb charge. So my copy of Suse 11.2 costs $4.50 to download??? Or my Occasional DVD purchase for $10 costs $5 in internet charges?

It's bad enough the hairbrains in Albany were considering a tax on among other things sugared sodas, and internet downloads... Now this?

Verizon, I hate you, but here I come. $17/mo 1mpbs UNLIMITED!!!

 

[sp0ck1701]

I have TW Roch. I have a lovely 10mbps connection which is very fast considering they started with ~3mbps only a couple yrs back.

Only alternative is 1mpbs DSL from Verizon. Guess what, for my usage 1mpbs UNCAPPED is a GREAT. I can watch Hulu, download the occasional update to SuSe Linux DVD, and have some patients. I don't know who really needs 10mbps that fly by on a 40gb cap.

Ok, 250GB like comcast offers, I could understand, thats at least resonable. Or better yet has TW considered THROTTLING beyond xGB per day for the 'abusive users'? No, this is a plan to gouge the user with a ridiculous $1/gb charge. So my copy of Suse 11.2 costs $4.50 to download??? Or my Occasional DVD purchase for $10 costs $5 in internet charges?

It's bad enough the hairbrains in Albany were considering a tax on among other things sugared sodas, and internet downloads... Now this?

Verizon, I hate you, but here I come. $17/mo 1mpbs UNLIMITED!!!

 

[Dave K]

I also have TW Roch... if the cap goes in I'm switching to my local provider (which means I switch EVERYTHING, phone, cable, Inet). They don't have a cap and have FTTP so I was considering the change anyway.

 

[christop]

That will be a great way to loose me as a customer....

 

[Transmaniacon]

I live in Greensboro, and fortunately have Bellsouth DSL, however I hope they do not adopt this new cap trend, especially something as rediculous as 40GB/month...

 

[Guest]

So if I watch 2 hours of my favorite TV show online per week, I would have already exceeded the 40GB cap? BULLSH*T! Not to mention email attachment downloads (College...), patches to security and other programs, games ordered through online distributors, and youtube of course. To add to the insult, Time Warner is the only cable provider in my area (L.A. County). Monopoly and overcharge is the name of the game.

 

[SAL-e]

Sorry guys, but switching to other provider will not help. The communications in US are held by small number of companies that are acting like a classical cartel. They all will set the same tariffs. They are buying the politicians and get what ever they want.

Only real solution is to build independent mesh network. Start by connecting your neighbors with local server and local content. Also we need to fight to free the TV spectrum that will be unused after the DTV transition.

 

[Guest]

Glad I have Verizon FiOS and no caps yet.

It's funny tho to see the TimeWarner cable guys work so hard to convince me to switc to their service saying that theirs is far better than my FiOS.

They wish!!!! lol.

I can't wait to see the next guy trying to convice me to switch just to scrub this news on his face.

 

[randomizer]

This is looking more and more like Australia (although the service is probably better). Caps are a malignant cancer that have spread around the world.

 

[Fusion777]

Such a weak move. Clearly someone thinks they'll be "mostly" making money off internet pirates. The article really says it all. A lot of people stream video (hello, hulu?) and you'll blow up that cap in no time. Not to mention that legitimate downloads are not like a crazy and weird fringe activity. Like other posters here have said, if you're paying $70+ a month for your bandwidth why not get an unlimited 3G plan and get mobility to boot? Just plain stupid, they are gonna lose mass customers.

 

[bonjoeryan]

I live in Brazil and my internet usage is cap free (without download limits)...
I usually download 20 GB per day and maybe 600 GB per month,
that is the my bandwidth usage without P 2 P (ie: emule),
in the time of P 2 P it was apx 40 GB per day...
Well I have 4 mbps and pay apx U$ 49.00 per month (R$ 109.90)...
All I would like to say is I was always criticizing ISP here but now it seemed that it isnt that bad...

 

[mavroxur]

[citation][nom]SAL-e[/nom]Sorry guys, but switching to other provider will not help. The communications in US are held by small number of companies that are acting like a classical cartel. They all will set the same tariffs. They are buying the politicians and get what ever they want. Only real solution is to build independent mesh network. Start by connecting your neighbors with local server and local content. Also we need to fight to free the TV spectrum that will be unused after the DTV transition.[/citation]


Completely agree on the first part about switching providers, it wont help at all. As far as the fighting to free the unused bandwidth after the DTV transition, politically, it's already gone to public services and mobile radio providers from what i've seen coming down the pipe.

 

[sp0ck1701]

As an IT guy, I can appreciate the concept of 'abusive users'. (Emule included, though I've surely never ever touched that ever myself ;-)...though within reason). Seriously though.

If bandwidth were the TRUE issue, there are better ways. For example, before TW or DSL became viable options when we first moved her I was considering satellite internet. Obviously upgrades to a satellite would require a very substantial investment so bandwidth is a true limitation. So the answer there is to throttle heavy users who don't pay.

Here is their "Fair Access Policy".
http://www.wafa.ae/en/vsat/products/fapenglish.aspx

Now, surely IF bandwidth were the TRUE ISSUE here, wouldn't this be one of the FIRST options TW should announce and offer these plans as an alternative. I.e. Pay $60/mo for your residential and be throttled after the first 2GB/day down to 1mbps, or "buy additional Gigabytes".

Something tells me either they don't understand the purpose of "broadband" or they are thinking they can somehow pull this over. Hate to say it, but until recently there WAS NO BROADBAND access at all in many areas so TW IS the only choice. And telcoms have struggled in lower population areas. So they might pull it off... but I for one am on the fringe of DSL and would even consider satellite at $70/mo over what they propose.

 

[themyrmidon]

A 40 Gig cap and the fastest speeds? This ain't gonna work. I love TWC's RR service, but I'll gladly get Verizon if they limit my area.

 

[falchard]

According to a Cox Cable representative when Comcast started a 200GB cap. He said there is no reason for his company to enforce such a cap, and doesn't know why Comcast does either. Now 40GB at your best plan... Thats a little absurd.

 

[truehighroller]

I have Road Runner Turbo which is 18Mbps and I love it but, this would be so crappy that I would probably switch my ISP right away. I don't like this one bit. I was seeing advertisement for 50Mbps fios or whatever Verizon has and thinking about getting it, this might push me in that direction more. We need more speed and no restrictions. I can't describe my disgust with this enough.

 

[sp0ck1701]

So, to the bigger question, what will get their attention?

TWC as a company is showing EPS projections in the negative so they're scrambling for any means to conserve on cash... this just ain't it.

I've seen a petition circulating here...
http://www.petitiononline.com/UHSICP01/petition.html

Is there anything we can do to get them to seriously consider the utter stupidity (frankly) of the proposed caps. Maybe at least try a 100 or 200GB limit, something where one could REASONABLY make the case for tiers...