Time Warner Unveils 40 GB Bandwidth Cap

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mdillenbeck

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First, I can see why high speeds with a low cap could be useful. Take the casual user with Microsoft Windows as an OS - they need to be able to browse the web and get their emails, especially the ones where the kids send them a big photo of their new grandchild, as well as have their OS run automatic updates. They don't need a lot of bandwidth, but do they really want to wait 10 minutes for an email or 2 hours for an update to complete?

Second, capping is not an uncommon or unwarranted option. We all accept it with other telecommunication systems - with a land-line or cellular telephone, I select my calling plan type based on my expected usage. I can get it cheap and pay for all my minutes (or number of local calls), I can buy a plan with x minutes (or x number of local calls), or I can pay for unlimited plans. (With cell phones, I also can choose between local region or national/free roaming plans.)

Thus, paying for a certain amount of bandwidth on a shared network system is not unreasonable. If the pipeline will only support y GB/s of usage, and 10 users want to use y/4 bandwidth all the time, then there will be a problem - and a solution must be found.

Where Time Warner has failed is coming up with a reasonable solution. They should follow the cellular phone company's example. Separate peak time from off peak time, and keep unlimited usage during off peak (or charge $5/month for unlimited off peak time). Use tiers, but make them reasonable amounts. For their system, 250 GB/mo would cost $265/month before fees! Give customers another option - either have usage throttles when 90% capacity is reached to ensure they don't go over, or allow them to pay a reasonable overage fee.

There are solutions. In Time Warner's case, they are gouging their customers because of their often regional monopolies rather than seeking these reasonable solutions. However, what can one do but go without? (For example, my area I have a few choices - Charter Communication broadband, Cellular Mobile Broadband that frequently drops for 3G speeds down to dial-up speeds, or Verizon dial-up because they won't put DSL in our community of 2000. Thus, Charter is the only broadband option and they have a monopoly over residents of my community - they can charge whatever they want and give crappy service with little repercussions.)
 
I'll certainly be switching to another provider once Time Warner implements this cap in my area. Thing is, with this bandwidth cap and government restrictions on the internet, I can't help but wonder if its time for a new kind of network with a new kind of protocol. It's too bad that such a thing would require an insane amount of effort. On the other hand I'm beginning to wonder if such effort is not worth it.
 
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I don't get it, how come the USA has such a crappy internet connectivity. I like in a post-communist country and I have an unlimited 100mbit optical line with a public IP address for like $14.50 a month.
 
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I have the $29.99 plan, 5GB? Definitely time to shop around for a new provider, that is a retardedly low cap, I could be content with 100 or 200, but f#@% that. Does this mean they're going to provide a tool for monitoring your useage, or are they just going to tell me what I owe at the end of the month?
 
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This is the great job for the LAN,WAN Market thanks so much now my cable making will not be wrong any more....




 

enforcer22

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[citation][nom]sp0ck1701[/nom]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.http://www.wafa.ae/en/vsat/products/fapenglish.aspxNow, 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"..[/citation]

Not to be insulting but this is one reason i never considered IT people real techs. I pay for my fios to do what i want on the net. Im not abusing anything since i am not stealing it or getting it for free. I pay to get on the net to do what i want. Enough said. I torrent my tv shows instead of streaming them big deal same bandwidth used. People use phones, gaming, Movie renting, ALOT of other things that use massive ammounts of bandwidth. If you pay for it you are not abusing it. Everytone here that is mad and wants to switch i totaly understand. Switching might not make them go back but in this econemy either they could or risk verizon buying them out and turning thier 1990's infestructure into something made for today like verizon did. Honestly i dont see verizon doing this at all they saw this coming and did something about it now they are in the posision to rake in the cash as thier "Compatition" trys to save whats left of thier dialup network. I said this in another thread but this has nothing to do with pirating downloading or anything else other then thier either Unwillingness to upgrade thier network or thier inability to do it now. And with alot of the people who pay for thier service about to leave i dont see this changing thier business model at all. They can blame anyone they want but if they truely want to blame whos at fault they will need to invest in some mirrors.

[citation][nom]skine[/nom]I think you got a little turned around there. First, 1 byte = 8 bits. Then: GiB "Gibibyte" = 1024*1024*1024 bytes = 1024*1024*1024*8 bitsGB "Gigabyte" can either be 1024*1024*1024 bytes or 1000*1000*1000 bytes. Gibit "Gibibit" = 1024*1024*1024 bitsGbit "Gigabit" = 1000*1000*1000 bits, or sometimes Gibit.

GB and gb are the correct abreviations for Byte and bite. In anycase 40 is stupid.

 

enforcer22

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[citation][nom]sp0ck1701[/nom]cal8949 -- Wow. Lucky U! I live just east of Monro county here in 315 country. TW just ran cable down my road a couple yrs ago. And Verizon just upgraded the phone lines to handle DSL. (Hence my knowledge of satellite options). Yeah, FIOS is great. In any event I think any reasonable speed without caps would be fine for most.skine-I really don't mean to be rude or belabor a point, but I am quite sure of my math.8 bits to a byte.1024 is base 2 for 2^10, not 1000 though 1000 is a rough rounding.So in reality 1 xBITS= 1x/8Throw on an extra bit as a checksum, making it technically 9 bits or so. Not to mention the overhead of the encapsulating protocol.See this and related links.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabit[/citation]

Your right its 8 bites to a byte but there is a 2 bit for lack of better word parity so its actualy 8 bites -2 when it comes to overhead.


And for MD i got unlimited everything on my phone through verizon caps are pointless. Capping the internet but making it so fast you could (not litteraly) use all that bandwidth in 1 minute is stupid. Phone companys are realising in this day and age caps are becoming more cumbersome then saving a few pennys. Yet internet is going backwords. Im hoping verizon sticks with thier press statment in saying they see no reason to ever impose a cap on thier users.
 

theJ

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I would switch to a Verizon 3G plan so fast...

Honestly, paying for what you use is not a horrible concept. But the way they have it set up is horrendous. I mean, ISP's already charge more for high bandwidth users. They have to assume the higher bandwidth users are going to use more. If they're going to switch to a plan where you pay per GB, at least put everyone on a high speed connection.

I just don't understand how this will benefit them. In areas where there is competition, many people are going to switch over to another ISP, who will be more than happy to offer an unlimited connection and still make money off it.

Good god this makes me so angry...and i'm not even affected by it yet.
 

rbarone69

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Time Warner has always found ways to nickle and dime their users... They are a monopoly in my area with NO OTHER CHOICE other than a slow satellite connection.

I cant wait until I can get FiOS or something other than Time Warner.

Another thing I can say I hope they dont bother trying to cap the business lines. I use their business service (2mb up/7mb down) @ 180/month (which is a good deal) but we definitly stream more than 40GB.

What we need is more competition!!! WiMAX, FiOS, 4G, other cable providers...

I am a streamer of netflix and watch a movie a night with my family as well as work from home uploading and downloading large files to work on. Time Warner can go (!@#$ you know what) as far as I'm concerned.

 

idisarmu

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...There is NO WAY I could ever download 40gb per month with my current connection...

Well actually- it is theoretically for me to download 370gb per month at my download speeds on a GOOD day in Ubuntu- a measly 150kb/s.

However, a more reasonable amount for my household to actually download per month is 10-15gb data and then ???? amount for online gaming for an average of 3 hours per day online + teamspeak... I doubt that would get over 40gb/month.
 
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No wonder they had these low results!
Everyone who exceeded bandwidth (and was smart) had already switched over to another company!

This could mean the end of public wifi hotspots?
 
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I myself use about 15GB per month. I'm pretty cautious with downloading, but it's getting inevitable to download this much!
Websites no longer are text or picture based, these days you need to download nearly always a flash file of a few megabytes, and have 2 or 3 add banners which playback movie in real time. Meaning an information site which used to cost you 150kb of data, now easily costs 8MB to load!

Not forgetting the updates & software patches are increasing daily!

I would not want to join a cable company that when there would be one month I needed to download more (eg: I'd have 2 new computers I wished to update and install, and put on my network) that I'd have to pay more!

40GB seems ok, but how much HD streaming movies can you see with this,if it takes about 4GB per movie, and then add your regular internet traffic?
Renting movies online costs $2,5; but at the price of $1/GB, renting a movie online easily would grow to $6,5!
 

playerone

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LOL!!! Greatmove! Good bye Time Warner!
This just made it easier to choose a provider - Thanks!

Not sure who is at the helm there, I would be concerned if employed there or owned stock not the least if a customer...Oh wait, I am! Oops!! Was !!!

Makes little business sense in the longrun. Great way to turn off customers! Shtupid Shtupid Shtupid!!! LOL!!!
 

xAlphaMalex

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Broadband companys realize the future of the medium.So they want to get there hooks in so it can be overcharged just like your tv.Allowing the service providers the ability to cap bandwiths at 250 or some other astronomical # is just a start that opens the door to more strict usage laws and ppl will accept it because they wont remember the time it was open usage and they can be weened into there pockets being drained.I do not support usage rules.We trail behind most of the world in broadband speeds and pay a higher price for what we have.I spend quite a bit of time on the net.I download alot of linux distros drivers among other things.Also i watch alot of instructional videos and have steaming media on sites like myspace.I dont want to be monitoring my usage constantly and saying well ill get it next month or the month after.If your kids have a xbox its gonna stack up as well too,Not to mention if you are at or over the limit your childrens educations could suffer unless your willing to line the pockets of the broadband providers.I fully blame americans for the future of the internet.You better take a stand now and say no to usage charges.Ive never known the cable company to ever go down on there fees even now that ppl are hurting.Imagine what the future will bring as usage numbers get smaller and billing higher.The education alone that would be lost from this is inconceivable.Usage fees are a "earmark" we dont need as a country that makes a living,gets a education,online banks,orders medicine,pays bills,gaming,and everything u do is tied to the net.Its our new pastime but i guess look on the bright side more unhealthy americans wont spend all there time in front of the tv or computer.PPl think well Cxxxxxx just upped my upload to 1 meg and has been giving me more downspead over the last few years they need some compensation.They know what there doing you are just about to be given the old bait and switch.Download speed costs an isp nothing if they can support it.Upload is what costs them.Bittorrent clients are the new rage and because noone has to spend alot for hosting.Even blizzard uses it for world of warcraft it downloads and uploads at the same time spreading your bandwith with everyone to make transfers faster.The isps pay for this big time whether there legal files or not.Not to suprising that you hear about the caps after the fcc told them blocking ports for bittorrent is a no no.Like i say take a stand on usage or just digress from this like any other topic that needs to be addressed and let this freedom be taken away as well.I dont overreact i just use murphy's law.
 

sp0ck1701

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And as a subscriber I never said I agree!!!

Realistically there are technical limits within the cost structure and business model, whether it be speed or volume. I think TW was so focused on speed being the attraction they optimized speed, then with the recession, they now find (what a surprise) you sell it, and people USE it! That's why I chose more expensive TW over DSL.

More likely I frankly suspect the real motivation is not bandwidth, because there are solutions to that as I mentioned to highlight.

...Don't watch HD off the web.... $$$ buy ours $$$...
... Don't watch TV shows off Hulu for free or ESPN or anyplace of your choosing... buy our packages..... Conflict of interest???






[citation][nom]EnFoRceR22[/nom]Not to be insulting but this is one reason i never considered IT people real techs. I pay for my fios to do what i want on the net. Im not abusing anything since i am not stealing it or getting it for free. I pay to get on the net to do what i want. Enough said. I torrent my tv shows instead of streaming them big deal same bandwidth used. People use phones, gaming, Movie renting, ALOT of other things that use massive ammounts of bandwidth. If you pay for it you are not abusing it. Everytone here that is mad and wants to switch i totaly understand. Switching might not make them go back but in this econemy either they could or risk verizon buying them out and turning thier 1990's infestructure into something made for today like verizon did. Honestly i dont see verizon doing this at all they saw this coming and did something about it now they are in the posision to rake in the cash as thier "Compatition" trys to save whats left of thier dialup network. I said this in another thread but this has nothing to do with pirating downloading or anything else other then thier either Unwillingness to upgrade thier network or thier inability to do it now. And with alot of the people who pay for thier service about to leave i dont see this changing thier business model at all. They can blame anyone they want but if they truely want to blame whos at fault they will need to invest in some mirrors.[citation][nom]skine[/nom]I think you got a little turned around there. First, 1 byte = 8 bits. Then: GiB "Gibibyte" = 1024*1024*1024 bytes = 1024*1024*1024*8 bitsGB "Gigabyte" can either be 1024*1024*1024 bytes or 1000*1000*1000 bytes. Gibit "Gibibit" = 1024*1024*1024 bitsGbit "Gigabit" = 1000*1000*1000 bits, or sometimes Gibit. GB and gb are the correct abreviations for Byte and bite. In anycase 40 is stupid.[/citation]
 

RacerX0_3

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What a bunch of bull. This is TWC and other internet companies second round to control internet usage that is abused by a small population. The first was their attempt to implement artificial speed tiers for everyone. I believe these were disguised as Quality of Service levels. Thankfully large companies like Microsoft fought this. Hopefully the companies that will loose business in these instances will help block this new attempt at Internet gouging!

Will TWC give me an internet meter so I can track my usage. Alert me when I'm close to go over my limit and incurring unwanted charges and fees? Help me secure and guarantee the security of my network's safety from bandwidth robbers? I'm guessing no because what TWC is offering is such an excellent "value" to their customers that TWC stands to make a huge amount of money. I guess the real value for me is a good old fashioned public screwing.

If this makes it to my area TWC's head will spin with how quickly I change my utilities. 40gb is a friggin joke!
 

xAlphaMalex

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Whats all this talk about abuse? its not any of there buisiness what u do with your 54$ a month.IMAO you are paying for every second of full throttle bandwidth a month with your monthly fee.
 
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No everyone should immediately switch away from time warner. This will send them a clear message that they are WRONG and that caps WONT be tolerated. If you guys just sit on this then yes you will lose to every place doing caps!
 

matt_b

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This will bite TW Cable very hard after the unknowing customer receives their first bill and wonders what all the extra charge is about. I've have said ti before and will do so again, this is not the time to limit bandwidth to such a small number in the middle of a digital age. Forty GB would be reasonable TEN years ago - not today.
 

Regected

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Beaumont, TX is not exactly the average techno savvy city. Judging nation wide internet usage from there would be like judging live stock numbers from New York City.

The US has the slowest internet connection of the modern world, and already pays more for bandwidth than anyone else. Give me a break you greedy asshats.
 
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