Why Cable ISP Capping is the New DRM, and Suck

[tuannguyen]

I, like many people, have been subscribing to Internet connection services since the days of 3600 baud modems. Then, I upgraded to 14.4k, 36.6k, 56k, DSL and now cable.

Why Cable ISP Capping is the New DRM, and Suck : Read more

 

[Guest]

Seeing as Britt has an annual salary of $16.2 million it sure sounds like it's time that the government went after him and do an investigations into the finances of Time Warner Cable and other cable companies.

Maybe they'll end up like Adelphia Cable.

In this time of economic downturn, there is no excuse for any CEO to be making that kind of salary at the expense of the consumer.

 

[southoz]

Welcome to what the majority of the rest of the world has always had. I think Mr. Nguyen needed to get his own quota up as saying a bandwidth cap is the new DRM is just ridiculous. People will not change what the download they will just have to develop less frivolous habits and utilize scheduled downloading to make the most of off peak bandwidth.

Just bend over and prepare yourselves for an up link quota and a national filter so the ISP's can make more money from the consumer at no additional expense and your Government can dictate what you have access to.

I want the 5 minutes of my life back it took to read this dribble.

 

[customisbetter]

I 100% agree. But this is not news, it is a Blog. That is another thing that the internet has to learn. The difference between opinionated complaining and factual news.

No offense, just saying.

 

[Jindaman]

This screws people that use sites like direct2drive I had to even download 2gb of patch's after downloading a 9gb game file

 

[tayb]

[citation][nom]customisbetter[/nom]I 100% agree. But this is not news, it is a Blog. That is another thing that the internet has to learn. The difference between opinionated complaining and factual news.No offense, just saying.[/citation]

You are right. I didn't learn anything from this article... (sarcasm)

 

[svenolsen]

[citation][nom]southoz[/nom]Welcome to what the majority of the rest of the world has always had. I think Mr. Nguyen needed to get his own quota up as saying a bandwidth cap is the new DRM is just ridiculous. People will not change what the download they will just have to develop less frivolous habits and utilize scheduled downloading to make the most of off peak bandwidth. Just bend over and prepare yourselves for an up link quota and a national filter so the ISP's can make more money from the consumer at no additional expense and your Government can dictate what you have access to. I want the 5 minutes of my life back it took to read this dribble.[/citation]

you clearly have no clue of wtf you're talking about. you're clearly working for a cable company (with one post and signed up today just shortly after this article went up), or you're a sheep who clearly would never speak up or make a difference in anything.

If you wanna bend over and take whatever time warner and other isps shove up your ass, good for you.

 

[Raid3r]

Well, Honestly I don't think more regulation is going to solve this..its a band-aid and will just be transported to a different environment. No, we have to cut these people off.

If you don't have an alternative then say goodbye to the net...this is what happens when things go unchecked for to long. I don't think its being extreme its the only real thing to do. I for one will do it unless something scuttles here.

 

[amrsss]

Power to the People!
Capping is bad and reminds me of modem times where you paid for what you used, i hope that those times will never come back, on the other hand Australia never left ages of modem due to capping their broadband :|

 

[cletus_slackjawd]

Temp solution for Time Warner Cable customers. Pitch in with the neighbor to your left and right, get the (super-tier) and then setup WPA2 wireless Draft N, share the key. Now you have reduced your costs and share the bandwidth. Either that or get satellite internet. This is a clear cut case where our government needs to step in. Does time-warner have exclusive contract with the government for service in you areas? Sue the city for anti-trust violations.

 

[jaoreill]

boo on caps

 

[SirCrono]

Letting feelings aside for a minute, I think it's fairly obvious to charge a consumer based on how much of something he actually uses (been to a gas station lately), but from a consumer standpoint it just sucks to get a new restriction imposed all of the sudden, maybe it wouldn't hurt as much if it was something reasonable, like Comcast's 250 GB cap, but 5 GB or 30 GB is just ridiculous, specially at those price points.

tl;dr: It makes sense to charge you based on your usage patterns, but time-warner is charging way too much for what it's offering.

 

[TheDraac]

Think about it... If someone put the kibosh on this crazy, useful means of communicating and sending and receiving information we like to call the internet... We could have saved amongst other things...

The Post Office.... Who needs to pay bills online or communicate instantly, to people even on the other side of the world. We need more stamps !!!!

Blockbuster.... Who wants instant download movies and shows?? I personally like driving 10 miles to the video store or 20 to the next nearest. At least netflix delivery service still helps the post office, right? And chit, gas is cheep right now.

My personal time... Heck, if I'm not connected to the internet, guess I really don't need to download any updates or buy anti-virus programs.

I remember back when we were all hooked on AOL... boy those bills were pricey. Then came along a local ISP with unlimited usage... Hmmm, almost overnight people were on ICQ instead... Time Warner lost tons with people canceling their AOL accounts.

So, we really don't need any innovations like the internet. Like the ad for netzero says.... America can save billions every year... if we get this new and cheap thing called dial-up, for just 9.95... WHOO HOO. Where do I sign up... I mean, mail my check to.

I hear Time Warner is testing out this new service... It's called the pony express... Now that's progress.

 

[rbarone69]

Most people are not computer literate enough to understand how to secure their wireless networks against unwanted users. How is Time Warner going to backup claims that the subscribed actually went over their limit?

 

[customisbetter]

Seriously guys. You cannot put this under the "NEWS" section of the page. Its not right.

 

[matt_b]

This whole bandwidth cap ultimately handicaps one major realm - the progression of the internet. It is something waiting to happen (and needs to) but is instead being shot in the leg by these buffoons so they can protect their profit margins instead of progressing themselves. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say that this is a mutual, industry-understanding amongst company CEO's. Internet traffic and what it can do is the road to the future with all of the untapped capabilities/possibilities it brings, and all this is is a road block/detour!

 

[BigBag]

So cute when Tuan tries to be populist.

 

[wira020]

In my country, Malaysia, each ISP haf their own cap ranging from 2Gb monthly to unlimited for premium fee... mine is 5gb monthly... try google Maxis Broadband... read their terms and policy... i think they say it as Fair Usage Policy.... there's not much choice here... but they dont however charge more after the reaching the cap limit... they THROTTLE the speed down... which is useless in my opinion... since the pre-cap speed is alreasy turtle speed... 3.6mbps feels just a little bit better than dial up 56.6K... in addition.. this Fair Usage Policy is not mentioned in their ads... only a few words about it in a section thats very distant from their prominent feature... i also heard when some1 in that IP address reach cap... they throttle down the IP not the user... hope some oversea company come and take away our suffering.. amen...

 

[Supertrek32]

I can't really add anything but say that I 100% agree... Well said, Mr. Nguyen.

 

[NuclearShadow]

Well I am glad that you are on our side and I think its safe to say that those companies you listed especially Time Warner Cable won't be advertising on Tom's anytime soon.

If we allow this sort of behavior to happen they will only push and push until we finally push back. We already lousy and over priced internet service here in America we simply cannot allow it to get any worse for the consumer.

 

[stromm]

I've been a TW customer for my whole life. As a kid, my parents subscribed to CUBE (back in the 70's). Personally, I've had Roadrunner since about '95 when there were only about 30 of us. Back then, I paid $24.95 for unlimited, unrestricted cable modem Internet. Every day I saw speeds of 10mb receive, 2mb send. Over the years my fee has gone up and the speeds and service have gone down. I now pay $65.00 for Turbo at 12mb/768kb. Prior to last October, my service was rated at 6mb/512kb.

Now, TW wants to charge me another fee for using the capability I already pay for. Worse, they've altered their own websites and services such that simply accessing their services means a significant increase in my "usage". In other words, they've intentionally put more multimedia crap on their pages and webmail services knowing full well that they were going to end up charging me for that extra data even though I don't want it.

Sadly, I have no control over ALL the data I will be charged for. The nature of the Internet means that there is a constant stream of data hitting my cable modem. Viruses, broadcast packets (of which TW is a source), etc. are all part of that. Someone could flood my connection with data thereby causing my usage to exceed my plan.

Where is the technical info on what I will be charged for and what I will not be charged for? What measures is TW going to take to protect me against unrequested data? Do they even have the capability to do so? Will I be able to set a limit such that when I hit the cap, my service shuts down so I don't end up with overages?

Being a network engineer, I have serious doubts that TW will even be able to itemize my charges. If they are going to hold me accountable, PROVE my usage as mine and not "noise".

The government needs to force TW to define this change with specific terms of service and include protections for customers.

 

[Guest]

This world sucks. Corporate leaders must pay for their evil.

 

[pocketdrummer]

This screws EVERYONE. Unless we make it fail miserably...

BOYCOTT TIME WARNER!!! I already have, keep the ball rolling!

 

[tiredwolf]

The governemnt should not step in, the government has been stepping in and managing businesses a little too much lately, you are talking about giving them more power. Anything that the government runs gets screwed up. On the other hand, it's the consumer that needs to regulate this. For the most part people do have another option and if it really comes down to it, use dial up for a while. If my cable company starts to do this then I WILL switch to a company that doesn't, if they all do this, I will switch to dial up.

 

[christop]

Man I hope this doesn't happen .. I guess if it does I will move to sat net which sucks from what I heard.... A cap would screw tons of people..