Time warner cable internet and metered billing

[Scubie67]

Well it looks like my Isp(triad/greensboro) is the next along with 3 other new area that are going to this and I hate it.Supposedly they charge per Gb downloaded data

Considering I am allready paying around $45 or so for a 7mbps DL and 384kbps UL this irritates me considerably.Especially when The US has some of the highest prices of BB internet in the world allready

Anyone else have experience with this? I know it has been used in some areas Texas.

 

[Geoff]

Are they actually charging for each GB downloaded, or only when you exceed your monthly cap?

 

[Scubie67]

Are they actually charging for each GB downloaded, or only when you exceed your monthly cap?

From what I have read so far 5 to 40 Gb tiers (40 Gb tier is supposed to be around $54 or something like that ).For every Gb over tier cap $1 per Gb data.It could get real expensive real fast .I havent heard of any of the other ISP's doing this yet but if TW can get by with it I am sure they will follow suit.I am also sure it would kill off Online gaming or people that like to DL lots of video.

I am not sure if other countries' ISP's regulate like this.I am sure it is greed that is making this happen.

edit* I wonder if I wasted my money just recently building my gaming computer I have now .Only other broadband we have in this area is North State(At&t DSL) it maxes at about 2.5 mbps DL speed .Also if you read the other link Beaumont,TX was the first to do this trial also AT&t in Beaumont,TX.(Conspiracy in price gouging between this companies anyone? ) .Isnt this type of possible plotting by Business that have a monopoly of a sole sevice against their customers in an area illegal?


http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Time-Warner-Cable-Expands-Metered-Billing-101655

 

[Zatharus]

Ewww... A 5GB cap per month seems extremely low. What is the cost on that?? I would hope no more than $10 a month...

The 40GB cap is not uncommon. Many satellite ISPs have something like this (and lower). Also, even with heavy gaming, you won't reach that 40GB cap in a month's time.

Many ISPs are moving to or starting to enforce a system like this. It is disappointing, but only competition will help break this trend.

 

[Scubie67]

Ewww... A 5GB cap per month seems extremely low. What is the cost on that?? I would hope no more than $10 a month...

The 40GB cap is not uncommon. Many satellite ISPs have something like this (and lower). Also, even with heavy gaming, you won't reach that 40GB cap in a month's time.

Many ISPs are moving to or starting to enforce a system like this. It is disappointing, but only competition will help break this trend.

Top tier is 40 gb around $54 maybe..Its hard to tell though as they are catching hell in just a day of announcing this.They may have got too greedy though naming a large city like Rochester,NY for this considering there are lotsa Lawyers in NY who will line up to burn them .Also they chose areas where there is little or no competition for BB service which could be considered as price gouging. At&t is available in those same areas and doing same thing .Attorneys will have to decide that though.

 

[Geoff]

Just so I understand this correctly, right now you are paying $45 for unlimited internet. What they are talking about doing is setting a monthly cap, but what I'm not to clear on is what the prices of said caps will be. Is the 5GB /mo. cap going to be what costs $45, while the 40GB /mo. get's raised to $54, or will the 5GB /mo. cap be much lower (I mean honestly, you can get cellular broadband internet from AT&T for around the same price with a 5GB cap.)

 

[Scubie67]

Just so I understand this correctly, right now you are paying $45 for unlimited internet. What they are talking about doing is setting a monthly cap, but what I'm not to clear on is what the prices of said caps will be. Is the 5GB /mo. cap going to be what costs $45, while the 40GB /mo. get's raised to $54, or will the 5GB /mo. cap be much lower (I mean honestly, you can get cellular broadband internet from AT&T for around the same price with a 5GB cap.)

As it has only been announced for a day I am not sure on the prices of the lower tiers.The $54 is a suggested price for the upper tier on sub link of the original link I had provided.At&t DSL is also doing this in the same areas that are sole competition so there is no chance of swtching to something of similar performance.As for cellular BB my friends that have it hate it and they dont even play many online games.I dont know how well it would do for online gaming

Edit * I fear if they can get away with this ,other ISP companies will start doing their own "stimulus plan" and raise their prices to where it is the majority of the US providers "Breaking consumers down like shotguns"

 

[Geoff]

Cellular broadband is not ideal for downloading things quickly, and especially not gaming, I was just using it as a perspective as to how much of a rip off $45/mo. is for a 5GB capped land-line service.

It would make sense that the 40GB cap would be the $45, while offering cheaper packages for those who only surf the web.

 

[Scubie67]

Cellular broadband is not ideal for downloading things quickly, and especially not gaming, I was just using it as a perspective as to how much of a rip off $45/mo. is for a 5GB capped land-line service.

It would make sense that the 40GB cap would be the $45, while offering cheaper packages for those who only surf the web.

ahh okies,Omega... Time Warner and At&t are just choosing areas where they are the only land based DSL/cable providers so I am sure there has been some backmeeting discussions which I would think is illegal between 2 monopolizing companies .I guess there is Satellite internet but it is also ridiculously expensive as well as low speeds.I just resigned a new 2 year agreement with Timewarner a couple of months ago so I am not sure what I will do yet

 

[WeatherMan]

Double Post..

 

[Zatharus]

It would make sense that the 40GB cap would be the $45, while offering cheaper packages for those who only surf the web.

Agreed. I'm very curious about what they might try to get away with for the 5GB cap. This is the first time I have heard of such a low cap on a hard-line service such as DSL.

 

[WeatherMan]

Is that right?

$45 for 7Mb Broadband + 40GB Cap? That seems ludicrous

You get that from TalkTalk in the UK for $25

 

[Scubie67]

Is that right?

$45 for 7Mb Broadband + 40GB Cap? That seems ludicrous

Actually that might be $54.95 for 40 mbps with $1 for each Mb over 40, dont know yet for sure.Just what has been projected

 

[Zatharus]

Is that right?

$45 for 7Mb Broadband + 40GB Cap? That seems ludicrous

No kidding...considering that at full speed you could burn through that in just under 13 hours...

But, for the average internet user, even 40GB of data transfer a month is still enough. The real question becomes whether or not this is 40GB of total transfer (Up+Down) per month or if it will be 40GB each way. Most likely it will be the former.

 

[Scubie67]

No kidding...considering that at full speed you could burn through that in just under 13 hours...

But, for the average internet user, even 40GB of data transfer a month is still enough. The real question becomes whether or not this is 40GB of total transfer (Up+Down) per month or if it will be 40GB each way. Most likely it will be the former.

Ive never monitored my usage but I play Onine games as well as watch a bunch of you tube vids So I am sure it may eat through it fast over a month.Doesnt Voip count against bandwith also?

 

[Zatharus]

Ive never monitored my usage but I play Onine games as well as watch a bunch of you tube vids So I am sure it may eat through it fast over a month.Doesnt Voip count against bandwith also?

Yes, VoIP would count.

Online gaming and VoIP will not use a huge amount of bandwidth even over a month. You are looking at probably 60-80KB/s total for both of those combined. Youtube could eat into that fairly well, but unless you are going to be watching several hundred videos a day, you should be fine.

The most usage I have seen in a month is between 5-15GB - if I don't go crazy with re-downloading games on Steam (OS re-install) or grab a few dozen OnDemand videos from DirectTV. I have used upwards of 200GB a month on the rare ocasion with shuffling around large projects on remote servers to and from my house. Beleive me, I took notice when Comcast started infocing their 250GB cap in my area. And now I hear they will be raising my bandwidth too...hopefully the cap will go with it.

 

[Scubie67]

Yes, VoIP would count.

Online gaming and VoIP will not use a huge amount of bandwidth even over a month. You are looking at probably 60-80KB/s total for both of those combined. Youtube could eat into that fairly well, but unless you are going to be watching several hundred videos a day, you should be fine.

The most usage I have seen in a month is between 5-15GB - if I don't go crazy with re-downloading games on Steam (OS re-install) or grab a few dozen OnDemand videos from DirectTV. I have used upwards of 200GB a month on the rare ocasion with shuffling around large projects on remote servers to and from my house. Beleive me, I took notice when Comcast started infocing their 250GB cap in my area. And now I hear they will be raising my bandwidth too...hopefully the cap will go with it.

At $1 per Gb over 40 it would hurt to DL that much.250 wouldnt be nearly as bad , 6 times as much you would get as much in 1 month usage as 6 months of mine.The 40 is just way too low.I dont know the pricing on yours though.I guess if your paying $275 a month for just internet service (no cable) it would be fair though

 

[tlarkin]

They are just testing the market for this stuff now. If it happens in my area I will drop my service and steal wifi again.

 

[Scubie67]

They are just testing the market for this stuff now. If it happens in my area I will drop my service and steal wifi again.

If you have Time warner I think it is just in the Greensboro ,NC ; Rochester,NY;Beaumont ,TX ; Austin,Tx ; San Antonio ,TX areas so far.I do believe that they are testing the waters but the Beaumont was just supposed to be a trial run a few months ago and it is still active so I am sure they will see what they can get away with. These companies are still profitable when everyone else seems to be loosing money so I am not sure their timing was quite right on this

 

[Geoff]

They are just testing the market for this stuff now. If it happens in my area I will drop my service and steal wifi again.

haha, then your neighbor calls to see how they went over their monthly cap by 50GB when they were away all month