Time Warner to begin internet billing based on usage in SA (updated title) (San Antonio: arena, exodus)

[Mister]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

I just don't see that many people even coming close to these caps. Some will, but most won't. The poster said that if they even try to institute a cap..he's switching. Switching to what? Another cap?

A higher cap is better than a lower cap. But remember that the relatively generous 250GB cap we're talking about is for Comcast customers, not Time-Warner. TWC are currently testing out caps of between 5GB and 40GB per month. That's not even a streaming movie per day. I'll definitely dump my TW cable, Internet and phone service if they try to saddle me with a puny cap like that.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by Mister

A higher cap is better than a lower cap. But remember that the relatively generous 250GB cap we're talking about is for Comcast customers, not Time-Warner. TWC are currently testing out caps of between 5GB and 40GB per month. That's not even a streaming movie per day. I'll definitely dump my TW cable, Internet and phone service if they try to saddle me with a puny cap like that.

5GB? Where did you see that one? I saw 40GB...but 5GB is very low. There are not many other options...and I hope they don't all initiate this cap for everyone's sake, but if it helps lower my bill...then I guess I'm for it.
I'm gone a lot (use hotel bandwidth or aircard) and won't even begin to approach
any sort of cap. We don't do streaming movies at home.

[scuba steve]

5GB was mentioned on a news article earlier. I'd hit that for sure just from Podcasts.

[Mister]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

5GB? Where did you see that one? I saw 40GB...but 5GB is very low.

The caps range from 5GB for the cheapest of TWC's Internet package up to 40GB for the Turbo package (or whatever it's called.)

You're smoking something if you think TWC (or any ISP) is going to lower your bill. This is all about making more money, not losing it. Watch - you'll see them offering a MegaDownloaderz Turbo Supreme package for $100 as soon as people start bitching about the caps.

At the Turbo speeds, you can max out your 40GB cap with 10 minutes of downloading per day - in other words you'd pay $60+ for 5 hours of downloads each month. But instead of of advertising their service as "only $12 per hour!" I'm sure we'll just continue to see things like "40GB is the equivalent of 47 bazillion one-word e-mails" and "40GB is the equivalent of visiting 84 jillion 1995-era websites without graphics or flash or any of the other things that make the Internet fun."

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by Mister

The caps range from 5GB for the cheapest of TWC's Internet package up to 40GB for the Turbo package (or whatever it's called.)

You're smoking something if you think TWC (or any ISP) is going to lower your bill. This is all about making more money, not losing it. Watch - you'll see them offering a MegaDownloaderz Turbo Supreme package for $100 as soon as people start bitching about the caps.

At the Turbo speeds, you can max out your 40GB cap with 10 minutes of downloading per day - in other words you'd pay $60+ for 5 hours of downloads each month. But instead of of advertising their service as "only $12 per hour!" I'm sure we'll just continue to see things like "40GB is the equivalent of 47 bazillion one-word e-mails" and "40GB is the equivalent of visiting 84 jillion 1995-era websites without graphics or flash or any of the other things that make the Internet fun."

My firm pays for my bill anyway. Really makes no difference. Of course, I would not want to see them spend more money if they don't have to...maybe capping will keep the bill the same. Looks like it's going to happen...it's a matter of when. Sorry to see you so angry.
I could see "paying by amount used" happening, very easily. Maybe we'll see "Peak" and "Off-Peak" useage such as with cell phone plans.

[Mister]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

I could see "paying by amount used" happening, very easily.

Does Time-Warner (or any other company) knock money off your unlimited telephone service if you only make 2 calls a month? What if you pay for 200 channels of TV but only watch 10 minutes a week? Does the all-you-can eat buffet give you a refund if you only eat a small salad? What about the garbage collector if you only fill your bin 1/4 of the way each month?

It's simply not going to happen. Common sense says that a business is going to try to make more money rather than save its customers money. And common sense says that consumers who aren't happy with a product will switch to another product that is better/cheaper. Someone (AT&T U-verse?) will be happy to snap up TWC's customers if they chase them away with unreasonable caps.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by Mister

Does Time-Warner (or any other company) knock money off your unlimited telephone service if you only make 2 calls a month? What if you pay for 200 channels of TV but only watch 10 minutes a week? Does the all-you-can eat buffet give you a refund if you only eat a small salad? What about the garbage collector if you only fill your bin 1/4 of the way each month?

Folks that make 2 calls per month probably don't pay for unlimited service. I don't think very many people pay for 200 channels if they only watch 10 minutes per week. I also doubt that a person would pay for an all-you-can -eat buffet , only to eat a small salad.
Does the garbage collector charge extra if you have something extra large and heavy to throw out..maybe an extra pick-up? Thought so.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by Mister

It's simply not going to happen. Common sense says that a business is going to try to make more money rather than save its customers money. And common sense says that consumers who aren't happy with a product will switch to another product that is better/cheaper. Someone (AT&T U-verse?) will be happy to snap up TWC's customers if they chase them away with unreasonable caps.

I beg to differ. Do you really think that TWC will impose limits and the others won't? That would be incredibly dumb on their part.
You yourself said it's all about making money. We see almost weekly now how the airlines are adding fees. One adds, the others follow. Same will happen here.

[Mister]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

I beg to differ. Do you really think that TWC will impose limits and the others won't?

Yes, I do. If Time-Warner implements a 40GB cap AT&T could advertise capless service (or maybe something on the order of Comcast's 250GB cap) and many thousands of customers will flock to AT&T. Then TW would have to increase their cap in order to be competitive or face extinction in the local market.

Customers' demand for bandwidth is going to do nothing but increase in the future and Internet bandwidth continues to get cheaper in the wholesale market. Any attempt to ignore the consumer's needs will result in the AOL-ification (remember them?) of an ISP.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by Mister

Yes, I do. If Time-Warner implements a 40GB cap AT&T could advertise capless service (or maybe something on the order of Comcast's 250GB cap) and many thousands of customers will flock to AT&T. Then TW would have to increase their cap in order to be competitive or face extinction in the local market.

If Time-Warner implements a 40GB cap, AT+T could (and probably would) advertise a capless service along with a capped service...but you can bet that you would pay more (significantly) for the capless. Common sense should tell you that. They are well aware of what the competition is doing. Many thousands of customers would have to decide for themselves if the price increase for capless service, is worth it to them. I would be willing to bet that there wouldn't be a mass exodus. Some yes, most no.