Time Warner to start Metering in August

Well it's true my ISP is going to start metering in August and I'm pretty sure I use a lot of bandwidth as I am on the computer all day. If you notice they are on twitter maybe we should all give them a piece of our mind. Here is the response from Time Warner Cable (Road Runner) to the issue:

Statement from Landel Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer, Time Warner Cable RE: Consumption based billing trials
4-9-09

Some recent press reports about our four consumption based billing trials planned for later this year were premature and did not tell the full story. With that said, we realize our communication to customers about these trials has been inadequate and we apologize for any frustration we caused. We’ve heard the passionate feedback and we’ve taken action to address our customers’ concerns.

With the ever-increasing flood of content on the Internet, bandwidth consumption is growing exponentially. That’s a good thing; however, there are costs associated with this increased Internet usage. Here at Time Warner Cable, consumption among our high-speed Internet subscribers is increasing by about 40% a year. As a facilities based provider, we’ve built a network that must be maintained and upgraded. We have increasing variable costs and we have to continue to invest in the network itself.

This is a common problem that all network providers are experiencing and must address. Several other providers have instituted consumption based billing, including all major network providers in Canada and others in the U.K., New Zealand and elsewhere. In the U.S., AT&T has begun two consumption based billing trials and other providers including Comcast, Charter and Cox are using varying methods of monitoring and managing bandwidth consumption.

For good reason. Internet demand is rising at a rate that could outpace capacity within a few years. According to industry analysts, the infrastructure may not be able to accommodate the explosion of online content by 2012. This could result in Internet brownouts. It will take a lot of money to fix the problem. Rather than raising prices on all customers or limiting usage, we think the fairest approach is to move to a tiered model in which users pay more if they use more.

If we don’t act, consumers’ Internet experience will suffer. Sitting still is not an option. That’s why we’re beginning the consumption based billing trials. It’s important to stress that they are trials. The feedback we’ve received from our customers has been very helpful. We’ve made changes to the terms in our current and upcoming trial markets as follows:

• To accommodate lighter Internet users and those who need a lower priced option, we are introducing a 1 GB per month tier offering speeds of 768 KB/128 KB for $15 per month. Overage charges will be $2 per GB per month. Our usage data show that about 30% of our customers use less than 1 GB per month.

• We are increasing the bandwidth tier sizes included in all existing packages in the trial markets to 10, 20, 40 and 60 GB for Road Runner Lite, Basic, Standard and Turbo packages, respectively. Package prices will remain the same. Overage charges will be $1 per GB per month.

• We will introduce a 100 GB Road Runner Turbo package for $75 per month (offering speeds of 10 MB/1 MB). Overage charges will be $1 per GB per month.

• Overage charges will be capped at $75 per month. That means that for $150 per month customers could have virtually unlimited usage at Turbo speeds.

• Once we implement this trial, we will not immediately start billing customers for overage. Rather, we will first provide two months of usage data. Then we will provide a one-month grace period in which overages will be noted on customers’ bills, but they will not be charged. So, customers will have an opportunity to assess their usage and right-size their service packages before usage charges are applied.

• Trials will begin in Rochester, N.Y., and Greensboro, N.C., in August. We will apply what we learn from these two markets when we launch trials in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, in October, but we will guarantee at least the same level of usage capacity in these trials.

• As we launch DOCSIS 3.0 in the trial markets, we plan to offer a 50/5 MB speed tier for $99 per month.

Again, the Internet is dynamic and continually evolves, so our plans will evolve as well and aren’t set in stone. We appreciate the feedback we’ve received. We’ll look forward to more dialogue as we progress in these trials. You can send your comments and feedback to us at realideas@twcable.com.

Landel Hobbs
COO
Time Warner Cable

For questions, etc:

Jeff Simmermon
Director, Digital Communications
Time Warner Cable

Find us on Twitter at: @jeffTWC, @MsmarTWC, @MelissaTWC_TX

Tags: cable, metering, time, warner, august, internet, service, web

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Comment by Ninesvnsicks on April 16, 2009 at 2:14pm: Well I guess Time Warner got the message they were just on the local news here in Rochester, NY saying they are dropping their plans for caps and tiers thanks for the all the help if you guys responded to them :)

R News story

Comment by dave on April 15, 2009 at 11:49pm: AT & T users don't worry . AT & T has contacted me and they stated they are conducting a metering servey . But will not increase their fees . They see that customers will go to satalite and they will loose out . So they are just doing the survey and nothing else will happen . I get telephone for $10.00 a month and internet for 25.00 a month .
But Time Warner is trying to corner the market on making all their customers choose a multi package for a low price and then jack up the cost . I fell for their trial scam for the digital set up . The lady did not explain it was atrial to their digital service but that it would stay the same at 54.98 a month . Well I got jacked up 28.00 more a month and I asked them to find the customer service rep # that went to the trial tag . They said they are not allowed to do that . I requested that the person that lied to me be fired . They sated again they are not allowed to look up which customer service rep helped me . They said suck it up or go else where . Im looking for a better service for digital right now . I stood in front of their door recently for three hours handing out direct TV pamlets and they called the cops on me . So I took two steps away from their window and then yelled at their customer to show them the pamlets again . Well the cops came again and they asked if I was being vulger with Time Warner customers . I said , No way IM just showing them a cheaper option than Time Warner . They asked if I worked for Direct Tv . I said no . Then the police went in and said they could not do amything to me because I was trying to show customers a better option . That made Time Warner close their doors until I left . I sat in the car and they thought I had left . Soon as they opened their doors I stood back out on the walk again . The one customer went and said something to them and they said he's back . I did this until their closing time and I went back the next day . Well by mid afternoon the president of the company had driven up and asked me to stop or he was going to get me arrested for pandering without a license . The police stated I was legal because I was not trying to sell anything but show a difference in prices . There is no law against that . The President of Time Warner came back and asked why I was doing this . I told him my story about how bad the customer service was here in this town for his company . I told them they are right down liars . He said he would check into this . I was told to go home and he would straighten out my bill . The next day I recieved a call from Time Warner and they changed my bill back to 54.95 for life as a customer and I got it in writing . It shows that if you have determination you will recieve a better deal . Thanks Time Warner ,. But this doesn't mean I support people to buy from you but to show when we are right and you were wrong . So stand up for your rights when you are right . Thanks Dave

Comment by Justin on April 15, 2009 at 9:36pm: Why does this reek of the Microsoft layoff debacle. "We only made 400 billion in pure profit this year which is a clear decline from the 500 billion last year so lets lay off 100,000 workers" @$%^& disgusting. When the $^%& are we getting WiMax?

Comment by MerryMarjie on April 15, 2009 at 10:31am: Time-Warner is my ISP and I have considered dumping it for some time, with ATT and a package deal to replace it. I don't think I get the speeds they advertise for my $45 a month, and if I can get broadband, wireless and a home land line for the prices ATT advertises, it makes much better sense to go with them.

Comment by SChalice on April 15, 2009 at 9:52am: They will obviously lose my business

Comment by Ninesvnsicks on April 15, 2009 at 9:05am: They can't blame it on "Internet Demand" if you look at Japan the average residential connection is around $20 and they get 160mbits.

Comment by system001 on April 15, 2009 at 7:20am: there is no need for tiered pricing or for capping bandwidth. comcast for instance. once you take into account all of their cost involved in providing each customer with broadband service it cost them about $7.00 per person per month. when you consider they charge $45.00 a month plus a monthly modem rental charge of $5.00 they come out making one tidy profit. tiered service is only so the isp's can make even larger profits and to make sure you are using them for your phone and cable as well. luckily there has all ready been a huge outcry over time warner's proposed august roll out of tiered pricing.