Time Warner halts metering trials
By John Lister
Time Warner has put plans to test pay-per-use broadband on hold. But the firm has not ruled out bringing back the scheme later on.
Customers in four cities were scheduled for tests later this year in which customers could choose from a range of monthly fees, each with a differing monthly download limit. Any use above the selected limit would cost $1 per gigabyte (capped at $75), meaning users who wanted truly unlimited Internet use would have to pay $150 a month.
The plan led to a hostile response from customers and consumer groups. It even prompted a Congress member to propose a bill to prevent firms with a local cable monopoly from introducing “unfair” price tiering.
Announcing that the testing will be put on hold, Time Warner’s cable chief Glenn Britt says, “While we continue to believe that consumption-based billing may be the best pricing plan for consumers, we want to do everything we can to inform our customers of our plans and have the benefit of their views as part of our testing process.”
The firm’s existing trials in Beaumont, Texas, will continue. Time Warner says so far 16 percent of users have been “affected” by the caps, which appears to mean they’ve exceeded their monthly limits.
It’s clear Time Warner isn’t ditching the idea altogether. Britt specifically says the cancellation of the trials is down to “misunderstanding” about the plans, rather than the firm changing its attitude to the concept. The firm has also announced it will be launching online meters to help customers keep track of their monthly download figures.
News of the canceled trials actually broke in a news conference by Senator Charles Schumer, a supporter of Eric Massa, the Congressman behind the planned legislation. Massa said of the cancellation: “This is a true grassroots victory, but we will move forward with our legislation to ensure that any future plans to charge customers based on how much they download do not spring up anywhere else.”
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April 17th, 2009
“The plan led to a hostile response from customers and consumer groups. It even prompted a Congress member to propose a bill to prevent firms with a local cable monopoly from introducing “unfair” price tiering.”
I’d switch to a different Cable Internet Provider if I could when TWC pulls off this shit. This pricing would be very unfair. I just canned Cable TV & Phone because they started to charge me over $140 a month for all 3.