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Time Warner broadband usage caps spreading, consumers revolt!
Time Warner's broadband usage caps are coming soon to a city near you. Soon after the company decided to spread its limited 40GB-a-month (enough for two HD movies a week) service beyond its test market in Beaumont, Texas, angry customers created a petition online to stop the onslaught of metered broadband. Rise up, citizens! Sign the petition here, spread the word.
Time Warner's spreading chokehold on the Internet moves next to Greensboro, N.C. (my hometown — now this is going too far!), followed by Austin and San Antonio, Texas and Rochester, N.Y. this summer. The service will roll out in four tiers, starting at $29.95 for 5GB per month, up to $54.90 for 40GB. Overage will cost you a buck a gig. Compared to Comcast's 250GB cap, and Charter Communications' 250GB and 100GB caps, this amounts to price gouging.
Five years from now, we'll laugh at this greedy ploy to extract extra money from consumers. Of course Time Warner thinks this is a good idea, choking downloads just when HD streaming is exploding, and funneling viewers toward its own (unlimited but overpriced) pay-per-view services.
Come on, U. S. Government, regulate! Make it illegal for a cable operator to also provide broadband service. Or maybe the market will decide, with consumers opting for upcoming WiMax and other competing wireless broadband services that could soon slam dunk the cable modem greedmeisters. Either way, it's time for action.
Via BusinessWeek, and Petition
By Mihos at 2:06 PM ON 04/03/09
The cable companies need to evolve or die. With several computers in the house and the amount of gaming/video watching/downloading I and my family do, if I had to choose between internet and cable TV, cable TV wouldn't even come close.
By beowuff at 2:09 PM ON 04/03/09
I've yet to hit Comcast's cap. However, if I ever do, I will immediately drop them and change providers. I want unlimited service. This means both bandwidth and the freedom to both run a server at home and hit any site I want with no restrictions. Vote with your money.
By TH4T6UY at 2:25 PM ON 04/03/09
I go to school at ECU and live in Havelock NC and this could actually affect me. Crap. They are absolutely retarded.
By onemooresam at 2:49 PM ON 04/03/09
Hi Charlie White! Greetings from your hometown!
I am disgusted with TWC and will drop them in a heartbeat. Sure would be nice if they weren't the only fairly high-speed (still slower than other countries!). DSL, though not desired, is looking to be an option. TWC can fail, too.
By roshinobi at 2:50 PM ON 04/03/09
WiMax looks like it might be dying. Nokia dropped from it the other day.
By elvenangel at 3:11 PM ON 04/03/09
Comcast is a horrible company and they're atleast offering better. I think Time Warner are a bunch of greedy pigs. If they were really doing this out of concern for bandwidth abusers and to stop piracy they'd simply track and eliminate instead of Strangle hold.
By okham at 4:37 PM ON 04/03/09
TWC can kiss my money goodbye if they institute this across the board. Time to start shopping for new internet and TV service...
By mnibly at 5:09 PM ON 04/03/09
In Austin, everyone is outraged! At least we have a choice to switch to Grande Communications.
Hang on to your wallets
Watch out for your purses
Time Warner get ready
For protests and curses!
Before you get shafted
Seven ways from Sunday
Consider by golly
The switch to Grande!
By Aeolius at 5:17 PM ON 04/03/09
Time-Warner of Greensboro is my cable provider. They just started monitoring bandwidth use this month. I will switch to DSL and DirecTV in a heartbeat, when they flip the switch for this. Given that I have 8 Macs and 7 kids using them, I know I would be well over their 40GB limit.
By Bbax at 5:21 PM ON 04/03/09
Unfortunately, Grande doesn't have service everywhere in Austin. I have no alternatives to TWC.
By Grover at 8:03 PM ON 04/03/09
Well Time Warner may become the victim - or they might become the trend setter.
Its not unthinkable that every company could eventually have lower caps like they all do in Australia.
By Tim at 2:25 PM ON 04/04/09
I'm not happy with Comcast's 250GB, and am looking into possibly moving. If I had Time-Warner, I'd be dumping them so fast that they wouldn't know what hit them. Is there a way to say they'd lose a customer faster than *instantly*.
By murc at 12:01 AM ON 04/05/09
man, I'm glad my cable provider doesn't pull this kind of crap.
BTW, just curious, is there a way that I could find out how much I'm Down/Up loading per month?
maybe a program that I could keep on to constantly monitor how much I download and upload?
By Anonymous at 9:24 AM ON 04/05/09
FIOS anyone? TWC can go fuck themselves
By DIJOE at 11:59 PM ON 04/05/09
Earthlink may be an option. I live in Greensboro, NC. Everyone call the State Attorney General's Office of Consumer Affairs. Flood them with mail and calls. Lobby the Greensboro City Council to cancel the Time Warner Cable Agreement.
By Anonymous at 8:23 AM ON 04/06/09
TimeWarner charges $250 to cut the cable contract. Fortunately AT&T will pay $250 to get your business. I'm making the switch currently.
By anonymous at 1:11 PM ON 04/06/09
DIJOE, Earthlink is TWC. Just one of their fronts. Just like RoadRunner is another face of TWC via BrightHouse here in Florida.
By arun at 6:16 AM ON 04/07/09
very nice blog and whole post on blog is very luxury and cool, i love this blog
By markg92 at 10:32 AM ON 04/07/09
This is a huge step backwards. Don’t these jackasses at TWC remember “pay as you go” pricing from way back in the good ‘ol days of dial-up access, and how it failed once an alternative came along? They need to slice up and ration cable bandwidth simply because they’re wasting so much with all their goofy on-demand TV options, but mostly because they want a slice of the free web-TV pie such as Hulu. They have NO COMPETITION in Greensboro and it really galls me to give them $70 a month for *non-digital* cable and another $50 or so for basic broadband. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you: this is the new benchmark for corporate greed in a slow economy, and was the reason we went to cable modems in the first place. If AT&T (U-Verse) and Verizon (FiOS) are listening: please, please, please give us just one flimsy reason to get these TWC parasites off our backs once and for all.
Dear all: for the past 10 years, when I write my monthly check, I enter the payee as “Time Warner Cable Sucks.” I suggest you all do the same.
By NVR at 4:38 AM ON 04/08/09
Wow, Who'd have though that this would ever happen, I live in NC, and this is just unacceptable. I will be taking my business elsewhere.... i have two pc's running on a router, both computers are used for streaming media, as well as downloading (not pirating). This simply will not work for my needs. SIGN THE PETITION. I've already complained to the company, and the local, federal, state, and national representatives, i suggest you guys do the same.
By Yorick2a at 2:52 PM ON 04/17/09
We Protested and Complained and Rochester WON we got TW to stop the madness at least for now. It shows if the community pressures hard enough with the support of local politicians TW will back down. Our Federal Senator stood up and told TW to stop it and they did.
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