Time Warner Cable Piloting Disgustingly Low Bandwidth Caps

By on Jun 4, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Opinions June 4, 2008

As we delve further into an age where more and more content is obtained and consumed digitally, Time Warner Cable seems to be doing everything it can to stifle progress. Residents of Beaumont, Texas are in for a treat later this week when Time Warner goes live with a new pilot for its cable internet customers. Under this pilot, cable internet customers will be limited to a measly 40 GB of traffic each month. The cost of service in Beaumont will still be $54.90 during this trial period, which by the way amounts to an astonishing $1.37 per gigabyte. The assumption of course is that internet subscribers who also choose VoIP or VOD services will see the 40 GB limitation lifted while the rest are left without an option to even pay an additional fee for more bandwidth. Heavy users such as those who embrace set top box offerings like Apple TV and Vudu are essentially given three choices in this scenario; Buy additional Time Warner services, stop using the internet as you have become accustomed or stop embracing these advancements in internet technology altogether. Do you currently consume all of your media via digital downloads? Buy a DVD. Do you enjoy the convenience and simplicity of online backup services such as Carbonite and Mozy? Buy an external hard drive. Time Warner Cable can’t single handedly reverse the exponential technology curve that the internet has bolstered, but it sure looks like they’re going to try.

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  • MadMike

    Galvatron,

    Only Verizon Wireless has a cap. And seriously, if you download more than 5GB in a month on an air card, you are one very, very, VERY patient person! :-)

    Verizon FiOS doesn’t have a cap per se. It does have a clause stating it reserves the right to take action against abuse in the most extreme cases. From talking to customer support, the “cap” is like 500 GB and repeatedly for more than a few consecutive months. As far as I know and what Customer Support told me, they have yet to enforce it.

    The most I have done was 300 GB in a month on FiOS, but I really only average 90 GB.

  • maikel

    Thank God! My local company here in NYC, Cablevision, doesn’t act like that. Their service is very fast and reliable.

  • monkey

    I only came in here to read Galvatron’s comments.

  • stevestm

    verizon caps there data @ 5gb/mo

  • http://www.interscription.com Khidr

    Not to be super critical of the guy trying to get free in that pic, but anyone else notice that the door is open behind him?

  • MadMike

    Stevestm:
    That’s Verizon Wireless. We are talking about a completely different thing here.

  • moosebump

    On Jun 4, 2008 @ 12:34 pm, mingkee Said:

    we’re losing internet freedom, even in the country of “free”, and end up like Communist countries
    the difference is: contents and usage
    Democratic House persons may be interested in these cases
    *******

    You have it completely backwards. Communism is where the government says everyone should have free unrestricted internet access but the network sucks, has outages, and crap speed because no one invests any money in it since there is no profit motive.

    Here you pay as much as you are willing for the service and service providers invest accordingly. The more we value bandwidth and open our wallets the more providers will invest in continous improvements. Do you think Verizon would build out Fios if someone told them they had to provide unlimited access to their network at prices fixed by the government.

    Korea has some of the fastest access speeds – South Korea! My guess is North Korea is at 56k. Which one is communist?

  • Jacob

    Time Warner, wherever they are your ISP, are also your cable company. And the last thing they as a cable company want is people getting TV or movies online.

    I could drop cable and buy only what I want from iTunes. But these bandwidth caps will ensure I don’t do that; it will soon be more economical to buy premium cable than to buy enough bandwidth to replace it.

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