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Analsys & Opinion The Right Angle The horror! the horror! Per gigabyte broadband charging provokes outrage in the US
Analsys & Opinion The Right Angle The horror! the horror! Per gigabyte broadband charging provokes outrage in the US | The horror! the horror! Per gigabyte broadband charging provokes outrage in the US |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Tuesday, 03 June 2008 | |
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Associated Press reported on 2 June that new Time Warner's cable Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas would have monthly allowances for the amount of data they upload and download and that those exceeding the limit would be charged $US1 per Gbyte. The report quoted Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable's executive vice president of advanced technology saying that the move was an attempt to deal fairly with Internet usage, which is very uneven among Time Warner Cable's subscribers with just five percent taking up half of the capacity on local cable lines. "We think it's the fairest way to finance the needed investment in the infrastructure," Leddy said. Time Warner had announced plans for the trial in January, but did not give any details. These have now been announced and range from $US29.95 a month for a 768kbps service with a and a 5Gbyte monthly cap to $US54.90 for a 15Mbps service and a 40Gbyte cap, which puts them in the same ballpark as services in Australia. Time Warner is taking a very cautious approach to this new way of charging: it will apply only to new customers in a limited area - only 90,000 existing customers - and will not be imposed for the first two months. However it has provoked an outraged response. A ComputerWorld US reporter remarked: "The idea seems somewhat reasonable when you're talking about 250GB per month limits...But lo and behold, here's this Time Warner plan with a paltry 5GB limit. Sign up for an online software distribution service like Steam, or maybe streaming movies from Netflix, and you could easily hit that cap and start paying overage fees. That would make Internet access plans like cellphone plans, which to me represent some of the most consumer-unfriendly contracts around and...would stifle the kind of online business innovation that's just now taking off." The report concluded: "This type of metering would be a horrible move for business and consumers alike, and I feel sorry for the Texas guinea pigs who will be subject to this test come Thursday. Here's hoping it gets nipped in the bud." CONCLUDED |
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