Time Warner Stalls Tier Program in Texas
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Time, Warner, Roadrunner, Texas
The San Antonio Express-News is reporting that Time Warner is stalling its silly tiered broadband service in San Antonio and Austin due to "customer reaction."
Reporting that Time Warner is stalling the tiered structure in San Antonio and Austin due to "customer reaction" sounds more like some kind of trouble down at the local saloon rather than customer feedback. While the San Antonio Express-News didn't specify whether or not the unhappy subscribers wore dusty boots and holsters, apparently those residents will not feel the effects of the upcoming broadband tiered system until October at the very least.
“What happened as we're continuing to listen was we worked in some of the comments and ideas that got sent to us,” said Gavino Ramos, Time Warner's vice president of communication for South Texas. “We came to the realization, let's do this in October.” Originally, the company planned to implement the tiered structure sometime this summer. Now, due to customer feedback, the meter program won't start for another six months, giving customers additional time to enjoy the current unlimited Internet usage.
"We're putting together packages that are going to accommodate everybody,” Ramos told the paper. “I think our customers are going to be pleasantly surprised.”
While his comment seems highly optimistic, the 8 million Road Runner subscribers will more than likely not welcome the implementation of any bandwidth cap. As it stands, Road Runner subscribers will have to shell out $15 for a 1 GB download cap, on up to $75 for a 100 GB download cap. Consumers will also be required to fork over $1 for every GB used over the limit; the $15 "lite" account subscribers will have to pay $2 for each additional GB. Additionally, the gigabyte overages have a limit, capping at $75, thus providing users a virtual "unlimited" package for $150. Honestly, that's crazy talk when current subscribers pay roughly $50 for unlimited access. And believe it or not, company officials evidently think 30-percent of Road Runner subscribers use less than 1 GB a month.
Sure they do.
According to Ramos, subscribers in San Antonio and Austin should see that change in billing in January 2010, three months after the tier program kicks into gear. Time Warner is offering its customers a three-month "grace period" so that users can monitor their actual data usage. Originally, San Antonio was slated to be one of the first markets to use the new system, however now that the launch date is set October, Rochester, N.Y. and Greensboro, N.C. will test the waters first in August.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming year, to see how many long-term customers decide to jump ship and find a better broadband provider.
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Hopefully they come up with better tiers, such as $15 for 1GB, $30 for 25GB, $50 for 200GB, and $75 for unlimited. This would make all fees maxed at $75.
It is probably because here in Austin there is no Time Warner monopoly and there are 50,000 college students who follow tech news to tell all of their friends and family to switch from Time Warner to a faster and cheaper Fios or AT&T U-Verse. Time Warner probably lost close to 5,000 customers in the weeks following the announcement and if they don't let up on the caps it will just get worse for them.
No one who lives in an area with multiple ISP options should stick with Time Warner with the caps they are currently planning. Vote with your wallets people. They are starting to get the picture let's make it as CLEAR AS POSSIBLE for them.
o well, get use to it. Switch if you can but before long this will be the norm unless the gov steps in.
6 months to find a new internet provider.
extortionist at work! their dribble to the press is hilarious. 'we didn't think this through...' right... TWC will loose me as a 10+ year customer the moment they try any data capping on me in TX.
Well, at least my NY delegation is stepping up, mainly because we flooded their offices with email messages...
Force your representative to represent you; get everyone you know to put some pressure on them, and before you know it, they will be against any form of bandwith cap.
Heh, here in the Dallas TX area if thet try to impose caps I am quite sure Verizon would not waste any time reminding me they are offering unlimited access.I have stuck with TW to this point but the moment they cap I move to FIOS.
I read this as $90 for unlimited ($15 for lite plus $75 for max overages), unless they have other stipulations that they aren't stating. Much cheaper than buying the 100GB cap and paying overages.
No FIOS in my area yet. Comeon Verizon, speed up your installs!
Anyone with a choice will drop timer warner asap but they will screw anyone they have a monopoly on of course.
I want to see Timer Warner make a cap on how many hours of TV you can watch a week and put a cap on that....... o wait they would FUCKING NEVER do that because they make more money selling TV advertising but the internet they don't control so they will just limit access instead so people will watch more TV.
I read this as $90 for unlimited ($15 for lite plus $75 for max overages), unless they have other stipulations that they aren't stating. Much cheaper than buying the 100GB cap and paying overages.
The only issue is the speed-cap on the $15 plan. If I recall the tiered plans include speeds as well. So the 100GB cap includes a 20Mbps download speed. The 1GB cap probably comes with a 512Kbps download speed, not really gonna download too much data there.
I am going to shift from Time warner to Clearwire Wimax
I am, in my area, already seeing clients leave TWC for AT&T DSL. Even though DSL is slower, they don't want to worry about hitting a cap.
And I shook my head at the notion that 30% of TWC customers use less than 1 gigabyte a month. Measuring that, loading a modern webpage once a day for thirty days will eat towards that point quickly. Watching a video on youtube hits that point within a few days. TWC, your money grab is going to cost you subscribers, stop with this nonsense that its incurring additional costs (your financial statements don't lie, even though you have attempted too).
I would have to agree with most of the comments. In any place where there is a remotely decent alternative people are going to switch over. No one wants to deal with risking side fees and charges if they don't have to. Its just one more thing to worry about on an already full plate for many of us.
Throttling down to a still reasonable speed would be much more stomach-able for me personally. But if I have a decent alternative I'd still switch.
The only scary thing would be if the other major providers followed suit. Then the consumer is pretty much screwed. Of course we have 5 RIAA lawyers in the government now so they might try to help push some shenanigans through as well.
In the mean time I sincerely hope that every last customer ditches TW before the 3 month "grace" period even begins. As Tayb said...send a message with your dollars.
Hellwig might be on to something, where the lowest tier is too slow to conceivably download 100GB in a month.
I live in San Antonio and made it abundantly clear to Customer Service here that not only would i discontinue all accounts with Time Warner but make sure as many of my friends as possible where aware of what was going on and where to find cheaper alternatives. My guess is alot of the other customers here did the same.
The San Antonio area practices proper free-market principles, so multiple ISPs are allowed to operate, so there is no monopoly. Because of that, the consumer is king. What he/she says goes, and consumers speak with their wallets. Enough people say "I won't do that, that's stupid. I'm just going to switch providers, and you won't get my money," and T-W has to concede their position in order just to stay alive in that market. Now if only New York could de-regulate like that, and let the market solve its own problems...
Goodbye Time Warner, hello Verizon!!
1GB cap is just stupid.. I'm pretty sure I'm breaking that now with my Dial-up connection.
If you watch one movie, download one game, or do pretty much anything you are done w/ your 1GB cap in under an hour. I hope Time Warner loses as much money as possible for this extortion.
“I think our customers are going to be pleasantly surprised.”
yep they will be plesantly suprised that their FiOS doesn't have caps !!!!!
every oen sees the "poeple"side ofthisa nd no one see's teh "buisness" side ofthis and WHY the goverment SHOULD stomp on this plan.
time warner putting a cap on d/l bassically means they are getting to "tax" some one ELSES work !
consider tSteam or direct 2 drive .. they pay tons of money ot get teh digital games they do (and movies) valve themsleves put in HOURS of man work on thier games .. work that DOESNT INVOLVE TWC at all . yet if say job blow over here hreacehs his d/l limit while downloading a steam game TRWC gets to cahrge him for that downlaod ..... well TWC DOES NOT OWN THE DAMN GAME CONTENT THAT WAS D/Led !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so why are they getting ANY money for a steam user downloading it ?
I live in Greensboro and the reason why they are still going here is because there is no highspeed competition. Even if they lose customers to DSL, they are hoping the slower speeds will force users to switch back.
I read this as $90 for unlimited ($15 for lite plus $75 for max overages), unless they have other stipulations that they aren't stating. Much cheaper than buying the 100GB cap and paying overages.
Its $2 for overages charges with the lite plan sure if the while affect your theory. Good observation however.
They are stepping back to try to let people forget then they will try to pounce and make money like the little slimy money hungry pigs they are. Then they will realize what a huge mistake they have made when every one walks out on them and it will be to late at that point and they will have to shut their doors and it will be all over. I will be switching my service as soon as possible. They must really want to kill their business.
I live in the Medical Center area of San Antonio and can promise you that as soon as this cap is in place I am done with Time Warner. It is just a way for TW to make money on their failing cable television service. I rarely use my cable televsion and my movie chanels even less. The 1 GB cap is rediculious, when I upgraded to Vista 64 it was more than 1 GB in updates.
I live in the Medical Center area of San Antonio and can promise you that as soon as this cap is in place I am done with Time Warner. It is just a way for TW to make money on their failing cable television service. I rarely use my cable televsion and my movie chanels even less. The 1 GB cap is rediculious, when I upgraded to Vista 64 it was more than 1 GB in updates.
Don't wait until then! March down to your local Time Warner office, cancel your service, and make sure a manager or someone of importance knows EXACTLY WHY you have left. My friends and I staged sort of a "mini revolt" where about 10 of us went down to the office and got in line to cancel our services. It was a blast. The more people that do this the quicker they get the picture. Hit them where it hurts... IN THEIR WALLETS!! Money is the only driving force and once they start seeing less of it they will change their tune.
I see all these people that are saying they will be done with TWC if they impose caps, well if you can you should dump them now and tell them you don't want caps now or in six months. I would switch from but I can't even get DSL.
Personally I think that some of the music and movie industries are paying time warner to do this. Anyone with a sane mind know that you can get unlimited for under $50.
But i do want to see a new plan with a cap for all companies.
a $10 (1gb), $15(5gb), $20 (15gb), $30 (50gb) and $40-50 (unlimited plan.
Just a rough basic plan. Many people dont use the internet much at all, why cant they get it cheaper.
in rochester, tw has a monopoly. there is a couple of dsl providers, but no-one like at&t or verizon to switch to to get comparable rates. the dsl providers are small players in the game. a tw rep. was walking my street last night to find personal reactions and i told him i'm already switching to the dsl even if slower because money talks and thus i'm walking. the guy replied saying don't do it as it might not happen, the company is only talking and trying to get a reaction from the market. we aren't under any contract and thus switching is only a phone call. but signing up on anything new sucks as most want a contract of length or else charges occur.
No caps at any locations for now, according to businessweek.
http://www.businessweek.com/techno [...] 696468.htm