I swear I’m going to switch. I keep saying that re: my shitty cable and DirecTV. But Time Warner’s latest ploy to rob the unsuspecting of money — and be most assured that’s exactly what metering/regulating the use of the internet is — is going to actually make me switch.
None of the crappy MLB package and lack of HD channels and poor customer service and outrageous current cable bills have been enough to get me to flop over to the Dish. But if Time Warner actually follows through with this, and actually starts charging for people that do a shitload of masturbating use the internet super-frequently, I’m gone.
And after reading this, if you feel the same way, I suggest you do the same. Preemptive, yet passive, attack, people. It’s how we get things taken done in America.
On Thursday, new Time Warner Cable Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas, will have monthly allowances for the amount of data they upload and download. Those who go over will be charged $1 per gigabyte, a Time Warner Cable executive told the Associated Press.
Metered billing is an attempt to deal fairly with Internet usage, which is very uneven among Time Warner Cable’s subscribers, said Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable’s executive vice president of advanced technology.
Just 5 percent of the company’s subscribers take up half of the capacity on local cable lines, Leddy said. Other cable Internet service providers report a similar distribution.
“We think it’s the fairest way to finance the needed investment in the infrastructure,” Leddy said.
In fairness, one dollar per gigabyte is not that pricey. In unfairness, well, here’s the problem. Because only five percent of subscribers use half of the space, guess how much space the other 95% use? “Not much” would be the most accurate answer. You think your mom is burning through a bunch of T-Dubs’ bandwidth, even though she constantly hits refresh on the FOX News website looking for the latest Clinton conspiracy? Hells to the naw.
This is nothing short of penalizing heavy internet users. In other words, abusing a near market monopoly that Time Warner owns, while also managing to stereotype particular customers. If you’re going to charge 45 dollars a month for the internet, that should be it.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I used to hate Time Warner too. Then I moved and was forced to deal with Suddenlink. I miss Time Warner terribly from a relative standpoint.
That’s what I’ve heard about Cox cable in Eastern NC. But I don’t care. TW sucks. And DirecTV or The Dish are always an option, no?
Brinson, I hear you. I switched to directv almost a year ago and couldnt be happier. I haven’t once had interruption from weather and I have MLB package with Superfan so all games in HD and the strike zone channel, like the red zone one in football, is awesome…I am watching it now and it is the shit.
Directv…nothing else compares if you are a sports nut..
oh yea, the Masters, US Open and the tennis majors too all have FREE mix channel with like 4-6 feeds going on and it is just nuts…don’t be a slave to cable any longer.
Yeah, Suddenlink bought out Cox ’round these parts. Unfortunately DTV/Dish isn’t an option for me given that I invested in a condo with a balcony that faces Northeast (basically 180 degrees in the wrong direction from where I’d need to point a dish). I won’t make that mistake again…
Tom, I’m fucking jealous. I share Brinson’s disdain for TW, but I can’t get DirectTV…the trees around my house are too tall and block the signal. I had the installer show up three days before the NFL season last year so I could watch all of Black Jesus’ Titans games and the Cowboys games and he spent 30 mins on the roof looking for a signal and then just packed up his shit and said it couldn’t be done. Cutting down trees to watch TV just seems a little aggressive, so I have to suffer with the inferior product.
Worst. Company. Ever.
That definitly blows.