Time Warner is floating a plan to pay for Internet based on usage in
this Marketplace story:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/17/timewarner/
Text follows below.
Richard P.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Time Warner Cable plans to test a system in which Internet subscribers
would pay for the amount of data they download. That's not good news for
anyone who likes watching movies and music videos online. Ashley
Milne-Tyte reports.
TEXT OF STORY
TESS VIGELAND: Most of us get billed the same amount every month for our
Internet connections, no matter how much or how little we surf the Web,
but Time Warner Cable is looking into a new business model. The
country's second biggest cable provider says it's planning to test a
system where Internet subscribers pay for the amount of data they
download. Not good news for anyone who likes watching movies and music
videos online.
Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: Time Warner Cable starts testing in Beaumont, Texas
later this year. Company spokesman Alex Dudley blames a small number of
bandwidth hogs.
ALEX DUDLEY: Less than 5 percent of our users are at times using up
to 50 percent of our network. Which means that they are negatively
impacting on the experience for the rest of our customers.
He says the trial will tier customers based on how many gigabytes of
data they download each month. He says the company hasn't decided how
much each group will pay, but Porter Bibb of Media Tech Capital Partners
doesn't believe light Internet users will pay any less, and he says Time
Warner will charge heavy users a premium.
PORTER BIBB: And that's simply not going to fly. It's as nonsensical
as saying if you have cable television and you don't watch much
television you're going to pay less than someone who watches 24/7.
Bibb says this is just a way for cable companies to get an early piece
of the online video pie, but Declan McCullagh of CNET says Internet
service providers need to try new pricing models, because all that video
clogs their pipes.
DECLAN McCULLAGH: It's very expensive to build new pipes, so what do
you do? I think we're going to see experimentation. We're going to see
some ISPs try to charge. We're going to see other ISPs, and Comcast is
already doing this, trying to throttle.
That is, slow down the speed of the connection for those who use a lot
of bandwidth. He says U.S. consumers may have got used to all-in-one
pricing for Internet use, but he says bandwidth could eventually be like
any other utility, where the free market dictates how much we pay.
In New York, I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
************************************************************************
* ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <==
* ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <==
* Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name
* Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST
* Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L
* New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress
* Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
************************************************************************
* List archive from 1/1/2000 is on the MARC http://marc.info/?l=computerguys-l
* List archive at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/
* RSS at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/maillist.xml
* Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived
************************************************************************
