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Comments on news posted 2009-04-17 11:26:27: While yesterday's decision by Time Warner Cable to back off their extremely unpopular metered billing trial in four markets was a huge consumer victory, the phrasing of the company's announcement makes it clear that the debate is far from over. ..

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jadebangle
Premium Member
join:2007-05-22
00000

jadebangle to andre2

Premium Member

to andre2

Re: More Populist ISP Bashing from BBR

said by andre2:

said by jadebangle:

Most of us do have a choice its called going back to dialup

You can get it for 5 to 10 bucks a month and there is no limit on bandwidth transfer
And if you leave it running 24/7, you can download almost 15G/month which is 3 times TWC's lowest cap.
That's true... but most of us would probably use a lot less then that since all we gonna do with it is email and buy stuff online
with a slower connection it would be impossible to use 15gb in a month
if road runner want us to use a lot less then offer slower tier for a lot less

256/128kbps for 9.99 a month
512/256kbps for 14.99 a month
1mbps/384kbps for 19.99 a month

They don't want that, it won't make them good money and it will save the consumer lots of money

They want to gouge those high paying user a lot more then what they have already paid
That's 44.95 a month or 59.95 a month plus 1 dollar per GB

For 24.95 a month you're capped at 384k/128k for a mere 5gb pretty shitty matey
10gb at 44.95 a month
20gb at 59.95 a month
doubling that to 10 to 40gb is still pretty much the same crap with the same overage charges of 1 dollar per gb.

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU to Lazlow

Member

to Lazlow

Re: The right way to offer metered Internet service

said by Lazlow:

Despite that fact that I used Fios instead of Verizon you (and virtually everybody else) knew exactly what company I was speaking of.
I'm not so sure, which is why I made a point of it. So often I see people write messages glorifying FiOS as if it is some new up-start, working to do battle for the consumer against the hordes of corporate America. FiOS is part of the epitome of corporate America. There is no reason to believe that they will not "do to you" exactly what the legacy providers are "doing to you" just as soon as they secure enough market share.
said by Lazlow:

Their system has far more head room than cable does.
True, but just think about what we're talking about in this thread... we're talking about people downloading a number of GB per night, to watch television programming. Most folks will be pulling down a lot more in one night than they currently pull down in a month! Even that will cause problems for FiOS.

Beyond that, in time, the cable companies will have to replace their 1980s-era and 1990s-era networks, and when they do they'll be replacing those networks with technology far beyond what FiOS has. That's the nature of things, when you're talking about services based on expensive infrastructures: You're often going to get technological leap-frogging.
BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI

BigVe to viperpa33s

Member

to viperpa33s

Re: Why don't they offer TRUE metered billing?

Don't think that would work at all with metering.Their meter would say like 200GB and yours maybe 75GB.Fight bills every month is not the answer either and that's what would happen(greed)

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven to ElJay

Member

to ElJay

Re: at what point

Oh jeez. Same here.

I'm surprised I lived through that one.
Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA

1 edit

Sammer to viperpa33s

Member

to viperpa33s

Re: Why don't they offer TRUE metered billing?

said by viperpa33s:

I don't understand why they don't offer TRUE metered billing if it's all about fairness?
Never going to happen because TWC still wants to charge Granny who uses her connection for little more than communicating with her grandchildren $40/month. This has nothing to do with fairness, it's about price gouging and protecting cable TV from video competition. You won't see true metered billing for the same reason you don't see al a carte for cable TV.
Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Lazlow to bUU

Member

to bUU

Re: The right way to offer metered Internet service

bicker

I do not think you really understand what 1.2Gbps split between 32 users means. If all 32 of those users are online at the same time(downloading) they will each have 37Mbps. Now remember each channel of Docsis only has 38Mbps to be split among all the users. 37Mbps is about 16GB/hour. A full blown uncompressed HD stream is 19Mbps. It is going to be a "few" years before everybody is downloading 16GB/hour. You also have to remember that 1.2Gbps is Fios's old technology (no longer being installed), if I remember correctly the stuff they are installing now is 2.6Gbps.

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU

Member

I don't think you really understand the business of technology.
Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Lazlow

Member

I think it is pretty clear. One system has 37Mbps available to each user when all users are on line. The other system has 38Mbps split between all the users. Even if you go to 4 channel Docsis3 the users are still sharing only 152Mbps.

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU

Member

I believe you misread the message you replied to.
Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Lazlow

Member

No, I understood. It is right back to the situation of a business looking at short term profits or taking the long term view. Verizon, Cablevison, etc are taking the long term view. They are investing and reinvesting in their infrastructure so that they have sufficient capacity to support the speeds they are offering. Customers who do not experience slowed service due to the lack of capacity their provider has, are happy customers. Happy customers spread the word about a good product and are not looking to switch providers. Unhappy customers also spread the word about capacity issues and migrate to companies that do have such issues(when they can). If TWC continues in the direction they are headed, they will soon find themselves in the same situation as Qwest, disparately needing to upgrade but with insufficient income (due to failing to keep up) to do the upgrades.

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU

Member

No, sorry, I don't think you understand. There isn't a choice between looking at the short term realities or taking the long term view. Companies must always do both. Furthermore, there is nothing here that differentiates between short term and long term view: Metered service may indeed be the BEST approach from the long term view. Remember, your personal preference doesn't determine what is best; the business realities do. Your comments about "happy customers" is nice wishful thinking on your part. It isn't the realities of mass-market business today. Customers are utterly unloyal.
Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Lazlow

Member

If happy customers are not a concern anymore why did TWC back off?

While it is true to some extent that companies need to look at both long term and short term interests, TWC's refusal to accept where the market is and where it is headed makes it clear that they are exclusively looking at the short term. Along with that a company that has kept its eye on long term interests generally does not have to worry about the short term (they already took care of that when they paid attention to the long term in the past). TWC's low caps with outrageous overage fees (well over 10X cost) was an attempt to keep people from seeing how badly they need to improve their capacity.

For the most part I have concentrated on Fios becuase I think it is the best long term solution (10 years or more). But Cablevision is taking a completely different path. Since they understood that even with D3 they were going to have to significantly split their nodes in order to have enough capacity 2-3 years down the line, they chose(till recently) to stick with D2 and split the nodes now instead of later. This allowed them to offer 30Mbps service (for over a year now) without significant congestion, while still using the cheaper D2 technology. When they come back and switch those nodes to D3 they should be able to easily offer 100Mbps speeds without significant congestion. Both the Fios and Cablevison paths allowed them to offer the higher speed tiers without congestion issues. TWC on the other hand has chosen not to upgrade to D3(still a lot of D1.1 systems) and not to split the nodes to ease congestion, instead they went with ultra low caps. So when they finally do upgrade they are going to be so far behind that they will have to split the nodes and switch to D3 at the same time just to remain competitive(again the same situation Qwest is in).
33358088 (banned)
join:2008-09-23

1 edit

33358088 (banned)

Member

canada 2005 p2p numbers

sept 2005 : 5.4 million using p2p all the time.
March 2006 ( before throttle of course)

9.8 million canucks ( canadians )using p2p simultaneously at same time on average.

NOW give me that users BS about 20-30GB avg use.....
go for it, utter non sense and backed by stats prolly form 2000 before bit torrent existed.

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU to Lazlow

Member

to Lazlow

Re: The right way to offer metered Internet service

said by Lazlow:

If happy customers are not a concern anymore why did TWC back off?
Because the media created a fire-storm, which could have led to political implications.
said by Lazlow:

While it is true to some extent that companies need to look at both long term and short term interests, TWC's refusal to accept where the market is and where it is headed makes it clear that they are exclusively looking at the short term.
Ridiculous. This has nothing to do with TWC's acknowledgment of lack thereof. That's a red herring.

TWC was unlucky. That's it.
said by Lazlow:

Along with that a company that has kept its eye on long term interests generally does not have to worry about the short term (they already took care of that when they paid attention to the long term in the past).
That's simply not the case. Companies have to work at the short term and the long term every single day. Taking a long term view in the past does nothing to absolve a company of concerning itself with short term considerations in the future. You're just plain wrong.
Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

Lazlow

Member

Why did the media create a fire-storm? Because people were p^ssed off(not happy) about the issue.

The VAST majority (certainly not all) of short term issues only become short term issues becuase they were not addressed (in the past) when they were long term issues. The rate of bandwidth consumption has only been headed in one direction since the birth of the internet and it will continue to go in that direction for a lot longer. Everybody knows this. TWC has tried to ignore and prevent this.

If you think I am wrong, just look back at the article on stock jocks(front page). They thought that Verizon was throwing away their money and Qwest was the smartest kid on the block. Compare the two companies positions today. Verizon is a HUGE threat to its competitors in every market they have moved Fios into. Qwest is looking at having to sell its long distance lines just to stay in business(a move that would probably mean the end of Qwest). For the most part, if a company stays on top of its long term issues the short term issues do not offer any significant problems. Conversely if a company ignores long term issues(Qwest in the past, TWC past/now) they create short term issues that they may or may not be able to overcome.

bUU
join:2007-05-10
Kissimmee, FL

bUU

Member

And people weren't unhappy about a billion other things? No, sorry Laz, but reality isn't anything like what you assert.
Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO

2 edits

Lazlow

Member

It is a matter of degree. If I get a $10 parking ticket that I do not think I deserve, I will probably just pay it. Not becuase the ticket was right, but becuase it is not worth my time to fight over a $10 ticket. Now move that ticket up to a $100 and I am FAR more likely to fight it. The $1GB was not going to be some minor annoyance. People could easily see how it was going to cost them $150/month for the same service that they were getting at $60/month(or less).
Expand your moderator at work

thats_not_it
@76.226.196.x

thats_not_it

Anon

doesn't feel right

suggestion that it might continue with a glossy PR coat

people have made it clear, there's bills in congress, there's competitors that don't do it in many markets

my gut feeling tells me this is over.

statements are statements, they want to keep the door open, but this is done.

metered billing isn't going to work - everyone knows that. Remember, they want metered billing - not "this is what it takes to get booted". If most people use 5-10 gigs, having a "cap" that is over and above that is pointless, right?

Why metered bill only the top 5% or whatever of your customers? You have to metered-bill everyone!

This is poorly thought out, and it isn't going anywhere. Sometimes I wonder.

whoitis
@rr.com

whoitis

Anon

gubment regulation again anyone?

so whos up for letting the gubment control it all again?

hands? anyone?
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