ricklg
Premium
join:2004-03-07
Laurel, MD
 ·Comcast
4 edits | Metered Bandwidth
The concept by itself isn't bad. The terms TW has chosen are ridiculous, but it's not an unreasonable business model however.
Telephone companies have for years offered a message rate over and above some threshold for people who don't use the phone a lot. My phone company (Bell Atlantic / Verizon) picked 65 calls as a baseline. That was a reasonable amount for the base fee they charged compared to flat rate calling. Anything over that cost something (now 10 cents).
If TW were to pick a reasonable base bandwidth (changes with time as technology changes) and then charged a reasonable fee per GB above that then it might be hard to argue against it--other than "I don't like it".
I suspect that future (5 to 10 year) internet access will have access with specified caps and an overage (marketing will call it "user experience enhancement") charge. Flat rate won't exist, but there will be some large base bandwidth offerings at increased cost. This will satisfy most people provided the charges are reasonable.
I see the current TW attempt at gouging to be just the first shot in the rate war to come. They are testing the waters to see just what rates the consumer will put up with. |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
 ·PHONE POWER
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | quote:
The concept by itself isn't bad. The terms TW has chosen are ridiculous, but it's not an unreasonable business model however.
Exactly. I could see something like $1 per gig over 100, but starting out at a 5gb limit on their lower tier? That's lunacy. |
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