approval from:
Core0000 
jonnyz
| Actually, what TW doesn't want you to know is that even a heavy user that consumes 50-100GB a month is highly profitable. Even a 500GB+ a month user is profitable. The real problem is that the last mile doesn't support very heavy users well. 40Mbps of shared bandwidth between 100-200 people doesn't cut it very well anymore in the age of HD video and 10+ megapixel images. TW is just too cheap to upgrade to DOCSIS 3 right away, and therefore came up with this genius plan to hold them over a while longer, all the while collecting a huge profit in the process.
It costs TW (and most other broadband ISPs) roughly $5-$8 a month to physically provide you with broadband service. That's the cost per user which goes back into the system to pay the tech support, tech visits and network maintenance and keeping the physical plant running. The rest of the $40-50 you pay is nearly pure profit. And for those who ask... I got this data from a technical write up on broadband service published a good few years back. If I still had the URL I'd surely post it here.
If "little ol me" can buy bandwidth in 1TB chunks at a rate of 2-3 cents per gigabyte from the host who manages my servers, what kind of rates do you think TW gets? I keep running the numbers though my head only to come up with the fact that bandwidth is most likely a reasonably fixed cost for TW, which basically brings the problem down to the shared 40Mbps last mile.
All I can say is "Spend the $20-50 per customer and upgrade to DOCSIS 3 already, TW" because this is ridiculous. Comcast is doing it, Cox is doing it, hell even bankrupt Charter is doing it! There is no reason TW can't be upgrading as well... They are raking in more profits than most cable companies.
There is no reason to meter residential bandwidth use. Digital phone isn't metered, nor is how many hours of TV you watch. TW makes the claim that it's unfair for those who use less... Well what about the people who spend an hour a week watching tv, or using the phone, while the guy next door watches TV 12 hours a day and is on the phone 24/7, yet pays the same rate as you. It doesn't float. You sell a service at a price people are willing to pay and let them use it how they want and feel is worth while... Or we could go back to the days of metering phone usage, and why not start charging $1 an hour to watch TV as well.
Stop crying poverty TW, don't you realize how much money you're already milking out of us? A lot of us really don't have anymore to give! If I could pay my bill with my own blood, I'd be dead. |
