RR User
@rr.com
| reply to Matt
Re: not viable? really
It's a shame. I use to prefer cable technology, but it's become apparent that the cable companies are going to milk their networks even more than the phone companies do.
How can TW resist not billing for usage? They know all well that internet usage is going to continue to climb as video services take hold. They tell you the average (read: single user household) uses 5GB, but what they won't ever tell you how much they average family of 4-6 uses, especially one that relies heavily on the internet for research, gaming, entertainment. With 15-20 IP devices in my house, I think it's a miracle we don't use significantly more than 100GB a month.
It's all about giving less and having your customers pay more. Cut them off at the knees now, just to make your investors happy.
Seriously. Over the last several years we have moved away from usage based billing on long distance phone lines. WTH is this? We're going backwards. We all know costs continue to decline as technology matures. Why don't we use the same un-popular principle and bring back metered phone use, and lets start figuring out a way to bill by the amount of hours TV is consumed in the home as well. It may sound ridiculous, but it really is no different. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
 ·North State Commun..
| said by RR User :
It's a shame. I use to prefer cable technology, but it's become apparent that the cable companies are going to milk their networks even more than the phone companies do. I agree. I was a big fan of cable until my area started running into capacity issues and Time Warner has so far, refused to fix them. I found it rather humorous that the last tech I spoke with tried to blame their capacity problems on the DTV transition delay. After 3 tech visits, 1 no-show tech visit, 2 manager escalations and the recent usage based billing nonsense, I didn't have the energy to correct him -- or even chuckle back at him.
It's sad too, because I know a lot of the behind the scenes techs, sales guys, and executives (who were formerly) in my area. They are sharp as a tack and can't believe they get to support their family with a job they love.
All the problems in my area started after they moved to regional supervision rather than having managers responsible for each area. Once all our executives moved to Charlotte, the Triad area started going to hell in a handbasket. It's sad really. |
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DarkLogix
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX | Well hopefully the consumer backlash will last and force TW to fix their act
but more likely people will forget and the effect will be short lived |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
 ·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| reply to Matt
Its a sales pitch.
They've been selling speed (7x faster than DSL  )
Now you're being told that you can't really use it.
Personally I'd be happier with a slower connection that I could make full use of, than a crippled high speed.
Cable: We'll give you a BMW M3, but we've set up GPS and tracking to fine you if you drive more than 40miles/day (daily commute in Los Angeles)
DSL: We'll give you a Chevy Cobalt, speed limited to 65mph, you can drive as much as you want.
--
Canada = Hollywood North |
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wstcvnaca
join:2004-10-05
La Puente, CA
| reply to RR User
said by RR User :
It's a shame. I use to prefer cable technology, but it's become apparent that the cable companies are going to milk their networks even more than the phone companies do. Oh, I could not agree more. So true.
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RR User
@rr.com
| reply to Matt
I've had RR here since it first came available in 2000 I think it was. It was offered here a good year or so before Bellsouth DSL ever made it here, and even after Bellsouth started marketing me, I was getting 2M/384K while Bellsouth could only guarantee me no more than 1.2M/256K, not to mention DSL was more expensive than RR at the time.
Over the years, Bellsouth really hasn't been much of a threat to the RTP area. TW owns this town and they know it, and they are apparently confident enough now that they won't even bother to upgrade our upload speeds. Aside from our decade old upload speeds, I really have not had any issues with TW, or capacity. 384K upload was fine with 2-3M service, with 5M it felt ancient, with 7 it feels useless, and now with powerboost, it's down right laughable because during a powerboost it must somehow exceed the 384K upstream to handle the upstream ack packets in order to download a file at 30+Mbps. So I see my upstream go up to 500-600K sometimes while downloading a file at 37Mbps.
People in this area are going to flip out if TW brings consumption based billing here. I'm personally getting ready myself to switch to AT&T, but if they follow TW's lead, then there will be few options left. It's unjustified to suddenly ask force someone to start paying 3-4x to continue getting the same service, when even now before CBB TW is seeing increases in profit 11% quarter after quarter, year after year. I guess a reliable 11% is just not enough anymore... let's make it 30%.
Things don't look good. TW is just going to keep pushing until they get everything they want, and the expense of the consumer. I don't see the point of offering super fast broadband if you can't even use it. I could only hope, that if TW does move forward, AT&T, like Verizon's Fios would see the massive advantage it would give them to offer uncapped service. I have no doubt AT&T would start seeing a sizable increase in new customer adds if TW brought 20-40GB caps to my area. AT&T has no reason to cap other than greed as well. They own a massive backbone, so their transport costs are minimal to non-existent. They have beefed up their network (U-verse), and don't generally suffer from the same last mile bottle neck that cable does, other than the limitations of VDSL. |
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espaeth
Digital Plumber
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
 ·voip.ms
·Vitelity VOIP
·Callcentric
·VoiceStick
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
·Embarq
1 edit | said by RR User :
It's unjustified to suddenly ask force someone to start paying 3-4x to continue getting the same service, when even now before CBB TW is seeing increases in profit 11% quarter after quarter, year after year. I guess a reliable 11% is just not enough anymore... let's make it 30%. As a point of clarification, it was an 11% increase in annual revenue; their costs also increased, so their profit was not 11%. |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | espaeth
If you look at their 10K you will see while HSI revenues increased by 11%, their HSI costs of revenues decreased by 12%. So you are correct their profit was not 11%, it was greater than 11%. |
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espaeth
Digital Plumber
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·voip.ms
·Vitelity VOIP
·Callcentric
·VoiceStick
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
·Embarq
| said by Lazlow  :If you look at their 10K you will see while HSI revenues increased by 11%, their HSI costs of revenues decreased by 12%. So you are correct their profit was not 11%, it was greater than 11%. Direct costs (maintenance, capex for hardware, vendor costs) went down, but again you're not factoring in the other indirect cost line items from the 10-K.
You can't do a 1:1 correlation of product line revenue to product line direct costs. Product line revenue accounts for all income associated with that product, but the direct costs don't reflect the total cost of actually providing the service.
It's like relating the cost of your auto repair bill to just the parts on the invoice, but not factoring in labor costs. |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| espaeth
Total revenues were up 5%. Video revenues were down but HSI revenues were up. Video costs went up 6%, but HSI costs went down 11%. So if video was down, HSI was up, and there was no major upgrades done to the HSI system, where was the majority of increase in the non listed items? Probably in the switch from analog to digital on the video side and the rapid expansion of their VOIP product. |
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espaeth
Digital Plumber
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·voip.ms
·Vitelity VOIP
·Callcentric
·VoiceStick
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
·Embarq
| said by Lazlow :So if video was down, HSI was up, and there was no major upgrades done to the HSI system, where was the majority of increase in the non listed items? Annual salary increases for employees? Higher cost of healthcare benefits? Higher energy costs? Higher fuel costs for the vehicle fleet? |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO | All of which are there no matter how much an individual downloads. |
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espaeth
Digital Plumber
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
·voip.ms
·Vitelity VOIP
·Callcentric
·VoiceStick
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
·Embarq
| said by Lazlow :All of which are there no matter how much an individual downloads. True, but that's not what we're talking about? (relating 10-K cost values to revenue) |
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RR User
@rr.com
| reply to espaeth
The numbers in this article are from 1 quarter, as I read it. If I'm wrong, then I apologize as it would be my mistake. I don't see how those numbers would be annual. TW took in over 4 billion in revenue for RR alone last year. 1.1 Billion would be an epic loss if it was a yearly figure.
Taking in 1.1+billion this quarter would be a about an 11% increase, considering they took in a total of about 4.1 Billion last annual year. This puts them on track to raking in at least 4.4-4.5 billion this year, if they keep their pace moving along, but with all the negative press and pissed off users and epic scare from metered billing... They may not.
I for 1 will drop them in a heartbeat if they bring metered billing here. And would go the extra mile to spread the word around to all my friends and neighbors just to help TW feel the pinch.
It's pretty obvious why new customer additions have trailed off the last few weeks... That's the same time frame TW announced they would start metered billing trials in several different states/markets. I wouldn't be surprised that people in the proposed markets started calling in mass to cancel their services out of fear. That alone is probably what dug into their new sub adds toward the end of the first quarter. I dare TW to bring metered billing to even more markets, and watch their subs start dropping like flies. If they are clueless to what is so apparent here, they are completely inept. |
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