Last October, Time Warner Cable introduced the $3 a month rental fee to a rather annoyed public. Last June, Time Warner Cable then informed customers that rental fee would be bumped to $5 a month, and by July, some customers were already getting notifications that fee would be increased to $6. Now Time Warner Cable is hinting further hikes could be in the works.

Speaking at an investor conference in New York this week, Time Warner Cable CFO Arthur Minson stated he sees more rate hikes in Time Warner Cable subscribers' future, including an increase in modem rental fees (wisely avoided if you buy your own approved modem).

Minson candidly acknowledged the fee hike "was really just a form of a High Speed Data rate increase," adding that "I do see an ability for us to continue to have ARPU (average revenue per user) increases on that product." The comments mirror similar comments made by departing CEO Glenn Britt.

The CFO also reiterated the company's interest in metered billing. Time Warner Cable backed off mandatory metered billing for all users in 2009 after unprecedented consumer backlash, and has since made such options voluntary. However, their current voluntary option (a $5 discount if you agree to a 5GB monthly cap) doesn't provide much value -- and therefore isn't seeing much uptake by consumers, leading many to wonder how Time Warner Cable will nudge users toward metered adoption.

"I think we’re very pleased with where we are in the usage-based pricing front and I think that’s something we will continue," Minson told attendees. "I think over time it will be interesting to see how many people ultimately take the usage-based pricing, or will people say I just want to have unlimited and I think the market will speak on that."

As I noted back in April, in addition to various price increases Time Warner Cable is also cutting back on bundle promotions, a trend Minson says will continue.