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Time Warner Cable to Give Away Slingboxes
For Users Who Subscribe to $99 50 Mbps Service
According to the New York Times, Time Warner Cable will soon start giving a $300 Slingbox away free to users who subscribe to their $100, 50 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 service. The rebate won't start until next month, but is intended to drive adoption of the company's fastest tier, which has so far only seen adoption among cutting edge users. Given that Time Warner Cable faces limited competition in the form of aging DSL networks in many markets, the company has yet to deploy the faster tier to their entire footprint. Time Warner Cable has consistently shown interest in billing its users by the byte, something that could be a pricey proposition for Slingbox users. The move comes as Time Warner Cable battles with broadcasters over the right to stream video via the iPad and other technologies both in and outside of the home.
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NeoandGeo
join:2003-05-10
Harrison, TN

NeoandGeo

Member

.

Nice deal. Just don't make it worthless with caps. There is NO reason to cap your "premium" subscribers. It should have value if you are going to charge that much for it.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Great!

Now how about you actually bring the DOCSIS 3 service to TW New England!
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Great!

You need to tell your local Mgt that. Each TW Division acts on its own and not part of TWC Corporate on those matters. Try calling TWC Corp regarding something with your local Division and see where they refer you back to. That's something TWC as always had ass-backwords and was suppose to fix it and merge everyone on the east side of the US to TWC East and the west would be TWC West but that NEVER happened either. Just like most of their other "upgrades" and "changes" to make things better.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy to swintec

Premium Member

to swintec
I was up at my Grandmother's house in Maine and her internet was acting up. I don't know if it's the router (linksys wrt54g, i think), the modem or the cable plant. I was having issues with the connection freezing but her phone worked ok. When I have issues with my EMTA through Comcast, both the internet and phone will go out.

I just wish that TWC would upgrade Biddeford to DOCSIS 3.0, which performs better, even on a 2.0 service tier. Maine tends to be at the end of the upgrade chain because Verizon Wireless upgraded Springfield, MA (where I live and they won't deploy FiOS here) to 4G LTE but when I take my MiFi to Biddeford, it kicks down to EVDO Rev. A (3G) and no Maine cities are on the 2011 LTE upgrade list.

I just wish TWC would use batteries in their EMTAs because my grandmother (who will be 80 next March) needs reliable phone service (such as power outages) and she refuses to do business with FairPoint. I have offered to pick up a UPS power block at Best Buy but she does not want to spend the money. At least she has a cell phone.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Re: Great!

I've seen a couple of phone modems with batteries in them up here. Perhaps they used to give them out but I know the do not any longer.

Maine isn't always last. TW has typically been very good to the state. In the past we were the first market to have and test digital phone and they keep everything updated pretty well.

We also have sprint / clearwire 4G in the larger cities.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Great!

TWC as a rule normally does NOT give out batteries for EMTAs. Not sure if its a national rule yet/anymore but they even state on their website no battery backup.

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

Matt3 to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
said by IowaCowboy:

I just wish TWC would use batteries in their EMTAs because my grandmother (who will be 80 next March) needs reliable phone service (such as power outages) and she refuses to do business with FairPoint. I have offered to pick up a UPS power block at Best Buy but she does not want to spend the money. At least she has a cell phone.

TWC is mandated to use batteries in their EMTAs here. They don't offer any DOCSIS 3.0 EMTAs at the moment though.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Great!

i wonder how that works since Vonage isn't required to have one and they advertise as a phone line replacement as well. And actually call themselves a phone company.

thomasr
join:2010-01-21
Winston Salem, NC

thomasr

Member

Re: Great!

TW just like Vonage has it buried in the fine print that if you loose power that you will have no service.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Great!

i know but TWC will tell you and its on their website NO BATTERY backup. That's why i said i wonder how NC can force them to provide a battery when they dont force Vonage.
whiteyonenh
join:2004-08-09
Keene, NH

whiteyonenh

Member

Re: Great!

said by hottboiinnc4:

i know but TWC will tell you and its on their website NO BATTERY backup. That's why i said i wonder how NC can force them to provide a battery when they dont force Vonage.

Simplest answer might be that TWC is facilities-based, and Vonage is not.

TWC has a physical presence, therefore would be required to follow state/local regulations. Similar to how you can buy from newegg/amazon/etc. with no sales tax in some states that have a sales tax. NC may not have jurisdiction over Vonage, as Vonage may not have any facilities within NC.

I know from looking at router logs that the Vonage box here connects to a server in NJ.

thomasr
join:2010-01-21
Winston Salem, NC

thomasr to Matt3

Member

to Matt3
TW use to be mandated to provide EMTA batteries... they no longer provide them here. The last time I give their expensive phone service a try, I had to threaten to pull the service right back out (within minutes of installation) just to get a battery. The technician smarted off about what good a battery would do me if the cable plant lost power...but finally caved and located one. The cable plant loosing power is not my concern and they should have to keep it up and running no matter what, especially since TV is going digital now and the need to have a reliable phone service like traditional bell service.

We have to keep in mind that HSI and phone services through TW are not regulated like they are through the true bell companies.

I wonder if areas that have received FIOS or UVERSE have problems with the network/phones going down during power outages? I would assume these companies have battery backup all along their networks to keep everything going just like traditional phone services have always been mandated.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Re: Great!

said by thomasr:

We have to keep in mind that HSI and phone services through TW are not regulated like they are through the true bell companies.

If the cable company wants to have true carrier class phone service then they are required to have 5 9's reliability and you will see the nodes being powered during outages. Most markets are not this way though and are not sold as so.

I guess it really depends on what type of market it is in.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Great!

VoIP is NOT a regulated phone product though. And most states don't even have the 5 9's anymore for landline.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Re: Great!

said by hottboiinnc4:

VoIP is NOT a regulated phone product though. And most states don't even have the 5 9's anymore for landline.

If the cable company applies for status as such, they will be held to the same standards as the telcos. Those markets will typically deploy generators to the field to keep amps and nodes online after the battery back ups have died. After a bad storm several years ago, a small neighboring cable company had generators chained to various telephone poles around the streets of the city / town. I remember thinking to myself that it would be a monumental task for TW to have to do this.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4 to thomasr

Member

to thomasr
FiOS and U-verse have a battery but their limited to how much talk time and stand-by time you have. I've heard on here its about 8hrs of standby and 3hrs of talk.

And again- the new services are NOT the same as copper and are NOT regulated as such.

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

Matt3 to thomasr

Premium Member

to thomasr
said by thomasr:

We have to keep in mind that HSI and phone services through TW are not regulated like they are through the true bell companies.

Time Warner is regulated and registered as an ILEC with the PUC in North Carolina. Unless something has changed in the laws, they must provide battery backup.

For fiber providers, they generally do it at the ONT on the house. My ONT has a Cyberpower battery backup. The installer told me the ONT goes into a low power mode and will only provide battery power for voice in the event of a power outage however.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, there is a huge APC UPS near what looks like the TW aggregation point in my subdivision. Perhaps they are able to provide centralized battery power now rather than EMTA?

FWIW, my co-worker tried to order DOCSIS 3.0 and was turned down because they don't have DOCSIS 3.0 EMTAs with battery power yet.

THATguy222
@rr.com

THATguy222 to IowaCowboy

Anon

to IowaCowboy
If the phone worked fine and the internet was freezing it was probably the linksys which is a personal owned router and not part of the TWC services... Just saying

kballtek
@rr.com

kballtek to IowaCowboy

Anon

to IowaCowboy
As far as i know, every eMTA has to have a battery for back up for up to 4 hours in case of emergency...

Vchat20
Landing is the REAL challenge
Premium Member
join:2003-09-16
Columbus, OH

Vchat20

Premium Member

Wonder how quickly...

Wonder how quickly the content companies are going to hound them over this? "YOU ARE ENCOURAGING OUR CUSTOMERS TO WATCH OUR CONTENT WHERE WE DONT WANT THEM TO! SHAME ON YOU!"

excvcguy
@jetblue.com

excvcguy

Anon

supporting the competition

how funny is it that tw is giving away sling boxes which are made by echostar aka Dish network.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: supporting the competition

the 2 companies are NOT the same anymore. Dish Network is its own company and EchoStar is its own company. They split a few years ago.
mogamer
join:2011-04-20
Royal Oak, MI

mogamer

Member

Re: supporting the competition

said by hottboiinnc4:

the 2 companies are NOT the same anymore. Dish Network is its own company and EchoStar is its own company. They split a few years ago.

Technially they're two companies. But they are both owned by the same people. So in they might as well be one and the same.

Dish sells a $99 Slingbox that connects via usb. What does the TW box connect with?

skuv
@rr.com

skuv to Vchat20

Anon

to Vchat20

Re: Wonder how quickly...

I actually think that is their plan on this.

They are overtly showing the content providers that their content can be watched anywhere by anyone with the Slingbox in place, while TWC's iPad app only allows the subscriber to watch the iPad app video behind the modem that is on their account.

So they sue TWC over the iPad app, but don't sue Echostar over the Slingbox, which is not as secure as the iPad app.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream to Vchat20

MVM

to Vchat20
Exactly.

This is just a move in the face of the content providers.

TWC to Content providers: "See you get all worked up for our iPad app, yet these Slingboxes have been around for years and they are OK? Well we will just give away slingboxes then, F you guys!"

RWild
Them Or Us
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Cary, NC

RWild

Premium Member

What About Us 30/5 Customers?

The top two tiers have the same upload speed (5 Mbps) so why should only the 50/5 people get this deal? Since the Slingbox would almost certainly be at the service address, the higher download speed is not relevant.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: What About Us 30/5 Customers?

Because you're paying $30 less for internet vs. 50/5 customers, duh.

RWild
Them Or Us
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Cary, NC

RWild

Premium Member

Re: What About Us 30/5 Customers?

But, as far as the Slingbox, not getting any more - 5 Mbps up.

Oh, Oh, I see. I'm supposed to be too stupid to realize this and upgrade.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream to RWild

MVM

to RWild
Just 5mbps upload for the top tier? Ripoff.

Even Comcast has 10 - 20mbps for their 105mbps tier.

Guess TWC never heard of upstream channel bonding or 64QAM upstream modulation. Maybe they should attend some cable shows and get some subscriptions to industry related publications.
45612019 (banned)
join:2004-02-05
New York, NY

45612019 (banned)

Member

Re: What About Us 30/5 Customers?

I'll take my uncapped 5 Mbps over your bandwidth capped Comcap connection, kthx.

That "10 - 20 mbps" upload is really only a 768 Kbps upload with that 250 GB bandwidth cap.

Also have fun hitting your monthly quota in 6 hours on that 105 Mbps tier.

Meanwhile, on Time Warner Cable's 50 Mbps package, which currently has no bandwidth caps, you can transfer enough data in one month to exceed Comcap's bandwidth limit over 60 times.

Have fun being subscribed to Comcap for 5 years to get the same amount of bandwidth "allowance" that a Time Warner Cable 50/5 Mbps subscriber gets in one month.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA

cypherstream

MVM

Re: What About Us 30/5 Customers?

I don't have Comcast. They don't service my area.

•••

thomasr
join:2010-01-21
Winston Salem, NC

thomasr

Member

A devious ploy?

This could be TW's attempt to overburden the network and then complain about the slingbox's impact on QOS. Also, several people have started questioning slingbox's "Free Ride" while MSO's have been beat down over DVR patents/implementations and IPAD apps that allow channels to be watched in the home on the IPAD.

Now that TW has latched on to the idea of giving away slingbox's, I think they are trying to draw another spotlight to an offering that is riddled with legalities meant to hurt the consumer. The consumer can't have what they want, only what content providers wish them to have - especially when it is only TW to benefit monetarily from the idea of hooking consumers with a slingbox to exploit their TV everywhere desires.

Can't wait for the content owners to cry foul on this too especially if it works out to be a popular promotion with consumers.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

prices...

verizon's stand-alone 50/20 is $139.95 cablevision's boost 50/8 for $64.95

TIme Warner? right in the middle.. $100.... I think it's also 50/5(not 8). Let's see where rates go as Verizon deploys more fiber into buildings in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan.

I'm not in that much of a rush to get faster speeds (unless it's a free upgrade, hehe). I've seen the days of low 300-56k dialup slog along (even under non crc file transfer protocols) a few megs back and forth...

karma
@rr.com

karma

Anon

Re: prices...

actually verizon is 89.99 only in nyc. for the 50/20 package.
so technically time warner is the highest here
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

Re: prices...

said by karma :

actually verizon is 89.99 only in nyc. for the 50/20 package.
so technically time warner is the highest here

That's probably right but the website (w/o specifying location says $139.95).. but YMMV outside of NY Metro, you'll see that as a bundled price b/c Comcast & AT&T are the only other non-competitors in the market selling a soft or hard capped internet service so VZ feels justified in charging more.

** With the amount of concentrated pre-built fiber in the notheast, the price should be $50 by now, but that's crazy talk where fiber routes are concentrated amongst major metro & population centers and intra-state & federal highways & railways. These duopolies will charge a larger multiple to bring broadband to the last mile. It's too bad Amtrack didnt' become a tier-1 isp... Comcast and AT&T would have had some potential competition if they'd become a last mile carrier of broadband.