TWC modifies pricing plan. The low-usage tier and slightly higher caps are improvements, but not game-changers.
Meanwhile: "A close look at Time Warner Cable's books shows no significant link between its high-speed data costs and network usage."
My Sunday newspaper column is on this topic. The TWC changes came too late to include, but the substance of the piece is unchanged. The column was a group effort -- in addition to Vint Cerf, I spoke with Stacey Higginbotham and TeleGeography's Alan Mauldin, and poached from Killian, Roch, Ged, and Sue, as well as comments and emails. Thanks for all the help.
Thanks for the link to Wired. That graph is very instructive. TWC's broadband revenue up 11% last year with costs down 12% -- yeah, they are jerking our chain.
Let TWC do what they have to do, to borrow a recently popular phrase around here, they can GFT. Our mayor has committed to a personal effort to recruit competition -- that should take care of things.
Posted by: Roch101 | Apr 10, 2009 at 08:55 AM
Let me get this straight. Time Warner now wants *$150.00* a month from me so I can keep my unlimited bandwidth that I have now for $40?!?!?!?
That would be in addition to my $90~ish bill for cable TV.
There's a word for that - extortion. NO this is not better Time Warner. NO I won't stand for it.
We need competition here in the Triad desperately.
Posted by: Ged | Apr 10, 2009 at 09:25 AM
Oh, I spoke too soon. $150 a month doesn't even ensure that you have unlimited bandwidth. It just "gets you close", If you go over it you could STILL be paying $2/GB over.
Not only that, but Time Warner *moved up* the deadline for implementation to August!
Go check out the scathing editorial in Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle about the latest fiction from Time Warner. I'm a Rochester transplant, so it does my heart good to see my former home fighting the good fight.
Posted by: Ged | Apr 10, 2009 at 09:39 AM
It's all bull.... if "most" of their users don't meet the cap anyways, why insist upon it at all.
It's complete crap.
It's completely put my purchase of a Roku player on hold.... this is the crap that got the economy into the place it is in the first place. Greedy corporation who want to suck the blood of Americans. Meanwhile the government sits by and lets it happen. Where's Obama when you need him?
Posted by: liv | Apr 10, 2009 at 10:03 AM
WOW - $4.2B in revenue with $146M in costs! Profit margin of 97%. Those numbers don't count network building costs - the cost of actually running the cables, which is what TW is worried about.
I would like to know what they are actually worried about. Coax has more than enough bandwidth to satisfy any internet user, and they are very unlikely to ever change the wiring to your home to improve service. As you move further away from the home, adding capacity to the network should be cheaper and easier.
TW would have been better off putting usage stats on people's bills before they started talking about this, but I don't even really look at my bills because I pay online.
Posted by: winstongator | Apr 10, 2009 at 10:45 AM
I'm finding this to be interesting.
Posted by: RecycleBill | Apr 10, 2009 at 03:41 PM
I am finding bundle services from AT&T more interesting everyday that this issue with TWC goes on. Phone, Internet and cable all rolled into one. If the corportate leaders of TWC were looking for a way to lose customers and drive them to other companies than they have achieved their goal.
Posted by: bobbysitter | Apr 10, 2009 at 10:03 PM
This move by TWC is just one more example of "gotcha" marketing. You would think that they would recall such a ridiculous plan in the light of other similar schemes in the financial sector. Each time I think of my monthly bill for all three services I am disgusted. And new users get a better deal than a long time user! Shame!
Posted by: Edmund Fritz | Apr 13, 2009 at 05:23 AM