BandwidthUsage
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Netflix teams with eyeIO to lower bandwidth use on movie night
Kicking up a fuss about Netflix hogging all your bandwidth? Perhaps the company's latest partnership could induce a rapid change of heart. The streaming service has paired up with eyeIO in hopes of keeping bandwidth usage during streams to a minimum, which they claim won't affect the content's overall quality. While the joint venture just became official, the startup's "ultra-low-bandwidth" encoding technology -- that allegedly can reduce usage on a 720p HD stream by more than 50 percent -- began its testing phase on the streaming-giant's offerings months ago. Although eyeIO's service has already been implemented by Netflix, it's worth mentioning this isn't an exclusive deal, thus it's possible for its competition to jump on the bandwidth conservation bandwagon in the future. More importantly, we're interested to find out if you have noticed any difference in your streams lately, so drop us a line in the comments below.
UK mobile operator O2: iPhone apps are hurting our network
Everyone knows about the struggles US mobile phone company AT&T has had with keeping its network up to speed given the huge bandwidth requirements of the popular iPhone. Well, they're not the only mobile carrier having issues. In the UK, O2 has been having problems with the huge amount of data being schlepped around the network by iPhones. O2 CEO Ronan Dunne told the Financial Times that performance of the O2 network had been disappointing since this summer and that the company was trying to cope with the increasing number of mobile apps running on devices such as the iPhone. TUAW reported a multi-day data outage that affected O2 users just a few weeks ago. Most of the issues have been confined to London, so the company is installing 200 additional base stations to support the increased levels of traffic. Dunne also noted that the company is working with Apple, RIM, and other handset manufacturers to learn more about which applications are causing the heavy demands on the O2 network. O2 has been working with Nokia Siemens Networks to modify the network infrastructure to better handle the combination of voice and data traffic. While trying to iron out these issues, it appears that O2's parent company, Telefonica, is making moves that could place further demands on the network. Telefonica purchased mobile VoIP company Jajah to add to O2's portfolio of services, and VoIP services are notorious devourers of bandwidth. In the United States, Verizon can smirk about AT&T's network issues, but O2's problems point out that no mobile operator is immune from the bandwidth-eating apps that are popular on the iPhone platform. [via Techworld]
Time Warner Cable scraps broadband capping plan in Rochester, NY
It's already delayed its controversial broadband capping plan in a number of markets, and it looks like Time Warner Cable has now gone one big step further in Rochester, New York (one of the initial test markets), where it has reportedly scrapped the new tiered pricing plan altogether. As you no doubt recall, the plan was more or less modeled on cellphone pricing plans, and had intended to cap customers' data usage at a certain level and charge upwards of $1 per GB for any overages (eventually maxing out at $150 per month). That, naturally, didn't go over so well with folks, and even New York Senator Charles Schumer eventually got in on the act and complained directly to Time Warner Cable. Of course, this still doesn't officially mark the end of the pricing plan in other markets, but it certainly seems to be getting increasingly difficult for Time Warner Cable to move ahead with it.[Thanks, Phil]Update: As a few of you have helpfully pointed out in comments, Time Warner Cable has now put out a statement of its own that confirms in not-at-all Orwellian terms that it is shelving all of its consumption-based billing trials "while the customer education process continues." The company also says that it'll soon be making bandwidth measurement tools available to customers, which it hopes will "aid in the dialog going forward."
Public rage stalls Time Warner trials of consumption-based internet
Time Warner's new data capping broadband scheme was never expected to win any popularity contests, and the details of its plans are so frustrating, that this probably should not come as a surprise. Regardless, it looks like the company's plan to further roll out testing of the consumption-based billing method has been foiled, or at least stalled, because it couldn't find enough customers to participate in the testing. TWC had planned to test in several locations, including San Antonio and Austin, Texas, but the response has apparently been so negative, and there were so many complaints, that the company has "delayed" the trials until October. So... maybe if we keep moaning about it the plan will be abandoned altogether? Here's to hoping, anyway. [Via The Register]
Time Warner Cable lays out broadband capping plans, says $150 for "unlimited" use
In a move seemingly designed to further our frustrations with broadband providers, Time Warner Cable has soft-announced an "unlimited" package once its new data caps go into place... for an affordable $150 monthly charge. Responding to criticism over the company's plans to start capping usage and charging for overages, Landel Hobbs clarified the provider's stance, letting users know that the capping would be limited to a $75 ceiling, thus (when paired with its top tier plan) would provide "virtually unlimited" usage. Virtually unlimited. Here's a rundown of what the COO proposes: A limited package for "light users" at 1GB / monthly, 768KB down / 128KB up, with overage charges of $2 / GB / month. Road Runner Lite, Basic, Standard, and Turbo packages at 10GB / 20GB / 40GB / and 60GB caps, respectively, and overage charges at $1 / GB / month. A big daddy, 100GB Turbo package at $75 / month with overage fees of $1 / GB, which, when coupled with that magic threshold of $75 in charges, becomes the "unlimited" plan. We only have two questions, guys. First, how will you let end users know they're hitting caps? Right now there's no centralized solution for monitoring bandwidth. Even cell phones show minutes used, so will you give us the infrastructure for broadband monitoring? Secondly -- instead of giving users a "virtually" unlimited package, why not just sell an unlimited package at $150 a month? The impression we get is that you want to leave the door open for aggressive users, and that your capping of capping charges might be a moving target in the right situation. [Via eWeek]
