ConsumptionBilling
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Time Warner Cable to axe DOCSIS 3.0 trials without tiered billing?
If you're following the Time Warner Cable capping drama (and we know that you are), then you'll be interested in a short post published on GigaOm today. From the looks of things, TWC isn't just backing off of the tiered pricing plans that they'd proposed recently -- it also looks like they're fully prepared to take their ball and go home when it comes to DOCSIS 3.0 trials. Originally the broadband provider had been hatching plans to roll out the ultra-fast internet service in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, Greensboro, N.C., and Rochester, NY -- but attitudes seem to have changed now that they might not get the new cash infusion that pricey metered usage would provide. In a flurry of tweets from the company's cocky VP of PR, Alex Dudley, there seems to be an indication that with the consumption based billing (CBB to us industry types), so potentially goes the DOCSIS 3.0 trials. In his own, understanding words -- responding to Stacey Higginbotham's query about whether or not the company will pull the high-speed without tiers: @gigastacey it was scheduled as part of cbb trial, but we all know how you feel about that. Frankly, we're still not sure if the facts on this story are totally straight, since much of it is based on 140 character tweets, which -- believe it or not -- aren't that helpful when you need details. We can however, communicate this to Time Warner Cable: you are fools and bastards if you pull this testing because you can't make your tiered billing work. Read - TWC to Customers: You Don't Want Tiers, You Don't Get Super-fast Broadband Read - Alex Dudley's tweet
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]
TWC moves consumption-based internet billing to more markets
No, folks -- this is no prank. Time Warner Cable really is throwing caution (and public opinion) to the wind and moving forward with its evil consumption-based internet billing. If you'll recall, we heard that the operator was trialing the method -- which imposes premium rates on big broadband users -- back in early 2008, but now it seems it's quietly hoping to roll it out into more major markets. Starting this month, TWC will start gathering information on its customers' internet use in Austin, TX, San Antonio, TX, Rochester, NY and Greensboro, NC; if all goes "well," consumption billing will hit those markets this summer or sooner. We'll point you to the read link if you're interested in just how outrageous these capped plans look (particularly for internet TV viewers), but we'd be remiss of our duties if we didn't share this gem of a quote from TWC CEO Glenn Britt: "We made a mistake early on by not defining our business based on the consumption dimension." Thanks for clarifying, Glenn-o.[Thanks Kevin, image courtesy of Corbis]
