Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

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Botef
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Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Botef » Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:21 pm

Despite the recent backlash against Time Warner Cable for their attempt to impose low caps and high overages, smaller cable operators and the organization that represents them insist that metered billing is coming -- whether you like it or not. Broadcasting and Cable says that several attendees of American Cable Association's (ACA) annual summit, including Sunflower Broadband and Wave Broadband, either already bill by the byte or plan to start doing so shortly. ACA President Matt Polka puts forth the by-now-familiar argument that metered billing is necessary for the good of the network, and that when it comes to a shift to metered billing "the outcome is certain." As Time Warner Cable learned, consumers and competitors -- assuming these companies have any -- might have something to say about that.


This is just outrageous. The caps TW is proposing are insane. $15 for 1 gig a month, $35 for 5. To add insult to injury, Time Warner just reported a revenue increase of 11% in the first quarter while at the same time bitching and moaning about how their current business model doesn't work and will need to switch to metered internet use. Its also fantastic to note that they 'tested' their metered billing in areas without FiOS.
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Corth
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Corth » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:33 pm

I have optonline right now.. and if they switch to metered billing I will happily drop my subscription and get FiOS.
Having said all that, the situation has been handled, so this thread is pretty much at an end. -Kossuth

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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Sarvis » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:47 pm

It'll be interesting to see how long it takes FiOS to follow suit...
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Botef
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Botef » Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:03 pm

Hard to say, I think most of the DSL and Wireless providers are welcoming this with open arms because of the influx in sales they stand to gain.

I think the real motive behind TWC and the other cable providers moving towards metered use is to snub Hulu/Netflix/etc users. I don't buy the garbage about infrastructure expenses, especially not when the recent stimulus bill has money available for internet infrastructure, and TWC revenue gains for the first quarter at 11%.

One thing that might be a saving grace here is the big tech companies like Google making an uproar. They came to bat during the whole net neutrality bit. We may even see other companies step up like Blizzard and other online game providers.

I just can't believe it though, its like a big step backward. My hope is TWC gets their ear full like they did during the Viacom negotiations that almost fell through. Trouble is there isn't a giant like Viacom to get the word out about this one and most internet users are naive about what bandwidth usage actually means in a metered system.

What really gets me going though is I'm stuck with few internet options here and cable is the best option. TWC is the only cable provider in the area, period. Satellite is useless because the uplink is crap, and I refuse to work with Verizon after the 6 months I spent fighting for a refund for the services I never received.
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Sarvis
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Sarvis » Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:16 pm

Botef wrote:I think the real motive behind TWC and the other cable providers moving towards metered use is to snub Hulu/Netflix/etc users.


Yep, and it's probably more profitable too if you can keep your users. That's why I'd expect FiOS to advertise a lack of metered usage for a few months, then cutover themselves after capturing some portion of the old cable market.
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Botef
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Botef » Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:25 pm

My guess is TWC is going through with this as a prelude to their own on demand services. It makes perfect sense that way. Cap bandwidth and discourage use of Hulu/Netflix/Downloaded movies while reducing network stress, and freeing up bandwidth for their own package based, un-metered on demand service. The whole infrastructure PR position they've taken is garbage and they know it.

Reminds me of Clearwire blocking VoIP services like Vonage prior to them rolling out their own VoIP service.

The monopoly board is starting to get cramped, and I smell Taco Bell.
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Corth
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Corth » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:00 pm

Just out of curiosity.. anyone know how the internet providers are themselves billed for their use of bandwidth? I know very little of the business structure of the internet. I'm sure its incredibly complex. My assumption would be that at a basic level there are certain companies that maintain the 'backbone' of the internet, for lack of a better way of putting it, who then charge service providers for their usage of that infrastructure. Service providers then in turn would pass that cost on to their subscribers? Does that sound more or less right? Are there significant government subsidies involved in paying for the costs of the network itself?
Having said all that, the situation has been handled, so this thread is pretty much at an end. -Kossuth



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Botef
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Botef » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:13 pm

Here is something to take a gander at Corth:

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008 ... e-care.ars

"The local telephone company in an 11,000 person Minnesota town objected when the town decided to lay its own fiber optic network. It filed a lawsuit, then suddenly rolled out its own fiber network."

edit: I believe there are a lot of subsidies, although Im not sure about cable infrastructure. It is probable though as many states consider cable a 'utility' of sorts. I seem recall there being quite a lot of complaints about how tax dollars are given to telecom giants to lay fiber that then sits dark doing nothing for years at a time. Again I'm not positive on this though.
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Kifle
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Kifle » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:19 pm

It will be terrible to lose the speed and unlimited bandwidth I get now through Comcast, whose service, for the most part, has been very reliable until early this year. However, I will quickly switch over to Verizon or some DSL service provider if Comcast does enforce metered billing. They will hang themselves and hopefully return to unlimited once people realize that 1gig for 15/month is unsatisfactory for anything other than simple web browsing and e-mail. Just think of all the porn sites that will die due to this change :) Save our women with daddy issues! I know Corth can get behind me on this one.
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby shalath » Thu Apr 30, 2009 10:08 pm

Corth wrote:Just out of curiosity.. anyone know how the internet providers are themselves billed for their use of bandwidth? I know very little of the business structure of the internet. I'm sure its incredibly complex. My assumption would be that at a basic level there are certain companies that maintain the 'backbone' of the internet, for lack of a better way of putting it, who then charge service providers for their usage of that infrastructure. Service providers then in turn would pass that cost on to their subscribers? Does that sound more or less right? Are there significant government subsidies involved in paying for the costs of the network itself?

Large providers almost never pay for their use of bandwidth. Instead they come to "peering" arrangements - you can use mine if I can use yours. The charging is almost always to the end user.
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Re: Cable Internet soon to be teh suck

Postby Yasden » Sun May 10, 2009 6:33 pm

Why don't we ask Al Gore?
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