You all should look into clearwire. I have had that for about 8 months and it works really well. Only had an outage once since I had it and its just as fast as RR.
www.clearwire.com
Time Warner wants to change how they charge for their service, yet they can’t even keep me online. I’ve been kicked off more times by their dumb Road Runner service since I “upgraded” to their high speed service last year than I was in the previous 12 years on dial up… And ironically, both our cable and Internet was knocked out this afternoon (though our power was only out for about three seconds) for over half an hour.
I can’t wait for these folks to be taken over by the Indian or Chinese mafia owned companies, have the work shipped over there, and have everyone at TW poopcanned. If TWC can screw over customers, they can certainly screw over employees to get a buck.
Then they can go into the same rathole that aol went into when they shipped everything to people who could not quite speak english.
By then, google will have found a way to have nationwide wifi- buy google!!!!!!
Too bad we don’t have fiber optic options here, it’s many times faster than what TW offers. If we ever get real competition, then TW will completely back down from this bandwidth limit bologna. They’ll probably try to pull it here purely because there is no comparison for a high speed connection. But believe me, once fiber optic rolls in to town (if ever,) they’ll drop the limits and even perhaps lower their over-priced services. BTW, whatever happened to internet via your power outlet??
This situation for one has nothing to with race, don’t even pull the white card or the black card, or purple card. This about raising the price of the internet. I for one I am againist them charging us by the byte thats ridiculous everytime when I send a e-mail there going to charge for it f**k that s**t. I will find other better ways to communicate or maybe go the library use the internet for free.
Papa Ubu should be banned from the Internet! He doesn’t take it seriously as a vehicle for tasteless self-promotion like me and T.Graspar in South Farce!
It IS the white man’s fault. If they hadn’t invented the internet, computers, electronics, electricity, networks and modern communications we could all relax and enjoy sitting around the fire.
Get your hands out of my pocket! You need to think of ways of saving our economy instead of how to fill your pockets! Dubya and Chaney taught you that! Ask them about Enron and oil price control? This is why you live at the top of the hill, and the ones who pay your bills live at the bottom!
“I guess the white republicans need more bandwidth to watch their gay porn before they go to church.” this comment from tom was uncalled for. People like this are worse than the CEOs of these companies. This man probably thinks all white people owe black people their life savings for reparations. What an ignorant soul. I just wish he would get off the couch and get a job so i don’t have to pay for his welfare check
I think this is a bad idea. If the internet is metered then it becomes a finite resource that users think twice about using, like electricity and fuel. Such moves are suitable for industries where innovations in efficiency are required.
However, in this case poor management and long term thinking by internet providers has led to the current bandwidth crisis. As mentioned a thousand times in these posts competition is what is necessary to provide the impetus for upgrade and better service.
Every one of you complain about Time Warner. Do something about it! They are NOT a monopoly. DirecTV is soooo much better AND cheaper. AT&T DSL is just as fast as road runner. I’ve had it for years and only had two problems at most with it. I hate TW just like all of you do. RR is a joke. Leave them all together. DirecTV’s service hardly EVER goes out, and that’s the only complaint I’ve heard about them.
Jack,
Do you shop at Wal-Mart? Do you buy ONLY American-made products? You obviously own a computer, so how can you label ME a communist when you continue to help funnel money into that communist money pit?
In addition, simply pointing out the inherent flaws of capitalism does NOT express OR imply a disdain for it, nor does it imply support for communism. It sounds like you’ve spent too much time with your head in the sand. I didnt know anyone could be THAT oblivious to problems our nation faces
And this rate increase comes as a surprise to people? I mean when there are so many people switching to digital phone with Time Warner, where do you that traffic is put? The traffic is going onto their network, which is going to suck up a ton of bandwidth and cause bottlenecks in their system. So people in the short term believe they are getting a deal, but in the long term it will not be long before that saving is going to be gone in the form of little increases.
You can bet, anything you are willing to pay more for WILL cost more. I think consumers need to stick together — not just SAY they will drop a service if prices (already high) increase, but actually follow-through and drop it. Lost business and lost revenues are the only things companies understand.
Tim Simon! Quit your bitching or move to China. If you hate capitalism that much go find a worker’s paradise. Stop asking to get something for free. I bet you don’t work for free!
With that kind if ignorance you must be an Obama supporter!
Companies claimed this would create competition and lower prices. This was only a half truth.
Through the beauty of semantics, companies were able to gouge prices. If three providers charge $320 monthly average for natural gas, and one charges $310, it is, by definition, competition. Problem is, the only one that lost was the consumer public.
May this will close up and secure more Wireless networks out there. How many are provide internet to the neighbors for free and there bandwidth goes up and hoding the cable for other paying costumers.
Sadly, folks, the reason Telecom companies see no problem in arbitrarily charging exorbitant fees is pretty simple. By creating a commodity on which people have become dependent, and by stifling competition, they have you cornered.
Because the market is cornered, these companies have no need to innovate, no need to resolve problems. They are, in effect, the abusive husband—and the consumer is the battered wife. We need them more than they need us.
Now that the Internet isn’t just a playground for nerds, the ISPs are taking it seriously. It is probably AT&T’s last chance for survival. Unfortunatly the trend in business today is to squeeze the consumer for every last dime. I think it should be required that every CEO read “The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs”
This wouldnt be a problem if they just upgraded the lines. When i was in my computer networking class the teacher said theres something like 80% of fiber optic wires laying dormant. Seems to me like thats something the cable company doesnt want us to know. Another thing thats causing “HOGS” to affect “little piggies” is the fact that TW has 50-100 customers on the same line when it should only be at most 8 customers per line.
If they want to raise the rates, they will. Just like cable TV, its about the bottom line. AT&T already has a tiered billing based on internet speed. Just like the oil companies, go for the big bucks. I stayed with dial-up as long as I could, because I couldn’t justify the $50.00 per month for my slight usage. Now, the speed is nice, but what a waste to download turbotax once a year.
What’s next? Charge per e-mail. The goverment wanted that. Funny how more people e-mail instead of snail mail and yet the price of stamps still going up. I’m sure there isn’t the mail personal there was. Time warner has a lock on cable service so they can do what ever they want. If starting me out at $0.00 then charge me per byte like I said they would going in the hole. Do it the honest way. Do you know you are charged sewage (which is most of the bill) when you water the lawn, wash cars etc.
The only power the consumer has is not to buy. Let TW and AT&T know you will cancel your account if they go ahead with this and maybe they’ll think twice.
They are out to make their CEO’s richer than God and do not understand what is like for the everyday person. We can’t afford anymore, they can; but expect us to bleed before they give an inch. Companies given up workers instead of dollars; nothing will ever change if people don’t stand up together and act, sitting and complaining will not resolve this. It is time to make our congressmen do some real work, instead of giving themselves raises…they need to earn their keep.
Time Warner should work on increasing their quality of signal. Every company is taking the same study course how to get more money for nothing . OK LETS DO IT. Start me off at $0.00 and charge me as I use more bytes. With just a small meter type fee to start. Like the electric co.does. They would money. If they were honest this is how it should be done. But they will stay with the same charge now and then ADD ON. We need take a stand against money grabbing parasites. And gas is another one.
Just another way for someone to get more money and we sit back and take it. I suppose they want to blame this on the cost of a barrel of oil? I think enough is enough. The rates at TW are high enough, they sub most of the work out so they don’t have to pay benefits.
Funny how Time Warner used to advertize that their internet connection was always on. Big selling point. Now they want to charge for usage - Typical Time Warner tactic. What’s next TM - Phone by the Minute/
If you or anyone else here thinks tiered service means they are going to lower your cost because you use less, I’ve got news for you. This is just a way to get people used to paying more for what you already have. When cable first came out, you got everything for one price.
You are right about the fact that no competition = screwed customer.
One thing I haven’t heard in this debate is who will keep the ISPs HONEST when it comes to charging for usage? Can we really trust TW or AT&T to not artificially inflate the numbers, saying we downloaded more than we actually did? Who’s going to police that? No one! They’ll inflate to force people to next higher tier. Like TW does by moving popular channels up the ladder! And what about popup ads? We don’t download them. They’re forced upon us! Think about it…
Most certainly not! Tiered service shouldn’t be the answer to bandwidth issues! It’s just another way of charging more for less! How about metered bandwidth usage? I’m paying for approx. 7000kbps download speed but probably average 3000kbps! Where’s my kickback for slow service? I’ll never see a dime because there’s no way to tell where the speed reduction is taking place. Most certainly Time Warner servers are suspect primarily!
I’m on ATT for the past year and have no problems at all.I’m located in Redneck Cracker country of Fl.And to load DDN it takes about three second’s.While I live with only Four T.V. channel’s (no cable T.V. available) and reception is miserable,I use my DSL to stay alive.When I come home in the late summer in my R.V. I get about twelve channel’s on my R.V’s TV antenna and the reception is great!!!
I am a time warner customer and two of my best friends work for this horrible company, they both are in sales, one business class and one residential. Do you konw what they told me?? IF you do not like our customer service…tough who else are you going to use crappy DSL….as they laughed I thought to myself..we’re screwed!
I hate Time Warner. I got rid of cable and RR a few years ago and have not looked back since. You can really learn to live without if someone screws you over enough.
Few months ago cable guy came around to get us back on and we said no. We told him cable customer service sucked,he didn’t like that but didn’t offer a solution. Go figure!
Competition is good. TW, AT&T, VzB who provide land-line services have a monopoly in their respective areas. When WI-MAX is eventually as predominate as CDMA cell phone service, it will provide customers with an alternative to the land-line providers. This competition will cause the TW’s, AT&T’s, VzB to give a darn about their service and pricing models.
I’d like to know where this grumpiness comes from concerning ATT dsl……I have NEVER had it go out during the rain/storms…..and DDN site (& others) come up almost immediately…And it often runs better/faster than the system at work!!!
Time Warner’s billboard on North I-75 cracks me up. Everytime I drive by it I give it the “bird”. This is a company that needs a complete overhaul of management and customer service.
I would welcome usage based pricing. I use the connection at most five hours a day, and pay top dollar. With those numbers, I would expect my RR bill to be cut by 50%.
TW needs some competition in this area. Their Customer Service is terrible. The latest snafu with the software push to the cable boxes was a frickin’ nightmare. If I ran my CS like they did, I wouldn’t have any customer left. Since they have no competition, they don’t need to give a rats behind.
everyone can be assured that revenue from increased ISP fees will not go to upgrade the network; these companies got billions of $$ in tax breaks back in the 1990s to upgrade their networks and it is well-documented that little was done. Now, the USA lags most other nations in broadband access and speed, while the CEOs of the major telecoms are richer than ever.
So, if broadband fees increase, we can all be sure that most of the money will go to big bonuses to the CEO and other top executives.
My understanding is that foreign nations pay far less for far faster service. Americans always seem to get shafted. Then, of course there is always the comment such as Jessie’s about politics, which had absolutely nothiong to do with it. Jessie needs to get a life.
As for the DDN loading time, I don’t have any problems in that area, or nearly any others on RR.
I hope you follow-up on some of the user comments to your story. For example,
Does local DSL service experience interruptions when it rains? — in my experience, the answer is YES
Does Time Warner experience frequent service interruptions? — in my experience, the answer is YES
How do these companies manage their local internet network to ensure customers get the kind of service for which they are paying? — in my experience, they do nothing proactively
LOL Janice !!! No kidding! My morning routine: fire up the browser - got to DDN site - go get a cup of coffee - come back wait for DDN site to finish loading (on high speed connection).
I am a Time Warner engineer. The information provided in the news article is pure propaganda. Consider you are paying $150 a month for services equivilent to the same services required to “upgrade” to resolve bandhoggers usage. Think about this…should you have to pay more because you watch TV for 8 hours a day, vs 1 hour.
It’s all about profit.
I wont do either,if gets implamented i will go woith out internet service for ever..Raise the gas,raise our food,when will it stop..hmmm maybe the next world war isnt too far away.lol
Anyone think about students and teachers who use the internet to download and upload homework assignments and projects? I’m sure Time Warner wouldn’t want to halt the education of America, then again, maybe they do so they can continue to come up with these “business plans” and people of America can’t question them. Thanks for trying to improve America, Time Warner!
Scott brings up an excellent point about the hypocrisy of tiered service for bandwith vs cable TV. I once read that ESPN was almost 50$ of the price of cable. So if a household didn’t want ESPN their cable bill should be half by TW’s bandwith rationale. Of course we know that won;t happen. This is what you get when government grants monopolies. As Ronald Reagan said “government isn’t the solution to the problem - government IS the problem.
We just switched form AT&T DSL because every time it rained the DSL and phone went out. We have had RR for two months now. We hae to restart the router every couple of hours, they buried the cable less than two inches in the ground. We have called about the non buried cable, but no one is listening. We had not had cable TV in over 6 years because we just do not watch TV. There is still nothing on with 70 channels. We all game. But that does not mean we abuse the system.
Changing for Bandwidth is another grab to get more money from the consumer. It is like the phone company changing you for each aspect of the phone system. Caller ID, Call Waiting, Three Way Calling…all are included in everyones phone. All the cable companies upgraded to higher bandwidth to support consumers. The bandwidth is already there. They are using the bandwidth hog the same way the phone companies are using the calling features as a means to justify the cost. TWC is the worst!
I wouldn’t mind paying for more bandwidth, as long as I was also paying for internet service that I can count on, instead of DSL that’s spotty at best. I just dropped the service because every time it rained, I would lose connection. Every time the temp went over 80, same thing. Didn’t matter, I still got hit for $40/mo. Sure, I’ll pay to be an “abuser” (as tom calls me, since I’m a gamer) but I’d better have some darned good service for the price.
Remember, you can always switch providers to a satellite that has unlimited bandwidth. or DSL. Don’t worry though, this will won’t happen. Once they see people dropping from the service, they’ll change it all acbk to how it used to be.
Wow, first they monitor every phone call and email you send, now they want you to pay for their inability to properly forecast their network usage. Time Warner is a joke, which is why I went to DSL and Dish. I guess the white republicans need more bandwidth to watch their gay porn before they go to church.
Time Warner’s already bad service has been getting even worse as of late…and now this! Out for more than 3 hrs yesterday alone in B-Creek…second time in a month w/ extended outage. Customer service? Ha! Each person I talked to had no info on situation and each one was more rude than the other. Just terrible!
The only way for all this to stop, is to repeal the Reagan tax cuts. This would stop the ceo’s of these big companies from making hundreds of millions. There is no trickle in trickle down economics.
If Time Warner wants to charge us for the bandwidth we consume using their internet connection then why not give us the opportunity to have tiered TV cable bills as well? Oh, wait! That’s right - by billing me for all of the channels I don’t watch and all of the time my cable TV is turned off (or the service is out) they have top management and stockholders getting wealthier…
Sounds like the oil companies are taking over the internet service providers. The only way to stop this rape & pillage is more competition. The big ISPs are just begging for government intervention.
Time Warner will use any excuse to bail out there mismanagment. There business practices are similar to big oil, GET THEM HOOKED AND RAISE RAISE RAISE!
To continue my comment…
Columbus, Ohio got DSL and Cable internet 5 years before Dayton, Ohio. When Dayton finally got high speed, we were paying $10 more a month for it as well. It just comes down to the internet providers being greedy. Anything that could, or needs to be upgraded, should be done at their expense. We all know that it should have been done years ago. Ask people in England if they have fiber-optic lines straight to their home or not. Thank you, you greedy a*s providers.
First and foremost, this is the biggest crock of sh@t, I have ever heard! Unlimited bandwidth over the past decade? Someone needs to check their pricing a lot, when it comes to internet access. Internet companies have jacked the prices, for internet access, up so much in the last decade that it’s ridiculous that they are going to demand more now. They could have upgraded their system a decade ago with the profits they were making then, and still had no problems making money.
If I knew that the increase in price for going over the allotted bandwidth would go to upgrading the lines, then maybe. But I think the money will just be wasted and not go to upgrading the entire network.
Pyramid Hill light show preparation
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Lakota West vs. Anderson
Sculpture donated in Hamilton
Comments
By Lynn
July 4, 2008 1:33 AM | Link to this
You all should look into clearwire. I have had that for about 8 months and it works really well. Only had an outage once since I had it and its just as fast as RR. www.clearwire.com
By Katie
July 3, 2008 11:48 PM | Link to this
Time Warner wants to change how they charge for their service, yet they can’t even keep me online. I’ve been kicked off more times by their dumb Road Runner service since I “upgraded” to their high speed service last year than I was in the previous 12 years on dial up… And ironically, both our cable and Internet was knocked out this afternoon (though our power was only out for about three seconds) for over half an hour.
By jenlisaj
July 3, 2008 11:16 PM | Link to this
No Tom…It’s your fault…makes about as much sense!
By Bob
July 3, 2008 7:56 PM | Link to this
I can’t wait for these folks to be taken over by the Indian or Chinese mafia owned companies, have the work shipped over there, and have everyone at TW poopcanned. If TWC can screw over customers, they can certainly screw over employees to get a buck.
Then they can go into the same rathole that aol went into when they shipped everything to people who could not quite speak english.
By then, google will have found a way to have nationwide wifi- buy google!!!!!!
By DURL
July 3, 2008 7:32 PM | Link to this
We will go back to local BBS systems and Terminal Programs. This kind of greed will cause them to go under.
By Steve
July 3, 2008 6:54 PM | Link to this
Internet is great, but I can cut my useage, just like I am cutting everywhere else.
Funny, with being more conervative in all areas, I am saving more than ever!
Cheers
Jim
By Dark0Beast
July 3, 2008 6:47 PM | Link to this
No one has yet to mention the newest competition network already ClearWire. Competition and technology progression will not allow for this.
By Frylock
July 3, 2008 6:41 PM | Link to this
Too bad we don’t have fiber optic options here, it’s many times faster than what TW offers. If we ever get real competition, then TW will completely back down from this bandwidth limit bologna. They’ll probably try to pull it here purely because there is no comparison for a high speed connection. But believe me, once fiber optic rolls in to town (if ever,) they’ll drop the limits and even perhaps lower their over-priced services. BTW, whatever happened to internet via your power outlet??
By Tom
July 3, 2008 6:16 PM | Link to this
Just like hurricane Katrina and the Iowa floods, it’s all Bush’s fault!!!
By Travis Aker
July 3, 2008 5:35 PM | Link to this
F**k you unbelivable,for making a ignorant statement like that you bastard.
By Travis Aker
July 3, 2008 5:32 PM | Link to this
This situation for one has nothing to with race, don’t even pull the white card or the black card, or purple card. This about raising the price of the internet. I for one I am againist them charging us by the byte thats ridiculous everytime when I send a e-mail there going to charge for it f**k that s**t. I will find other better ways to communicate or maybe go the library use the internet for free.
By christian
July 3, 2008 4:40 PM | Link to this
This comment just cost me 15 cents. Or time warner wants it to
By christian
July 3, 2008 4:40 PM | Link to this
This comment just cost me 15 cents. Or time warner wants it to
By Bill Pout
July 3, 2008 4:38 PM | Link to this
Papa Ubu should be banned from the Internet! He doesn’t take it seriously as a vehicle for tasteless self-promotion like me and T.Graspar in South Farce!
By guily
July 3, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this
Dear unbelievable,
It IS the white man’s fault. If they hadn’t invented the internet, computers, electronics, electricity, networks and modern communications we could all relax and enjoy sitting around the fire.
By Linda
July 3, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this
Get your hands out of my pocket! You need to think of ways of saving our economy instead of how to fill your pockets! Dubya and Chaney taught you that! Ask them about Enron and oil price control? This is why you live at the top of the hill, and the ones who pay your bills live at the bottom!
By unbelievable
July 3, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this
“I guess the white republicans need more bandwidth to watch their gay porn before they go to church.” this comment from tom was uncalled for. People like this are worse than the CEOs of these companies. This man probably thinks all white people owe black people their life savings for reparations. What an ignorant soul. I just wish he would get off the couch and get a job so i don’t have to pay for his welfare check
By blueandgoldblues
July 3, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this
From the same people who brought you OPEC,Exxon-Mobil,BP-Amoco,Enron,Clear Channel Communications and Dubya
By Tom
July 3, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this
It’s all Bush’s fault!!!
By Devaka
July 3, 2008 1:39 PM | Link to this
I think this is a bad idea. If the internet is metered then it becomes a finite resource that users think twice about using, like electricity and fuel. Such moves are suitable for industries where innovations in efficiency are required.
However, in this case poor management and long term thinking by internet providers has led to the current bandwidth crisis. As mentioned a thousand times in these posts competition is what is necessary to provide the impetus for upgrade and better service.
By Idiots
July 3, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this
Every one of you complain about Time Warner. Do something about it! They are NOT a monopoly. DirecTV is soooo much better AND cheaper. AT&T DSL is just as fast as road runner. I’ve had it for years and only had two problems at most with it. I hate TW just like all of you do. RR is a joke. Leave them all together. DirecTV’s service hardly EVER goes out, and that’s the only complaint I’ve heard about them.
By Tim Simon
July 3, 2008 1:19 PM | Link to this
Jack, Do you shop at Wal-Mart? Do you buy ONLY American-made products? You obviously own a computer, so how can you label ME a communist when you continue to help funnel money into that communist money pit? In addition, simply pointing out the inherent flaws of capitalism does NOT express OR imply a disdain for it, nor does it imply support for communism. It sounds like you’ve spent too much time with your head in the sand. I didnt know anyone could be THAT oblivious to problems our nation faces
By POTO
July 3, 2008 1:16 PM | Link to this
Once again, nickel-n-dimed to death…
By bb
July 3, 2008 1:00 PM | Link to this
And this rate increase comes as a surprise to people? I mean when there are so many people switching to digital phone with Time Warner, where do you that traffic is put? The traffic is going onto their network, which is going to suck up a ton of bandwidth and cause bottlenecks in their system. So people in the short term believe they are getting a deal, but in the long term it will not be long before that saving is going to be gone in the form of little increases.
By Bob540
July 3, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this
You can bet, anything you are willing to pay more for WILL cost more. I think consumers need to stick together — not just SAY they will drop a service if prices (already high) increase, but actually follow-through and drop it. Lost business and lost revenues are the only things companies understand.
By Jack
July 3, 2008 12:35 PM | Link to this
Tim Simon! Quit your bitching or move to China. If you hate capitalism that much go find a worker’s paradise. Stop asking to get something for free. I bet you don’t work for free!
With that kind if ignorance you must be an Obama supporter!
By Tim Simon
July 3, 2008 12:15 PM | Link to this
Worse still, they know it.
Of course, unchecked capitalism doesn’t help.
Example: Utility deregulation in the late 1990’s.
Companies claimed this would create competition and lower prices. This was only a half truth.
Through the beauty of semantics, companies were able to gouge prices. If three providers charge $320 monthly average for natural gas, and one charges $310, it is, by definition, competition. Problem is, the only one that lost was the consumer public.
By cost more
July 3, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this
May this will close up and secure more Wireless networks out there. How many are provide internet to the neighbors for free and there bandwidth goes up and hoding the cable for other paying costumers.
This is good and bad.
By Tim Simon
July 3, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this
Sadly, folks, the reason Telecom companies see no problem in arbitrarily charging exorbitant fees is pretty simple. By creating a commodity on which people have become dependent, and by stifling competition, they have you cornered.
Because the market is cornered, these companies have no need to innovate, no need to resolve problems. They are, in effect, the abusive husband—and the consumer is the battered wife. We need them more than they need us.
By BoogieStu
July 3, 2008 12:01 PM | Link to this
By Eric
If TW goes through with the plan….I will be finding another way to get my email and web services.You could buy your own web server. Then you’d have free internet.
By BoogieStu
July 3, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this
It’s gonna be just like cable, if you don’t speak-up for your rights.
Write your congressman!!!
By Eric
July 3, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this
If TW goes through with the plan….I will be finding another way to get my email and web services.
By ....
July 3, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this
I would just like to have AT&T DSL in my area….still waiting
By kelly
July 3, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this
Now that the Internet isn’t just a playground for nerds, the ISPs are taking it seriously. It is probably AT&T’s last chance for survival. Unfortunatly the trend in business today is to squeeze the consumer for every last dime. I think it should be required that every CEO read “The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs”
By paul
July 3, 2008 11:11 AM | Link to this
This wouldnt be a problem if they just upgraded the lines. When i was in my computer networking class the teacher said theres something like 80% of fiber optic wires laying dormant. Seems to me like thats something the cable company doesnt want us to know. Another thing thats causing “HOGS” to affect “little piggies” is the fact that TW has 50-100 customers on the same line when it should only be at most 8 customers per line.
By Steve from Capitola
July 3, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this
If they want to raise the rates, they will. Just like cable TV, its about the bottom line. AT&T already has a tiered billing based on internet speed. Just like the oil companies, go for the big bucks. I stayed with dial-up as long as I could, because I couldn’t justify the $50.00 per month for my slight usage. Now, the speed is nice, but what a waste to download turbotax once a year.
By JB
July 3, 2008 10:44 AM | Link to this
What’s next? Charge per e-mail. The goverment wanted that. Funny how more people e-mail instead of snail mail and yet the price of stamps still going up. I’m sure there isn’t the mail personal there was. Time warner has a lock on cable service so they can do what ever they want. If starting me out at $0.00 then charge me per byte like I said they would going in the hole. Do it the honest way. Do you know you are charged sewage (which is most of the bill) when you water the lawn, wash cars etc.
By ben
July 3, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this
The only power the consumer has is not to buy. Let TW and AT&T know you will cancel your account if they go ahead with this and maybe they’ll think twice.
By fed up
July 3, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this
They are out to make their CEO’s richer than God and do not understand what is like for the everyday person. We can’t afford anymore, they can; but expect us to bleed before they give an inch. Companies given up workers instead of dollars; nothing will ever change if people don’t stand up together and act, sitting and complaining will not resolve this. It is time to make our congressmen do some real work, instead of giving themselves raises…they need to earn their keep.
By JB
July 3, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this
Time Warner should work on increasing their quality of signal. Every company is taking the same study course how to get more money for nothing . OK LETS DO IT. Start me off at $0.00 and charge me as I use more bytes. With just a small meter type fee to start. Like the electric co.does. They would money. If they were honest this is how it should be done. But they will stay with the same charge now and then ADD ON. We need take a stand against money grabbing parasites. And gas is another one.
By barb
July 3, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this
Just another way for someone to get more money and we sit back and take it. I suppose they want to blame this on the cost of a barrel of oil? I think enough is enough. The rates at TW are high enough, they sub most of the work out so they don’t have to pay benefits.
By internet user
July 3, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this
Funny how Time Warner used to advertize that their internet connection was always on. Big selling point. Now they want to charge for usage - Typical Time Warner tactic. What’s next TM - Phone by the Minute/
By josh
July 3, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this
Earl,
If you or anyone else here thinks tiered service means they are going to lower your cost because you use less, I’ve got news for you. This is just a way to get people used to paying more for what you already have. When cable first came out, you got everything for one price. You are right about the fact that no competition = screwed customer.
By SAM
July 3, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this
One thing I haven’t heard in this debate is who will keep the ISPs HONEST when it comes to charging for usage? Can we really trust TW or AT&T to not artificially inflate the numbers, saying we downloaded more than we actually did? Who’s going to police that? No one! They’ll inflate to force people to next higher tier. Like TW does by moving popular channels up the ladder! And what about popup ads? We don’t download them. They’re forced upon us! Think about it…
By Bill
July 3, 2008 10:00 AM | Link to this
Most certainly not! Tiered service shouldn’t be the answer to bandwidth issues! It’s just another way of charging more for less! How about metered bandwidth usage? I’m paying for approx. 7000kbps download speed but probably average 3000kbps! Where’s my kickback for slow service? I’ll never see a dime because there’s no way to tell where the speed reduction is taking place. Most certainly Time Warner servers are suspect primarily!
Wake up America!
By KYLE
July 3, 2008 9:50 AM | Link to this
I HAVE READ EACH AND EVERY COMMENT POSTED AND I HAVE COME TO THIS CONCLUSION ……………..
By jonbuoy186
July 3, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this
I’m on ATT for the past year and have no problems at all.I’m located in Redneck Cracker country of Fl.And to load DDN it takes about three second’s.While I live with only Four T.V. channel’s (no cable T.V. available) and reception is miserable,I use my DSL to stay alive.When I come home in the late summer in my R.V. I get about twelve channel’s on my R.V’s TV antenna and the reception is great!!!
By TWSUCKS
July 3, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this
I am a time warner customer and two of my best friends work for this horrible company, they both are in sales, one business class and one residential. Do you konw what they told me?? IF you do not like our customer service…tough who else are you going to use crappy DSL….as they laughed I thought to myself..we’re screwed!
By aharddaysnight
July 3, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this
I hate Time Warner. I got rid of cable and RR a few years ago and have not looked back since. You can really learn to live without if someone screws you over enough. Few months ago cable guy came around to get us back on and we said no. We told him cable customer service sucked,he didn’t like that but didn’t offer a solution. Go figure!
By Kevin
July 3, 2008 8:53 AM | Link to this
If rising gas prices make you mad, then consider increased fees for ever-poor broadband service and read this:
http://www.newnetworks.com/broadbandscandals.htm
Read about previous broken promises for broadband from the 1990s:
http://www.newnetworks.com/bellbroadbandfailures.html
By Flyer-FAN
July 3, 2008 8:49 AM | Link to this
Competition is good. TW, AT&T, VzB who provide land-line services have a monopoly in their respective areas. When WI-MAX is eventually as predominate as CDMA cell phone service, it will provide customers with an alternative to the land-line providers. This competition will cause the TW’s, AT&T’s, VzB to give a darn about their service and pricing models.
By deb
July 3, 2008 8:39 AM | Link to this
I’d like to know where this grumpiness comes from concerning ATT dsl……I have NEVER had it go out during the rain/storms…..and DDN site (& others) come up almost immediately…And it often runs better/faster than the system at work!!!
By Paul
July 3, 2008 8:39 AM | Link to this
Time Warner’s billboard on North I-75 cracks me up. Everytime I drive by it I give it the “bird”. This is a company that needs a complete overhaul of management and customer service.
By Earl
July 3, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this
I would welcome usage based pricing. I use the connection at most five hours a day, and pay top dollar. With those numbers, I would expect my RR bill to be cut by 50%.
TW needs some competition in this area. Their Customer Service is terrible. The latest snafu with the software push to the cable boxes was a frickin’ nightmare. If I ran my CS like they did, I wouldn’t have any customer left. Since they have no competition, they don’t need to give a rats behind.
By Kevin
July 3, 2008 8:36 AM | Link to this
everyone can be assured that revenue from increased ISP fees will not go to upgrade the network; these companies got billions of $$ in tax breaks back in the 1990s to upgrade their networks and it is well-documented that little was done. Now, the USA lags most other nations in broadband access and speed, while the CEOs of the major telecoms are richer than ever.
So, if broadband fees increase, we can all be sure that most of the money will go to big bonuses to the CEO and other top executives.
By Scribe
July 3, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this
My understanding is that foreign nations pay far less for far faster service. Americans always seem to get shafted. Then, of course there is always the comment such as Jessie’s about politics, which had absolutely nothiong to do with it. Jessie needs to get a life.
As for the DDN loading time, I don’t have any problems in that area, or nearly any others on RR.
By Karen
July 3, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this
Tom ….. are you really that much of an idiot?
By Tom
July 3, 2008 7:56 AM | Link to this
It’s all Bush’s fault!!
By Kevin
July 3, 2008 7:50 AM | Link to this
Jim,
I hope you follow-up on some of the user comments to your story. For example,
By JB
July 3, 2008 7:36 AM | Link to this
LOL Janice !!! No kidding! My morning routine: fire up the browser - got to DDN site - go get a cup of coffee - come back wait for DDN site to finish loading (on high speed connection).
By Time Warner Administrator
July 3, 2008 7:35 AM | Link to this
I am a Time Warner engineer. The information provided in the news article is pure propaganda. Consider you are paying $150 a month for services equivilent to the same services required to “upgrade” to resolve bandhoggers usage. Think about this…should you have to pay more because you watch TV for 8 hours a day, vs 1 hour. It’s all about profit.
By tim
July 3, 2008 7:34 AM | Link to this
I wont do either,if gets implamented i will go woith out internet service for ever..Raise the gas,raise our food,when will it stop..hmmm maybe the next world war isnt too far away.lol
By The Chuck
July 3, 2008 7:33 AM | Link to this
Anyone think about students and teachers who use the internet to download and upload homework assignments and projects? I’m sure Time Warner wouldn’t want to halt the education of America, then again, maybe they do so they can continue to come up with these “business plans” and people of America can’t question them. Thanks for trying to improve America, Time Warner!
By JB
July 3, 2008 7:31 AM | Link to this
Scott brings up an excellent point about the hypocrisy of tiered service for bandwith vs cable TV. I once read that ESPN was almost 50$ of the price of cable. So if a household didn’t want ESPN their cable bill should be half by TW’s bandwith rationale. Of course we know that won;t happen. This is what you get when government grants monopolies. As Ronald Reagan said “government isn’t the solution to the problem - government IS the problem.
By Janice
July 3, 2008 7:25 AM | Link to this
Does this mean we will be charged an extra service fee while waiting for DDN website to load? DDN should pay us for waiting around so much!
By bo peep
July 3, 2008 7:17 AM | Link to this
to continue….
Is it too much to ask for a good reliable service?
By Fug
July 3, 2008 7:16 AM | Link to this
Offer us faster and faster speeds then act surprised when we use this ‘mega-bandwidth’ too often.
It’s like going to a Smorgasboard and being charged triple because you are too fat.
Um I’m sorry but “All you can Eat” means just that..no matter if you are a 50 pound kid or a 400 pound slob.
Personally I will follow the unlimited ISPs.
If they try to cap me…it’s off to the next provider.
If no more providers remain, I can live without the net.
By Bo Peep
July 3, 2008 7:15 AM | Link to this
We just switched form AT&T DSL because every time it rained the DSL and phone went out. We have had RR for two months now. We hae to restart the router every couple of hours, they buried the cable less than two inches in the ground. We have called about the non buried cable, but no one is listening. We had not had cable TV in over 6 years because we just do not watch TV. There is still nothing on with 70 channels. We all game. But that does not mean we abuse the system.
By ken
July 3, 2008 7:10 AM | Link to this
Changing for Bandwidth is another grab to get more money from the consumer. It is like the phone company changing you for each aspect of the phone system. Caller ID, Call Waiting, Three Way Calling…all are included in everyones phone. All the cable companies upgraded to higher bandwidth to support consumers. The bandwidth is already there. They are using the bandwidth hog the same way the phone companies are using the calling features as a means to justify the cost. TWC is the worst!
By Kerri
July 3, 2008 7:07 AM | Link to this
I wouldn’t mind paying for more bandwidth, as long as I was also paying for internet service that I can count on, instead of DSL that’s spotty at best. I just dropped the service because every time it rained, I would lose connection. Every time the temp went over 80, same thing. Didn’t matter, I still got hit for $40/mo. Sure, I’ll pay to be an “abuser” (as tom calls me, since I’m a gamer) but I’d better have some darned good service for the price.
By Harvey
July 3, 2008 7:02 AM | Link to this
Remember, you can always switch providers to a satellite that has unlimited bandwidth. or DSL. Don’t worry though, this will won’t happen. Once they see people dropping from the service, they’ll change it all acbk to how it used to be.
By tom
July 3, 2008 6:58 AM | Link to this
It is only fair that if the costs go up then the abusers, such as the gamers, pay the costs.
By John
July 3, 2008 6:28 AM | Link to this
Wow, first they monitor every phone call and email you send, now they want you to pay for their inability to properly forecast their network usage. Time Warner is a joke, which is why I went to DSL and Dish. I guess the white republicans need more bandwidth to watch their gay porn before they go to church.
By JGL
July 3, 2008 5:28 AM | Link to this
Time Warner’s already bad service has been getting even worse as of late…and now this! Out for more than 3 hrs yesterday alone in B-Creek…second time in a month w/ extended outage. Customer service? Ha! Each person I talked to had no info on situation and each one was more rude than the other. Just terrible!
By jessie
July 3, 2008 5:24 AM | Link to this
The only way for all this to stop, is to repeal the Reagan tax cuts. This would stop the ceo’s of these big companies from making hundreds of millions. There is no trickle in trickle down economics.
By Scott
July 3, 2008 4:06 AM | Link to this
If Time Warner wants to charge us for the bandwidth we consume using their internet connection then why not give us the opportunity to have tiered TV cable bills as well? Oh, wait! That’s right - by billing me for all of the channels I don’t watch and all of the time my cable TV is turned off (or the service is out) they have top management and stockholders getting wealthier…
By BullDozer
July 3, 2008 4:00 AM | Link to this
Sounds like the oil companies are taking over the internet service providers. The only way to stop this rape & pillage is more competition. The big ISPs are just begging for government intervention.
By fred
July 3, 2008 3:40 AM | Link to this
Time Warner will use any excuse to bail out there mismanagment. There business practices are similar to big oil, GET THEM HOOKED AND RAISE RAISE RAISE!
By R_L
July 3, 2008 3:21 AM | Link to this
By the way, my DSL connection took 4 minutes to update the comments for this page once I hit the “POST” button.
By R_L
July 3, 2008 3:18 AM | Link to this
To continue my comment… Columbus, Ohio got DSL and Cable internet 5 years before Dayton, Ohio. When Dayton finally got high speed, we were paying $10 more a month for it as well. It just comes down to the internet providers being greedy. Anything that could, or needs to be upgraded, should be done at their expense. We all know that it should have been done years ago. Ask people in England if they have fiber-optic lines straight to their home or not. Thank you, you greedy a*s providers.
By R_L
July 3, 2008 3:10 AM | Link to this
First and foremost, this is the biggest crock of sh@t, I have ever heard! Unlimited bandwidth over the past decade? Someone needs to check their pricing a lot, when it comes to internet access. Internet companies have jacked the prices, for internet access, up so much in the last decade that it’s ridiculous that they are going to demand more now. They could have upgraded their system a decade ago with the profits they were making then, and still had no problems making money.
By Doug
July 3, 2008 2:23 AM | Link to this
well if we would get the same speed as they get in japan I could see them charging more but until then they shouldn’t charge
By Jack
July 3, 2008 2:16 AM | Link to this
Generally, no.
If I knew that the increase in price for going over the allotted bandwidth would go to upgrading the lines, then maybe. But I think the money will just be wasted and not go to upgrading the entire network.
By David
July 3, 2008 1:58 AM | Link to this
Internet providers just want a way to jack up prices.