Seems to be working
well
Time Warner Cable, which became the first major US ISP to try
charge customers extra if they exceeded a certain amount of data traffic, said
it wants to expand its trial. While many ISPs have imposed caps on how much
their subscribers can download each month, Time Warner Cable has set pathetically
low limits.
Punters who path $30 a month for broadband and download more
than 5 gigabytes are getting charged $1 for each gigabyte over that limit.
Comcast, the second-largest ISP, has capped use at 250 gigabytes for
everyone.
Consumer groups have slammed capping saying they could discourage
people from using the Internet and could stifle online video as a competitor to
cable TV. But Time Warner is a cable company so why would it want people to
download flicks off the internet?
Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley said
his company's trial, in Beaumont, Texas, had shown that the system is capable of
metering and billing accurately. It will soon be expanded to four more cities,
for now undisclosed, to give the company a better understanding of how the
system works.