Published in News

Time Warner to expand 'trail' of capping

by on05 February 2009

Image

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.
Last modified on 06 February 2009
Rate this item
(0 votes)