Can High Speed Internet get any worse?

firewire posted on Thu. January 17th 2008 at 10:37 PM PST

So after work today I am surfing the net and come across this article about Time Warner Cable. First off before I get started ranting about the issues with the test they are conducting in Beaumont Texas, let me just say they are overcharging for a service that is faulty and inconsistent. Many people I know including myself have found high speed internet connections to terminate intermittently and bandwidth to be fairly limited depending on the time of day especially during peak hours.

Wednessday Time Warner announced that they will be trying a new payment plan for Internet Access. Instead of paying an outrageous monthly fee for their service customers will be charged for the amount of bandwith that they use. This puts gamers, geeks, and movie buffs in a bind. Now those of us who enjoy spending our free time on the net will now be paying much more for our internet service. For instance, say that you like to download movies. If you download movies through Amazon or Itunes not only will you be paying for the price of that movie but the cost of the download.

The article from Bits points out the reason why. The cable companies are scared that the Internet is going to decrease their business, and you know what.... they are right. I am sick of cable companies setting their prices and forcing customers to use their service because it is the only option in the area. They have horrible customer support and brain dead minimum wagers handling technical phone calls. Let me put it this way if this new payment plan becomes mainstream I will have to find another way to enjoy the internet.

You can view the article here.

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4 Comments:
Ryan on Jan 18th, 2008 2:03pm
I cant even begin to start on over price internet. I pay, for personal internet for one room, $26.00 per month, they also charged a $40 connection fee when all I did was plug my internet cable into the wall and sign up for an account. There is nothing I can do about this because this is the only provider that we can use in the apartment. There is no reason for over priced internet.
firewire on Jan 18th, 2008 4:42pm
It's going to be great when they charge by the bandwidth used. Just think about it. Youtube, video games, music, movies all of it is going to cost an arm and a leg. Even websites with a lot of content are going to cost you to view them. I for one am not willing to pay for it.
Ryan on Jan 19th, 2008 11:31am
Movies would be a pain, I know a lot of people who do Netflix online for them that would be quite bad.
Doomerz on Jan 22nd, 2008 4:13pm
Fios is right around the corner here, If they try to do something like that, I will be switching that very day...