It appears that Time Warner is re-thinking it’s deployment of faster broadband offerings because consumers complained about the caps!
Ladies and Gentleman I am constraining myself from saying what I really want to say to Time Warner, because I am trying to keep this post in the G rating category.
So not only does it appear that Time Warner Cable was going to try and ram bandwidth caps down customers throats, they are now going to go and threaten it’s customers by saying no caps, no speed increases. I am telling you this is a great way to make your customers really love you.
Check out this statement”
“This week, TWC chief operating officer Landel Hobbs said at a conference in California that his company’s strategy will be to deploy DOCSIS 3.0 “surgically” in markets where it is most needed, but not in markets where the company is not finding support for its tiered broadband services.”
Well I have news for the folks at Time Warner Cable, you all are not going to be rolling out very much DOCSIS 3.0 anywhere in the country, because people are not going to stand for these bandwidth capping games.
The true problem goes back to our local public utility commissions. The high majority of us have no choices as TWC doesn’t have true competition. We don’t have it here in Hawaii, and the poor folks who were going to be the guinea pigs in 4 market areas were in areas that were to get BW Cap Trials did not either.
I can’t stand that TWC is trying to do this. It is ridiculous that we are going backwards in the world of bandwidth. Europe is already leaps and bounds ahead of us with 4 or 5 times more the UNLIMITED bandwidth for about a quarter of the price. And of course they would come back and say no higher bandwidth: this company has no understanding nor care of their customers whatsoever. I can’t wait for the day when they go under.
As for TWC, they are the most miserable company in the world, I have a few of my personal stories about them, and more to come shortly after my latest issue is sorted out:
http://www.nerdyhearn.com/blog/37/
http://www.nerdyhearn.com/blog/59/
I do not have a problem with bandwidth caps, per se. I understand that it costs money to operate a network and that more demand requires more money. What I have a problem with is that the bandwidth caps, in most cases, are set unreasonably low, overage charges are set unreasonably high, and consumers are often not given an opportunity to pay for additional bandwidth in bulk if they know they are a heavy user (like you, for instance).
I fear that to change this, it is going to require the intervention of the FCC or the FTC or pushback from the municipalities that award contracts to the cable companies. Unfortunately, the FCC/FTC aren’t going to make a move without a mandate from the legislative branch (which the lobbyists will make sure doesn’t happen) and, I may be wrong here, the municipalities generally don’t look that closely at the contracts. I mean, have you ever known a cable contract to NOT be renewed? I think I’ve heard of it *once*.
Because the municipalities must award the contracts, I urge everyone to show up at city council meetings and make your voice heard (esp. when it is time for renewal). If there is enough dissent, the council will either have to request a change in the terms, refuse to award the contract, or look at no longer being on the council at the next election.