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Time Warner Cable can SMD! This is the last straw. I pay almost $60 per month, and that includes internet and 12 channels, of which only about 5 are worth watching. I'm not a boxhead, but I am a web designer and use the internet in all kinds of capacities. The usage caps they've announced are nothing short of clueless. Obviously they either set those numbers out of complete stupidity in what equals reality amoung users of the internet, or they fully intend on ripping off their customer base more than they do today.

Time Warner, EMA! You guys suck!

Well i was going to change to TWC. But there is no way in H that im going to now. They are just like the Banks. They are finding ways to steel you blind. GREED GREED is the theme of TWC.

I wish I knew why they were doing this...it's not as if they need the extra money to pay people to uphold their 'excellent' customer service standard - unless of course, they've set the high bar as a 45 minute hold time. Between crappy customer service, horrible internet service, and now to pay for usage...I've dealt with it enough! Off we go!

The only thing that makes TWC worthwhile (in my opinion) has been their relatively good internet service. Their customer service is TERRIBLE, they are rude, and treat their contracts like garbage. The only service I have through TWC is internet and I don't live in Greensboro, but I fear for this to expand to my city.

To FORCE this new policy on it's customers is just another indicator of what they think of you. With any luck, a viable alternative will present itself and you can get clear of TWC once and for all. I'm not sure anyone else has the infrastructure is in place to allow that to happen, but one can always hope. I would ask why they don't make this new policy optional, but we all know the answer to that.

I feel for you - and good luck standing up to this tyrant.

Nice job, TWC. I understand the need to begin monitoring bandwith usage and charging those of us who use a lot (and I understand the stats that say the minority use the majority of bandwith), but considering the highest level cap is a mere 40gb is absolutely ridiculous. In the digital age, with streaming tv and movies through the internet, sites like youtube and online gaming, people like myself can go through 40gb in a few days.
I use my xbox 360 a heck of a lot for online gaming, watching netflix and downloading tv shows or other movies through there.

And I'm sure alienating a few users is what they're going for. If they can get all their heavy users to switch to a different company then they only lose a small percentage of subscribers, but free up a lot of bandwith. I'm just wondering why TWC set the bar so low considering how much digital content has become available? I'm sure most of the heavy users are 30 or younger, because we're the ones who are growing up with expectations of high transfer speeds and lots of content at our fingertips in seconds. Are they really willing to risk all their younger users, the users who in the years to come will be the only customers available?

This new tier plan is not about speeding things up for everyone or punishing heavy users. It's about clamping down on their media (not ISP) competitors. TWC and other cable providers have finally figured out that the pipeline they've been selling us has inadvertently allowed other media providers into our house. Thanks to Hulu, iTunes, Apple TV, MLB.tv, Netflix streaming, Youtube, etc., we have media choices. We're able to "cut the cable" and TWC doesn't like it. What better way to exert control than by trying to turn off the faucet? TWC wants to back out of the deal.

And 40 GB of data per month is a joke. They know that a tech-savvy family of four can use that up in two weeks with normal (and non-pirating, legal) use. This new tier plan will dramatically change consumer internet behavior that has developed over the past decade. It will impede the development and adoption of new technologies and will help TWC maintain their market power. Without competition, there's not much we can do except go without.

I've got TWC here in Greensboro, it's the one the Apartment complex has. It says in the article that those of us that have a guaranteed price lock window will not be charged till our time window is up then we will be charged like a new customer. With the service they do it's a joke. I could do as good with pony express as I do with their (fast they call it) it's as slow as dial up. So when my time window is up, SO IS YOURS TIME WARNER. I will not be using any of the bundle I am paying for now. It takes two or more to play poker. Deal me out. At least I know what the big VIRUS to hit the computers was TIME WARNER CABLE.
They will lose so many customers you'll think the Blue Grass Festival has taken over Greensboro and North Carolina. Want to hear the Blues, wait till you start hearing CANCEL, CANCEL,CANCEL. I have had TWC for 6 years. I've got 1-1/2 years left on my guaranteed window. After that I have another Guarantee you lost another customer that's $1407.72 a year you lose. And I mean it in every sense of the word Y O U L O S E. ADIOS AMIGOS NO MAS! By the way before any of you get your feathers ruffled I'm a 61 year old widowed white woman .

This is absolute bull.

Here's what I love in all this: I called up their customer service to inquire, and the woman on the other end of the phone informed me that they don't yet know what the cap will be, but when I look at this article, it's very clearly delineated.

I play PS3 games online, and I'm pretty sure this will effectively screw me over.

Having moved here from a Comcast market, I hoped that TWC would be better than Comcast. But TWC's basic internet service really stinks compared to Comcast--it's slower, it costs more. One thing that is the same: legendary poor customer service.

I hope the reporter who wrote this story forwards all these comments to the idiot spokesperson(s) for TWC...not that it will do much good.

I worked for TWC Greensboro previously, and what a scam this is... What you might not know is that they tried to do this same exact thing about 4 years ago, but did not make it public. They sent letters to the users that used the most and tried to "force" them to upgrade to a higher plan. While I don't know all the details, this quietly went away and those identified as "heavy users" were returned to prior pricing plans.... One particular issue is that you will be at TWC mercy in having to accept what they say you have used... A wireless phone company sends you a bill and shows you where you spent your minutes. Do you think that TWC will do this? I agree with the other posters - this is about capitalizing on those that are using the internet for entertainment vs. using your cable services(pay per view, DVR) to generate revenue. The "vice president" of customer care for the Triad region of TWC is Diane Blackwood. Just try to give her a call and see if you ever get a response.

I checked out of curiosity what is being offered in the UK... Virgin Media (pretty much the only cable company there) offer 20Mbit internet, a reasonable TV service and basic phone for £30.00 a month, that's $45-$50. They have congestion issues too so to be fair, they have a daily cap: do more than X amount of data in peak time and we'll cut you down to 5Mbit. They're also rolling out 50Mbit internet service.

Can TWC provide 20Mbit internet, the lowest-level digital bundle and local phone service for $50/month? Seems like they're going to have to do some investment in their network. I thought they were an all-fiber net?

Why are they only doing this in Greensboro and not Raleigh?

Because that market is competitive...ours is not.

Write to your council members, the mayor, your state rep and let them know how you feel about this predatory pricing designed ONLY for Greensboro, NC and only 3 other cities in America.

Call your city council member. Time Warner's monopoly franchise is controlled by the city council. Call them and tell them how unhappy you are with TWC imposing draconian pricing on only a select few markets. The city council is giving its citizens a raw deal if they allow this to go through. Demand that the city hold a public hearing which it can require per the franchise agreement about the changes in which members of TWC can be questioned by council and residents. Make the council work for YOU!

I have the TWC bundle and have used it with my wife and daughter. -But after hearing this, I'm going to shut down my land line (use only my cell phone), sign up for Direct TV, and find a DSL provider. Goodbye TWC, I wont let the door hit my rear-end on the way out.

Time Warner customer should be extremely concered about this new policy. Anyone who watches shows on Hulu or listens to Internet radio is at risk to see giant increases in their bills. We'll keep links to an online petition, TW customer service and other ISP options listed at kissmy---timewarner.com. This isn't about TW conserving bandwidth, it's about them soaking customers.

(I'll keep it rated G on this forum, but I'm sure there will be no problems guessing the PG-rated three-letterer word I left out of the URL above.)

Let TWC know how you feel: http://www.twcnc.com/template/contactus.cfm

I love how the PR folks are already beginning with the "infrequent email-checkers are subsiding the video-watching whippersnappers" meme. That's complete BS. TWC's broadband has long been unlimited for EVERYONE and has long been tiered based upon SPEED. If you were an infrequent email-checker, you could buy the Lite for price of a pizza. For a little more, you can go with the Standard speed. Pay up some bigger bucks and get Turbo.

Again, this is not about punishing heavy users and generating cash for their "network upgrades." It's about limiting competition between TWC and other media providers. They don't like online streaming content providers (the Hulus, the iTunes, the Apple TVs, etc.) getting a piece of the action.

As if they're not making enough money already. Boooo!

Here's what I wonder: My neighbor hasn't password-protected his wireless network, so anyone and his dog can hop onto his network. What if half the block streamed videos via his network? Wouldn't his usage go through the roof and he'd be charged accordingly? I could see bandwidth theft as a big problem going forward. I've been trying to convince this guy of the importance of locking down his network, but to no avail. Maybe this will be the thing that sways his laissez-faire attitude.

Time Warner's propaganda doesn't begin to tell the full story of why Greensboro and other cities are being served up Road Runner's all-new Rationed Internet. You don't have to suffer in silence. A growing group of consumers has come together to fight back, explain the alternatives, and help put a stop to unjustified Internet rationing, which is really just an excuse to pad profits.

Learn the facts and join the fight. And we need help from Greensboro to find some folks to be a part of our Greensboro team to keep the rest of us informed. Visit: www.stopthecap.com

So I've never wanted DSL before but this will make me reconsider. If TW can't figure out what to charge for their service, its not my fault. I really have no idea how much bandwidth I use in a month, but it doesn't matter. they have multiple plans for the folks who want to pay less and use less vs those of us that want fast connectivity available WHEN we need it. Next they'll start charging more for 'prime time' usage. If DSL is even remotely an option for decent throughout, I'll be cancelling my TW account.

Joe, just fyi.... I explain how the unlimited to tiered system analogy (http://sue.polinsky.com/?p=5885&cpage=1#comment-107374) works in some comments at Sue's. As someone that has been in the communications business for the last fifteen years or so, the business model makes absolutely no sense. On top of this, TWC/Comcast/AT&T are basically trying to push this model onto consumers because they inherently lost the entire net neutrality battle where they were trying to charge the content providers.

Let's be honest here. If TWC tried to do the same thing with cable television, there would be hell to pay. Basically that's the same argument. if TWC said... hey... on top of your regular HD content, we're going to time you for all the games you watch and charge you if you go over the minutes of time. If that was the case, you'd see a tremendous push towards satellite at that very moment.

Wrote about the issue this afternoon here (http://life.firelace.com/2009/04/the-last-straw-with-time-warne.php). In any case, the entire thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. You can guarantee that I'll be keeping my eyes open on alternatives if this even tries to rear its ugly head here.

Now what am I suppose to do when I call in sick to work? Jeffic Fail!