[qi:004] Time Warner Cable (s twc), after bearing the hatred of the digerati, its customers and even the financial community for its attempts to meter broadband use, has released more information about its pricing plans. It also offered a teaser assuring the world that it plans to one day launch the super-fast DOCSIS 3.0 service that other cable providers are already deploying.
Before it got into the plans, Time Warner in its release it justified its actions by saying, “Internet demand is rising at a rate that could outpace capacity within a few years. According to industry analysts, the infrastructure may not be able to accommodate the explosion of online content by 2012.” Wait, we heard this argument three years ago from AT&T (s T) — only that prediction was that the Internet would be full by next year! Instead of upgrading its pipes, Time Warner’s proposing that we just price this precious resource accordingly, and stop using so much of it. Here is the breakdown of the plans:
- 1 GB per month tier offering speeds of 768 KB/128 KB for $15 per month. Overage charges will be $2 per GB per month.
- It’s increasing the bandwidth tier sizes included in all existing packages in the trial markets to 10 GB, 20 GB, 40 GB and 60 GB for Road Runner Lite, Basic, Standard and Turbo packages, respectively. Package prices will remain the same. Overage charges will be $1 per GB per month.
- 100 GB tier offering speeds of 10 MB/1 MB for $75 per month. Overage charges will be $1 per GB per month.
- Overage charges will be capped at $75 per month. That means that for $150 per month customers could have virtually unlimited usage at Turbo speeds.
The statement notes that trials will begin in Rochester, N.Y., and Greensboro, N.C., in August. San Antonio and Austin, Texas trials will begin in October. As Time Warner launches DOCSIS 3.0 in the trial markets, it says it plans to offer a 50/5 MB speed tier for $99 per month, but doesn’t note the cap.
