How will a usage cap affect me?

Usage caps affect users differently depending on the amount of bandwidth they typically use. Like a cell phone - if you go over the amount of bandwidth allocated to you Time Warner will charge you per Gigabyte of use. Under this heading I've created a page that profiles different kinds of users and how they might use the internet - and what affect the caps have on them.

We shouldn't forget though, the overall affect of the caps is that it will suppress internet usage and - by the very nature of monitoring of bandwidth - create a situation where interent usage is discouraged.

I'm still building this section. If you have a profile you'd like to help me with, please send it to me via the form to the left and I'll consider it. I'd want to know the profile characteristics, impact, typical plan now, typical plan after the cap, and typical costs - use the format I've established for the other profiles. If you can provide a description of alternatives that is also helpful.

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Tiered Bandwidth explained in simple terms

One of the folks I interact with on twitter gave this description, which I've added some examples and details to:

Basically what's happening is this. Time Warner (who owns both the Cable TV, and the RoadRunner Cable ISP) is testing a new way to squeeze their customers for more money. Behold my amazing analogy!

Think of the internet like an expressway (An Information expressway if you will), currently you pay by speed (Dialup is a pokey 5mph, DSL is city driving - 35mph, RoadRunner is 80 mph, and FIOS is Montana Speed - 125mph). Most places will let you pay more for the privilege of driving faster... and this has worked well thus far - if you don't need to go over 35, stick with cheaper DSL - if you want to download the internet go with FIOS. That same fee allows you go drive virtually any distance without stopping for filling up your gas tank.

Time Warner realized that with more web content becoming available, the flat charge for speed isn't "fair" for everyone - so they introduced consumption-based billing. Now in addition to charging based on how fast you go, they're providing you a small 5, 10, or 40 gallon (Gigabyte) tank. Sure you can drive at 55mph, but once you've used up 40gallons, you stop and wait until next month. Or face 1000% markup on additional "fuel" (Estimates put RoadRunner's cost at $0.10/GB, they're charging $1/GB for overages: Citation). To make it even more difficult, there's no way to tell - before you finish downloading something - if you're going to exceed your cap. And once you do exceed the cap, even by a little bit, you get charged. And if you keep exceeding your cap, the charge just goes up and up until it potentially reaches $150/month! You have a "gas guage" but you must bring up a website to view it (or get it on your cable bill), so you have no way of knowing IN REAL TIME whether you're exceeding your limit or how much you've exceeded it by.

Where this gets especially ridiculous is that the high speeds aren't matched with larger tanks. You could easily blow through 40GB in a week on their Turbo plan. Even the lower caps/lower speeds become too constrictive when you have to download Microsoft security updates and antivirus updates. Online gamers are hit particularly hard as well. Online distributors like Steam (they sell games like Half-Life, Team Fortress, Crysis) that depend on end users downloading fully copies of games - some several GB in size are also impacted. Online multiplayer games are in constant contact with the back-end servers - racking up GB of usage just by being online and playing.

Another interesting point is how this consumption-based billing has come out soon after Hulu.com ads have started running. Some argue that this is a stab at Hulu, Netflix streaming, and any other video service that competes with RoadRunner's sister group Time Warner Cable TV. The average Netflix HD video would cost you almost $7 to download after you exceed your cap, and can use up as much as 1/6 the average person's usage allowance. As few as 6 movies, with no other traffic can completely use up the 40GB tier of service.

Its important to note that unlike gasoline, the bits and bytes that make the internet do not have a finite limit. There is no shortage of 1s and 0s and cost estimates to deliver those bits to the home user are low.

Hopefully this is a little more average user friendly.

- pez (http://twitter.com/pezhore)

This site is not sponsored by Verizon

This site was created by a Rochester, NY resident who is passionate about our region and keeping it competitive with the rest of the world. The site is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or edited by Verizon or any of its subsidiaries. The owner of the site is not an agent of, nor does he resell, Verizon services. The site was created in response to the increasing pressure that local internet providers have placed on pricing in this market, and their negative effect on Rochester's economy. The Verizon name and logo and all related product and service names, design marks, and slogans are trademarks, service marks, or registered trademarks of Verizon and may not be used in any manner without the prior written consent of Verizon. All other product and service marks are trademarks of their respective owners.

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