Later this year, Time Warner Cable will test a metered pricing system where heavy broadband users are charged based on how much data they transfer. This test will take place in Beaumont, Texas.
"The idea is to create a more consistent, enhanced experience for our customers," Dudley said. "We can't allow a small percentage of customers to use an inordinate amount of the network to the detriment of the majority of customers."
According to Time Warner, a small percentage of users, using peer-to-peer clients, transfer exorbitant amounts of data which slows down the connection of nearby users. Time Warner also claims that the price point will remain the same for most users, and only these heavy users would be affected by the change.
This is troubling to me because it seems to be a move to not only maximize profits now, but future-proof high profit margins in the next fifteen to twenty years. If this change means that prices can only flex upwards, and never downward, Time Warner is clearly going to see much, much higher profits without providing a better or more cost-efficient service, a service that they already profit from.
Never mind that file sharing will only become exponentially more popular in the coming years, meaning that the average bandwidth usage is likely to soar upward. Users can already download movies and their favorite TV shows from iTunes. Or download entire series' worth of content from Amazon.com. Film studios offer free high-definition trailers on their websites. Television networks stream shows online. Companies like Valve allow customers to buy and subsequently download new video games on peer-to-peer networks. As users become more comfortable with this technology and companies find ways to make money offering a greater variety of content, people will download large content more often than ever before.
A complete shift to high-definition film and television looms in the near future, and as time goes on companies are only going to offer more content online. Time Warner's tiered internet system is designed to pass the cost of enjoying this content on to their customers and increase their profit margins. If they successfully discourage heavy internet usage by charging select users more, they will not only make more money but they will also slow the adoption of similar technologies by media companies and decelerate their need to explore new, faster broadband technologies.
Source: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Time-Warner-Cable-Eyeing-Overage-Charges-91047
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