Cable: Will price tiers spark outcry?

[BuzzB2K]

Cable: Will price tiers spark outcry?

By Tiffany Kary
Special to ZDNet News
April 17, 2002, 4:45 PM PT


After noticing that their online games of "EverQuest" were getting slower and slower, Jim Williamson and his 13-year-old daughter ran a speed check of his Time Warner Road Runner cable service.

It was running at about half the speed they were used to, he says. Within a week, Time Warner e-mailed him an offer to "Increase your Road Runner speed!!!" by signing up for a more costly business-class service.

"They never guaranteed us a set speed, so no one could complain about the loss," Williamson, of Pinellas County, Fla., wrote in an e-mail. But Time Warner will probably lose his business, since he's now looking into getting DSL (digital subscriber line) service. "I won't be pushed into this new scheme," he said. More

I am sure walktalker will get this story, but thought I would post it here as well. Correction: I see it is his first story... I guess I should have looked first... Oh well...

[zombywoof]

I wonder if cable companies go to tier pricing, will they be able to guarentee a C.I.R.(Committed Information Rate) for their platforms. They should if they are going to go with tier pricing. What guarentee will there be for someone who pays for premium service is only getting the speed of an economic service. Will premium service subscribers be moved to faster networks to ensure they get what they pay for?


Tier pricing will ultimately cost more than flat rates currently do. I think cable companies are pulling one here to generate more revenue. If tier pricing generates more revenue, it will get done.

[pod]

Blah..

Yeah, there will be outcry, from those who've been maxing out their lines 24/7 for the last couple of years. It is clear that along with speed caps and max download limits will come tiered service. How else can the cable cos make money? They can't provide T1+ levels of speed for $40/month to everyone who wants. Those days are over. See thread from a few weeks ago on this. Sure, your line isn't as stable as a real T1, but does the guy behind MuziKid@KaZaa really care if his line goes down for an hour every month or if his ping is 60 instead of 20? No. More bandwidth, gimme gimme. Well, it just happens to be a limited resource, and it costs money to provide, and competition is down, and the hype is dying down. Time to do it the right way; pay for the level of service you want. You want basic 3 channel cable? Do you want to pay the same price as the guy next door who's getting 300?

So if you just want to browse and send some email to grandma, you can pay for your cheap 128/16 connection. And if you have a need for 2000+ connection, you're just gonna have to start paying the market price.

It should have been that way to begin with, metered or tiered service, but the competition was too stiff and 56k too cheap and entrenched. It's almost a shame the free ride had to last so long, too many people used to their 'unlimited' lines forgetting over 80% of users still access their Internet over dialup and often pay more that they do already.

[Dawn]

Oh yeah, cable companies want to make the big bucks. I had the option of either renting my Motorolla modem at $3.95 a month, or buying it for $299. (I am currently renting it btw)

Today while surfing around, I found the exact same modem for $80 thru Price Watch. ( ok I didn't; napho did )

[ssj4_android]

Well, @home people are really going to get pissed. I joined after they went bankrupt, but I've heard the speed went way down when ATTBI took over. I pay $45 for 1500/128. If DSL gets more value for my money, I'll switch to that.

[JackSpratts]

Originally posted by Dawn
Oh yeah, cable companies want to make the big bucks. I had the option of either renting my Motorolla modem at $3.95 a month, or buying it for $299. (I am currently renting it btw)

Today while surfing around, I found the exact same modem for $80 thru Price Watch. ( ok I didn't; napho did )

it would take 6 1/2 years of rentals before it exceeded the amount you'd spend buying that modem from your cable company. there's some interesting math! i don't know why they charge so much for them but they do. as long as the pricewatch one is new then go for it - but i'd never buy a used one. they can be really tricky. even new ones are weird sometimes but at least you get support. maybe that's why they charge so much - it pays for all the calls.

- js.

[fogelbise]

I am also renting my modem. By the way, my cable provider also charges to repair the modem even though they say it is theirs. they don't do that with their cable tv boxes or remotes, free replacement there.

the upload speed limits didn't seem so bad at first, but they do now. If I try to upload to more than one person my downloads slow way down, sometimes below my upload amount.

i would be willing to pay a little extra for more speed, but not if they lowered my speed first like the article in the initial post!!!

[JohnDoe345]

Where cable modem companies screw you over is from the cable modem box itself. If you are planning to be a long time cable subscriber then it would be better to buy your modem, but definitely not from them. You'll get a much better deal from buying it from a third party vender. For example, my cable company was asking $200 or $10 a month. I found the same exact modem on Amazon.com for $100. Although, I've been told that you don't have to use the same modem as your cable company's so you can find even cheaper or better ones.

I've had my cable service for about over a year now so buying the modem box is already saving me money in the long run.

"They never guaranteed us a set speed, so no one could complain about the loss,"

I guess my cable company was smart in this area. From the start they advertised only modest download and upload speeds. Usually I get better speeds then they advertise but if it ever does go down then they can easily say that they never guranteed more then the speeds that they have stated. They have also specifically said that speeds may vary. Talk about covering their arse Even so, I would be pretty annoyed if my cable speeds dropped tramatically.

by pod
They can't provide T1+ levels of speed for $40/month to everyone who wants. Those days are over.

I agree. Broadband providers where counting on a lot more users switching over from 56k. Since there hasn't been there is now an offset in financial cost with regards to their huge investment in the providing the broadband infrastructure.

[Dawn]

I just went to Price Watch and Amazon to compare. At Amazon, my exact modem is $119.99. On Price Watch, it's $68 after rebate. New too. (I was just checking that I had the $80 right in my first post, and I couldn't find that back, but found a better price anyway).


Again, please never ever buy from your cable company. Those prices are inflated.

[JohnDoe345]

I'm sure I would've found a better price, but I just didn't search that hard I was just happy finding one that was half the price of my cable company. Although, saving an extra $30 would've been nice

[JackSpratts]

they sure take you guys for as much as they can. my dsl was all free, parts-wise - including the lan card & modem. my speed's around 1250-1500down and anywhere from 100-130up. i know not everyone can get it, altho they're moving out that 18,000 foot limit very soon, but still i got all that for $39.00 a month, and it's hyper reliable too. what do you guys pay, and how reliable is it?

- js.

[JohnDoe345]

my dsl was all free, parts-wise - including the lan card & modem.

I guess it just depends on your broadband company, because other people I've talked to also got a lot freebies. I'm also paying $39 for my service with advertised speeds of 800 down and 128 up. Although, I usually get 1000 or more down on any given day, but uploading usually stays very close to that 128 barrier. They have been pretty reliable for the most part.