Time Warner Cable backs down on metered internet access
April 17, 2009
High speed internet provider Time Warner Cable yesterday backed down on its plan to charge internet users based on their bandwidth, with tiered billing and caps on use. Consumers and advocacy groups had strongly criticized the plan.
Internet access and consumer advocacy nonprofit Free Press on Friday hailed the cable provider's announcement as a victory for internet users and open access. Free Press activists sent more than 16,000 letters urging Congress to investigate Time Warner Cable, according to the group.
Representative Eric Massa of New York last week promised legislation to curb internet metering, as use charges are sometimes called.
Time Warner Cable had been market testing internet use penalties on people in Beaumont, Texas, and planned later this year to launch trials in Rochester, NY; Austin and San Antonio, Texas; and Greensboro, NC, according to Free Press.
Consumers would pay up to $150 a month for full access to the internet, the group said.
The group's Timothy Karr urged consumers to stay active.
"Big media companies like Time Warner Cable, Comcast and AT&T know that the new media landscape - with internet users watching video at YouTube, listening to radio at Pandora and making phone calls using applications like Skype - is a threat to their monopoly control," Karr said.
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