THE HOT JOINTS » Regulation http://www.thehotjoints.com Breaking News and Opinion Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:36:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Time Warner Looking At High-Speed Internet Charges Based on Usage http://www.thehotjoints.com/2008/01/17/time-warner-looking-at-high-speed-internet-charges-based-on-usage/ http://www.thehotjoints.com/2008/01/17/time-warner-looking-at-high-speed-internet-charges-based-on-usage/#comments Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:49:07 +0000 Chris Jones http://www.thehotjoints.com/2008/01/17/time-warner-looking-at-high-speed-internet-charges-based-on-usage/ www Time Warner Looking At High Speed Internet Charges Based on Usage

Time Warner will possibly be the first high-speed Internet provider to switch to a totally new pricing structure.

The company is set to begin a trial run in Beaumont, TX in which it will sell high-speed Internet access in a tiered structure based on how much data is download per month.

I have a bad feeling about this. Internet access has become so cheap that companies like Time Warner are looking for new ways to increase profits.

This tiered pricing structure sounds disturbingly similar to the way cell phone minutes are priced. I don’t even use Time Warner, but I hope they don’t have some fantasy about charging the kind of egregious prices that cell phone companies do for airtime minutes.

I just can’t shake the feeling that the low-cost unregulated “Information Superhighway” that we’ve all grown to love is going to come to an end any day now.

Only to be replaced by an expensive highway filled with road blocks, check points, and speed lanes. It really could be just a matter of time.

With all the talk in Congress about “Net Neutrality” and stories like this about Comcast, there are plenty of reasons for consumers to be worried.

-Chris Jones

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