What is a "Bandwidth Cap" and How Does It Affect You

2009-04-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

This blog offers a brief and concise summary of what "bandwidth caps" are and explains what we need to do about them.
If you use a computer or the Internet at all, then this affects you!

What Can I do?

You can watch the meter run and reduce and/or stop doing the following:

Sending e-mail, instant messages, video chat, VoIP chat (voice over internet)
Watching videos on YouTube, Hulu.com, Netflix
Listening to and buying music on iTunes
Sharing pictures online
Playing games online
Using fun websites like Facebook
Downloading and updating your software to keep your computer up-to-date and safe

OR...

You can join the fight and voice yourself by doing the following:

1. Contact your law makers; call and write to them.

Find out who they are at this website:
http://congress.org/stickers/?dir=congressorg&officials=1

2. Complain to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) through their website:
http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm?sid=&id=d1e547

3. Support Network Neutrality

Learn more about Network Neutrality in 3 minuets by watching these three YouTube videos:

Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzwgEqDRgpI

Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nhi3NXkp1Q

Video 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va6tuWAueVE

and visit http://www.savetheinternet.org

4. If available, switch to another broadband carrier that does not impose bandwidth caps.

5. Spread the word by sharing this site with those you know.

And if you'd like...

6. Let the Time Warner Cable (or your bandwidth-capping ISP) know how you feel; call and write to them:

Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Britt
203-328-0670
glenn.britt@twcable.com

General E-mail: realideas@twcable.com

Time Warner Executive Custom Service
203-328-0600
twc.cotp@twcable.com

Rochester Time Warner Cable Customer Service
585-756-5000
800-756-7956

Rochester Level 3 Support: 585-756-1119

Colleen Bernard at Time Warner Cable Customer Care
585-756-1202

Austin, Texas Time Warner Cable Customer Service
800-481-8848

San Antonio, Texas Time Warner Cable Customer Service
210-244-0500

Greensboro, North Carolina Time Warner Cable Customer Service
866-874-2389

List of Time Warner Cable Board of Directors: http://ir.timewarnercable.com/directors.cfm

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Avoid Online petitions, they rarely work. It's "slack-tivisim".
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What is a "Bandwidth Cap"?
A "bandwidth cap" is a limit placed on an account saying how much Internet traffic can be used within a period of time.

If a bandwidth cap is imposed on your account, you'll be penalized and you'll pay for overages.

Why is This Happening?
Telecoms/cable companies and ISPs (Internet Service Providers) such as AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have decicde to abuse their monopoly by imposing bandwidth caps in different areas. They expect more money to flow from your pockets into theirs. (If this doesn't benefit them, why make such an effort to make such a drastic and widespread change?)

AT&T and Comcast has already imposed this bandwidth cap. Time Warner Cable have imposed a bandwidth cap in Austin, San Antonio, Greensboro and Rochester. Soon, it will be in your area!

Why Are ISPs Doing This? (The Lies and Truths)

These internet service providers (ISP) will tell you things such as:
"it's to protect their network"
"it's to stop "bandwidth hogs" from hogging up a majority of their resources by downloading or sharing illegal content " (videos and files)
"it's to offer you better service"

They're lies, complete lies! Let's see why...

Why's Are ISPs Really Doing This? What's the Real Reason?:

Lie: "it's to protect their network":

What they're really afraid of is losing subscribers and customers because of services like Hulu.com

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Lie: "it's to offer you better service"

Truth: If they want to offer you better service, then they really should start by not "ripping off" or "extorting" subscribers like you and me.

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Lie: "it's to stop "bandwidth hogs" from hogging up a majority of their resources by downloading or sharing illegal content " (such as music and videos)

Truth: Time Warner, Comcast and AT&T talk about bandwidth as if it is some sort of "scarce resource" like oil and water. The truth is network capacity is faciliating traffic just fine. Also, network capacity can always be added to handle any extra loads of traffic.

If they really want to protect copyrighted content, they can resort to other ways to handling this matter such as law enforcement.

Other Real Reasons ISPs are Doing This:

#1: The true threat they face today losing subscribers and views of their cable television service. More people are turning to free online videos like Hulu.com or low cost on-demand movies services like Netflix.

#2: At first, cable providers only offered cable TV. Then they began packaging services (cable TV, cable internet and digital phone/VoIP).

These are running out of ways to generate revenue. (There are only so many households in the U.S. If most of them already have cable services, there is little left for these companies to sell to these household so a bandwidth-capping scheme can help them "squeeze" some more money out of their subscribers and generate some more revenue and "growth" for them.

#3. A bandwidth cap is one step to controlling the information and content that travels through their lines.

Example: In the future, ISPs can steer you to the services they want you to use with the help of bandwidth caps. They can say, watch our videos and use our digital phone/VoIP service and we won't meter your usuage; watch the other videos or use the other digital phone/VoIP service and your meter will run and you will be responsible for any overage charges.

So instead of watching their videos, if you watch a competitor's like Hulu.com or Netflix, the meter will run.
Instead of using their VoIP/digtal phone service, if you use a competitor's like Vonage or Skype, the meter will run.

Does This Benefit Me In Any Way -At All?
Absolutely not! If you're a Time Warner Cable customer, you were likely paying somewhere from $29.99 to $50.00 monthly for unlimited Internet access. If a bandwidth cap is imposed, you will be paying $150.00 monthly for the SAME SERVICE! ($75 per month for their newly labeled "Turbo" service with the overage charges "capped" at another $75 per month. -That's a total of $150 per month or 3x more for what you're paying right now!)

They may rename your service and call it "Turbo" or "super duper high speed internet" BUT you are still getting the SAME SERVICE!

Who and What Else Does This Hurt?

This hurts small businesses and local business.
This will slow innovation (companies will be more reluctant to create and offer new services to consumes you and me).
Tech companies that rely on the Internet such as SaaS (Software as a Service) or On-Demand Software companies.
This will hurt the economy as it will slow potentially slow down e-commerce.
And of course, this hurts YOU! You will pay more for the same service and there will be less useful products and services created for consumers. (Think about all the devices and services that you use which connect to and rely on an internet connection. Now imagine them not being there.) That's what would've happened if there was an inexpensive and reliable broadband service in America.

Think about what the Internet and broadband Internet has done for us and our economy:

The Internet brought investing and trading stocks and other type of financial services to the millions of homes across the country and to middle-America.
It helped bring information to the fingertips of people around the world.
It has allowed people to enjoy innovative services such as YouTube's video service, Apple's iTune music store, Google's Gmail service, etc.
It's offered people a better way to keep in touch and communication by offering tools such as e-mail, instant messaging, video chat, VoIP (voice over IP/Internet or "digital phones").

Now ISPs like Time Warner Cable want to change all this, dictate what you can or cannot do, and fatten their wallets at the same time!

Where Can I Find Additional Info on This Matter?

Informative Articles:

Wired - Time Warner Cable Earnings Refute Bandwidth Cap Economics
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/04/time-warner-cab.html

Information Week - Time Warner Cable Fights For Its Monopoly
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/04/time-warner-cab.html

The Wall Street Journal - Time Warner Cable Gets Protests On Metered Broadband Pricing
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090415-712479.html

You can find a vast number of publications covering this matter by visiting:
http://news.google.com and typing in the words "bandwidth cap".

Other Informative Sites:

http://stoptwc.info
http://stopthecap.com
http://savetheinternet.org

What is a "Bandwidth Cap" and How Does it Affect You?

What is a "Bandwidth Cap" and How Does It Affect You