Time Warner Cable (TWC) is planning on introducing a tier-based bandwidth allocation system in Austin TX, San Antonio TX, Greensboro, NC and Rochester NY.
This system is similar to current cell phone plans that charge consumers based on minutes used. TWC is introducing 5GB, 10GB and 40GB plans priced from $22.95 to $54.90 a month. Users that exceed the limit will be charged $1 for each GB they go over.
The maximum 40GB cap is so low that consumers can easily exceed it and encounter huge fees. Technologies such as the iTunes store, Apple TV, Netflix Watch Instant, Xbox LIVE and PlayStation 3 Marketplace all use large amounts of bandwidth to deliver content. Consumers that use any of these products will have a very hard time staying under this extremely low cap and will likely have to adjust their habits in order to avoid extremely large fees.