price-gouging

Stop the Text Tax

Josh Levy — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 09:04:40 -0400

Two pieces of news this week confirm that T-Mobile is doing its best to overtake Verizon as the least consumer-friendly wireless carrier in the US.

Frontier's New Internet Overcharging Scheme Gouges Internet Users

Holiday Shapiro — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:44:15 -0400

Recent news reports indicate that although revenue for Internet provider Frontier Communications has been increasing, the company is testing a new Internet overcharging scheme that would force consumers to pay outrageously high fees for what the company arbitrarily deems “high bandwidth use.”

How Bandwidth Caps Hurt Your Mac and What Apple Can Do About It

Stevie Converse — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:14:37 -0400

Full article: Apple
Dave Greenbaum
With "standard" broadband service capped at a mere 3GB bandwidth per month in cities like Lawrence, Kan., simple downloads from iTunes, software updates and backup services like MobileMe can render a customers' Internet connection useless for a month. Apple should be leading the charge against bandwidth caps and support the Broadband Internet Fairness Act.

New Bill to Stop Internet Overcharging

Stevie Converse — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:30:40 -0400

Full article: SavetheInternet.com
Megan Tady
Strong activism against Time Warner Cable's outrageous Internet pricing schemes has resulted in congressional legislation to stop them. Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) introduced the "Broadband Internet Fairness Act," a law that would give the government explicit authority to prevent broadband providers from overcharging for Internet access.

Cable: Let Us Experiment with Pricing or the Internet Will Explode

Stevie Converse — Thu, 21 May 2009 08:42:23 -0400

Full article: Broadband Reports
Karl Bode
The cable industry has yet to provide hard data justifying the necessity of moving away from the flat-rate billing model. The costs to provide broadband are dropping; growth rates are easily manageable; DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades are relatively inexpensive; and the "exaflood" has been debunked as a public relations stunt.

Cable: Let Us Experiment with Metered Broadband

Stevie Converse — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:11:59 -0400

Full article: Ars Technica
Nate Anderson
Given cable's long history of exorbitant rate increases and atrocious customer service, it's hard to blame people for being skeptical about cable's moves to start capping broadband access -- especially when costs are dropping and revenues are rising. But the industry's head lobbyist says that cable isn't out to price-gouge, but to provide Internet access in a way "that's best for the consumer."

Metered Internet Likely on Way

Stevie Converse — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:03:24 -0400

Full article: McClatchy Newspapers
Scott Canon
Your days of all-you-can-eat Internet buffet may be coming to an end. Probably not tomorrow, but soon enough, industry analysts say. The change won't come easily in a world where consumers have come to take cap-free Internet use for granted.

Time Warner Cable: Three Mistakes on Usage Pricing

Stevie Converse — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:51:25 -0400

Full article: Multichannel News
Todd Spangler
What did Time Warner Cable do wrong in introducing it's metered broadband trials that prompted a Category 5 backlash, in which the cable industry was compared to OPEC and accused of rapacious greed and attempting to protect its TV subscription services by inhibiting Internet-video viewing?

Metering: The End of The Internet as You Know It

Stevie Converse — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:02:35 -0400

Full article: Huffington Post
Josh Silver
Time Warner Cable's usage penalty would take the unlimited Internet service we enjoy today and make it more like cell phones, where you get overcharged by companies making record profits. Although they've postponed their proposed trials of their price-gouging scheme, they'll try again. It's up to us and our elected officials to stop them.

IBM Study Shows Telco CEOs Struggling to Adapt

Stevie Converse — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:43:39 -0400

Full article: GigaOM
Stacey Higginbotham
The people running the world's telecom carriers are facing a threat to their core businesses. But instead of tackling the issue of being a dumb pipe through wholesale innovation, 40 percent of the survey respondents are looking to alter their revenue model through changes in pricing plans, such as metering, or new advertising schemes.