TWC Delays Metered Broadband Test So They Can "Educate" A "Vocal Minority"

Anti-metered broadband advocates are rejoicing today as TWC admitted defeat and delayed its plan to expand metered broadband to Rochester, NY.

According to TWC’s press release, the dust-up was caused by a “vocal minority” of customers and that the problem is that they just haven’t educated everyone.

Here’s the official word from TWC’s CEO:

We still believe that Road Runner customers who use less should pay less, and that those who use more should pay more. But an important part of any product trial is the dialog a company has with its customers. We want to do everything we can to inform customers of our plans and have a meaningful dialog with them about those plans before we proceed. We have heard from a vocal minority of our customers and have determined that we need to spend more time educating everyone on this new model. We’ve also heard from you. While we still believe that Consumption Based Billing is the right way to equitably charge our customers, it is clear that we need to first teach customers about how much bandwidth they actually consume.

Meanwhile, others are declaring victory and promising to keep working to prevent the spread of nefarious metered billing…

New York Senator Chuck Schumer announced the decision at a rally in front of Time Warner Cable‘s local headquarters in Rochester, and Representative Eric Massa said he wouldn’t give up his mission to outlaw metered broadband.

“We’re delighted that commonsense prevailed,” said Rep. Eric Massa. “The people of Western New York spoke and I heard them loud and clear. Together we have won and I am glad that I was able to play a small part in bringing about this change. This is a true grassroots victory, but we will move forward with our legislation to ensure that any future plans to charge customers based on how much they download do not spring up anywhere else.”

Time Warner Cable cancels Internet tier pricing plan [Democrat and Chronicle]
Statement from Landel Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer, Time Warner Cable [TWC]

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