Throttled to death.
I’ve been thinking a lot about cutting the cable with Time Warner Cable. I started thinking about it after I read this Wired article last fall, but never actually thought I’d do it until I signed up for Netflix streaming and XBox announced Live TV at E3 this year.
Now with recent rumors about Apple trying to kill the cable industry using Apple TV and iCloud, we’re getting closer and closer to the death of cable TV. But reading Robert Scoble‘s Google+ post about Apple TV the other day forced me to think of a huge potential problem; internet access.
Although we pay for Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner Turbo, the fastest internet access possible with the service provider, every single time I stream something – whether I’m watching Netflix, talking to my parents on Skype, or appearing as a guest on TWiT – TWC never fails to cut off my internet forcing me to reboot my modem and wifi over and over again. This is called throttling, and it’s driving me f*cking crazy.
As more and more people dump cable for internet streamed television, we’re going to have to address this problem in a big way. Currently I’m looking for alternatives to TWC in my area, preferably a service provider that doesn’t need to string a line through my apartment building to get me internet service. I’m looking for the future… there must be someone out there who’s providing throttle-free wireless internet service at ludicrous speed! If not, they’d better start doing it soon… otherwise we’ll all have to file a class action suit against service provider TWC and their lack of, y’know, providing service.
Silly Casey, thinking you deserve to get what you’re paying for.
I’ve had plenty of problems with AT&T’s DSL service (the only provider I’ve been able to get at my “remote” location… 2 miles from a building that distributes internet to the surrounding cities) and now THEY’RE going to be throttling internet too. Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T – why do these companies think changes like this won’t be met with extreme anger?
Good points Casey! Cable companies know they are loosing this battle, they cant compete with the choice of the the internet! They do provide the service, but they dont make nearly as much profit selling you TV service! That why they limit you, so you have to stick with the tv packages! I have Comcast, they dont throttle has bad as TWC, but Comcast as a 250 GB CAP, that might seem a lot but after watching netflix and twit, and downloading games off Live and steam, it fills up pretty fast!
Tyler- I feel your pain, bro. Although, I’m much luckier than you since I’m in a major metropolis. That said, this is the reason I’m looking for a wireless internet provider… many apartment buildings only allow one major cable/internet provider to drill into their walls! SUCKS!!! #firstworldproblems ;)
John- Thanks! I’m curious what TWiT hosts (that aren’t located at the SF office) do. Specifically, I’d love to know what Brian Bushwood and Justin Robert Young do. Perhaps I should make this into a t-shirt, actually… WWBBD? ;)
Couple of things:
1 – I was in a meeting with Carolina Lightcap, Executive in charge of the Disney Channel Worldwide, and she said that, while the majority of television viewers “cutting the cord” will one day be inevitable, Disney has seen little evidence that “cord cutters” are a significant statistic at this point. Additionally, when people ARE cutting the cord, it’s primarily due to financial reasons as opposed to a desire to embrace a new media delivery paradigm. She’s not the first person I’ve heard say this, but she does back that position. So, while I think you’re right: this is definitely coming, it seems like it may arrive later, as opposed to sooner than one might expect – maybe by then the ISPs will have their act together, but for now the early adopters will have to suffer through their ridiculous, knee-jerk throttling hijinks.
2 – I’ve lived in the Glendale/Burbank area for the past 15 years. Among other services, I’ve tried both AT&T DSL and AT&T U-Verse DSL (not the full TV, PHONE & INTERNET service – JUST the U-Verse DSL). I found the U-verse flavor of DSL to be much better than AT&T’s standard brand. Then again, I don’t know that I’m a “power-user” compared to you, so your mileage may vary…
As the industry continues to consolidate and content providers become content creators, this problem will only get worse. In 5 more years a wire to your house for internet will be a thing of the past, yet net neutrality will not be supported on the “mobile” spectrum.
Comcast/NBC and TMo/ATT mergers must be stopped. It’s not enough to just support neutrality quietly, we have to start taking an active role. The alternative is to let the future be shaped by those without our best interests at heart.
I had the same issue, and looked at Clear (the 4g provider) Speeds up to 6 MBps but the problem they don’t tell you is at about 48 GB of transfer you get throttled. They say the don’t do it, but it’s all over the message boards, and I have a friend it happened to first hand.
Brian- Regarding your 1st point, one thing to remember is that it takes 10% of the population to tip mainstream opinion. The more people cut the cord and tell their friends and online networks, the more people will see the light.
Matt- Agreed. Sadly, I’ve been talking about net neutrality for about 4 years and it hasn’t done any good. Frustrating.
Michael- Ugh… jerks.
Casey- are you SURE Time Warner is your problem? More often than not, the problem is with the cheap ass wireless router…
As hinted at above, nothing is going to change with our crappy cable internet services unless they have competition. Where I am I have one choice, or rather I don’t have a choice, it’s Roadrunner or nothing. Uverse isn’t here & Comcast isn’t allowed in our town. These clowns like to talk about a free market but, as with insurance, they have regional monopolies that are as good as the evil socialism they claim to hate.
Keith- I got some feedback like that on Google+, so we’re going to troubleshoot it soon and see what happens.
David- Comcast isn’t ALLOWED in your town?! Why? So strange. Also, I love your passion… thanks for commenting :)
Here in Vienna we also have only two big “oligopol”-ists left. But I forced myself (and the building owner) to use a medium sized internet access provider. So I pay around 600USD per year but now I am very happy with the reliability and speed. You should really force the building owner to let a wire in. Maybe this regional “on site” fight is needed to break the general situation about having only two big players iper niche. From the modem where the wire comes in you can easily make your own WiFi fast and secure with a 50USD device. And by the way “One on One” is really nice. Greetings from Vienna, Austria, Robert
Going with wireless internet is not the answer. Mobile internet providers like Verizon Wireless and the like are notorious for throttling their service. Even with the introduction of blazing fast 4G speeds throttling will always be. This is done to protect the integrity of their networks. I would dare say that wireless internet is the most fragile as it only has a limited amount of bandwidth. Look at AT&T when the iphone came onto their network. Nothing but trouble because the network couldn’t handle the extra traffic. For wireless providers to increase bandwidth they must acquire more frequencies which is hard and costs big money. Try finding a good fast connection with any wireless provider that doesn’t have a limit of some sort. Cable internet providers have the capability to add bandwidth on the fly. Their spectrum isn’t regulated like over the air. If cable companies need bandwidth they can easily add a channel for use on modems. Say people eventually go 100% online for streaming TV content. Cable internet providers are in a much better position to provide internet as the channels that were once used to carry TV can be easily switched to provide internet therefore increasing their capacity. I think those cutting the cord will eventually get come back. The only problem will be cost. As cable TV providers migrate to being 100% internet providers they will supplement lost TV subscriber revenue by increasing fees for their internet service they provide.