Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

First a 75-year old woman in Virginia made headlines when she trashed her local Comcast office with a hammer after they wronged her. Around the same time, Comcast was accused of blocking certain Internet sites for using excessive bandwidth. According to some bloggers’ calculations, the company could now face a fine in excess of $1 trillion (possible but unlikely) from the FCC if it’s found guilty of breaking the law.

The fact that Comcast allegedly broke the law by controlling the flow of information online, and kept the practice secret until the media exposed it, is deeply troubling. Even more troubling is Time Warner’s recent announcement that it will test charging customers based on how much they download, rather than the standard monthly fee now in place. The company’s justification is that five percent of customers account for 50 percent of capacity, and therefore those people should pay more. However, should we trust that there isn’t another motive behind the change?

Just imagine someone who downloads movies from Netflix, Amazon, or any of the other companies that now offer video online. These customers already pay a flat fee for Internet access through Comcast or one of the other telecoms, they pay the download site a fee for the service, and now they may have to pay even more for exceeding bandwidth limits? It sounds to me like the ISP’s (all of whom are in the television market now that AT&T created U-verse) are worried that online video will further erode their grip on the TV market.

As someone who believes that the Internet should be free from regulation, from governments and corporations alike, I hope Time Warner either abandons the idea or is forced to legally. If not, it’s doing its customers a huge disservice.