Time Warner Cable Experimenting With Metered Internet Use

New York, NY (AHN) - Time Warner Cable is playing with the idea of charging customers by usage for their Internet service, based on the amount uploaded or downloaded on a per gigabyte basis.

The plan is being rolled out in Beaumont, TX, on Thursday. Any user who goes over their monthly gigabyte limit will be charged $1 per additional gigabyte.

Time Warner, as well as other providers, are looking to implement a pay by usage format due to the extremely uneven amount of usage over their networks. "Just 5 percent of the company's subscribers take up half the capacity on local cable lines," said Kevin Leddy, Time Warner's executive vice president of advanced technology.

This type of billing and metering process is already common overseas but has not been readily accepted in the U.S. since AOL first offered an unlimited use flat rate plan.