Using the Web might get a lot pricier

By SmartMoney

In times like these, surfing the Web might seem like one of life's cheaper entertainment options. But the next time you fire up your home computer, consider this: If some Internet service providers get their way, the meter could be running while you're shopping, e-mailing or reading news reports like this one.

That's because cable and telecommunications companies are forging ahead with plans to radically change their familiar flat-rate monthly Internet plans, just as new options for watching movies and TV online proliferate.

What should Web surfers expect? Usage caps that would penalize those who send and receive large amounts of data.

Time Warner Cable, for instance, is running a test in Beaumont, Texas, that offers a range of plans that allow between 5 and 40 gigabytes of bandwidth for new customers. The 5-gigabyte plan costs $29.95 a month, while customers pay $54.90 monthly for the 40-gigabyte plan. Customers who go over their limit pay $1 for every additional gigabyte. AT&T is testing a similar plan in Reno, Nev., with cap ranges between 20 GB and 150 GB for its new customers.

How easy is it to run over that cap?

Just a few years ago it would have been difficult to break such caps. But now the rise of video and other data-heavy applications on the Web means more consumers are eating up large amounts of data -- downloading movies and music from Apple's iTunes, watching TV episodes on Hulu.com and engaging in other "bandwidth intensive" activities.

More services are tempting consumers all the time: Netflix, for instance, just announced a program to let its members watch a library of 12,000 movies and TV episodes on their HD TiVo digital-video recorders, with the programming delivered over the Internet.

To put the caps in perspective, purchasing and downloading the movie "Wall-E" from iTunes would use up over 1 gigabyte alone. Working through the first season of TV's "Mad Men"? In total, those episodes would consume nearly 7 gigabytes.

It isn't just Time Warner Cable and AT&T. Comcast and Cox are also experimenting with usage caps; though they are not currently invoking any financial penalties, they do reserve the right to suspend or terminate service. Service providers say it's necessary because there's a bandwidth shortage -- in other words, their systems are overloaded by all that downloading and video watching.

Plans are too harsh, critics say

Critics of the usage caps don't dispute that some service providers are struggling with booming usage. But they say the cable and telecommunications companies should have seen this coming and invested to beef up their services. Service providers, for their part, say they plan to improve their systems or have already done so, and they want the heaviest users to help pay for the upgrades -- hence the extra charges for those who exceed the caps.

Some critics also say the punishment for high usage can be harsh. In some cases, if folks ignore warnings, they can be thrown off the Web. For those who only have one Internet service provider available to them, most commonly in rural areas, such a move could leave them cut off from the Web entirely.

Another problem: For the most part, monitoring bandwidth consumption would be left up to the customer. Other than AT&T and Time Warner Cable, most companies aren't yet providing usage meters. So consumers have to download free online programs such as BitMeter 7 or SurplusMeter to their computers. Comcast customers can also check their bandwidth usage through McAfee Security Suite software.

Unfortunately, these programs don't tally usage on all of the computers in your home or from other devices. That means consumers would ultimately be responsible for tallying their usage -- a formidable task for any family with Web-surfing teens.

Continued: Compare the usage caps

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