I’ve got some important advice related to an American Press (AP) article which recently announced “Time Warner Cable will experiment with a new pricing structure for high-speed Internet access later this year, charging customers based on how much data they download.” I’m not a Time Warner user but if I was I would be shopping for a new Internet Service Provider (ISP) right now even though they’re only experimenting in one market for new customers. I don’t download huge amounts of files but I like to have that option when I already pay way too much for an Internet connection that doesn’t get the speeds advertised.

I don’t have much to say on this new announcement by Time Warner other than I’m utterly disappointed and hope other ISPs don’t try to force this pricing method down on their customers as well. For this very reason, I recommend that any who has Time Warner cable write a compliant letter and preferably change ISPs if possible to send the message that new pricing structure is not going to be acceptable. This should do two things to help consumers. First, it will make Time Warner rethink their plan when their customers retaliate and take their business elsewhere. Second, it will send a message to other Internet providers that they should not attempt this pricing structure.

Just to make sure I’m not misconstruing anything, go read the AP release at USA Today. The only way this pricing structure should be accepted by consumers is if the price of service drops for users who use less bandwidth and the price does not increase from the current price for users who use a lot of bandwidth. This would save those who aren’t heavy Internet users money and would provide incentive for those who are to download less. Additionally, this should help increase download speeds by reducing excessive Internet traffic. However, I highly doubt the charges will go down for existing customers. I only think prices will go up for heavy users. I guess that is enough of my rant but I do urge any Time Warner customers to act now for your own benefit before its too late.