Verizon: Still No Plans For Wired Broadband Usage-Based Plans
Telco 'Will Continue to Evaluate' Options, as AT&T Readies DSL Caps and Surchanges
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 3/17/2011 9:36:41 AM
As AT&T moves to adopt monthly usage limits and charge overage fees for DSL, Verizon Communications says that -- for now -- it won't follow suit for its own wireline broadband services.
"We have no plans to implement usage-based pricing for our fixed broadband customers," Verizon director of media relations Bill Kula said. "We will continue to evaluate what is best to ensure our customers get the best broadband service for the best value."
Effective May 2, AT&T will limit regular DSL users to 150 Gigabytes of data used per month, while U-verse Internet DSL users will be capped at 250 GB. Users will be charged $10 for every 50 GB beyond the caps. Roughly speaking, 150 GB would be equivalent to 150 hours of standard-definition streaming video.
Verizon does not impose specific usage caps on its wireline FiOS Internet and DSL broadband services. However, the telco does reserve the right to terminate service if customers violate its acceptable use policy "and excessive use 'could' constitute a violation," Kula noted. To date, Verizon has not disconnected any consumer, small business or mass market customers, he added.
Still, Verizon executives have said that at some point flat-rate pricing for unlimited broadband will be unsustainable given expected usage growth.
At an industry conference in 2009, Richard Lynch, then Verizon's chief technology officer, said, "We're going to have to consider pricing structures that allow us to sell packages of bytes, and at the end of the day the concept of a flat-rate infinitely expandable service is unachievable."
On the wireless side, Verizon Wireless has various plans with monthly data usage allowances and surcharges for usage above those caps, although it offers unlimited-use plans for some devices.
The model of charging Internet users for what they use has been instituted by major providers in Canada, including Rogers Communications and Cogeco Cable. Among major U.S. cable operators, Comcast, Cox Communications and Charter Communications set monthly maximum-usage limits but currently do not bill for additional bytes consumed.
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Good. I'll be dropping my internet and enjoy the Great Outdoors. I suggest everyone to do the same. There's a big world outside that needs to be explored, people.
Drop your internet, throw out your computer and TV, Go outside, and have time at the dinner table with your family.
Josh Taylor - 3/17/2011 11:22:37 AM EDT
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