Time Warner Reveals Monthly Data Caps

Remember a few weeks ago when we said Time Warner was about to test tiered bandwidth pricing with monthly data caps ranging from 5GB to 40GB? The company just released more information about these tiers. The plans start at $29.95 for 5GB a month at a relatively slow rate of 768 Kbps and go up to $54.90 for 40GB a month and a data transfer rate of 15 Mbps.

The overcharge fee is $1 per gigabyte, which really isn’t so bad when you think that a gigabyte is equivalent to 3,000 Web sites, 15,000 e-mails without attachments, 200 songs, or 80 minutes of standard-definition video. For most– or at least many– people, the 5GB plan should do just fine.

Then again, the entry-level 5GB data cap is small enough to leave a lot of users at an impasse: they can curb their video-streaming or make more room for Time Warner in their monthly budget. A full standard-def movie can take up about 1.5GB, and a high-def one, 6GB to 8GB. If you’re addicted to your Apple TV or are thinking of buying Netflix’s new set-top box, be prepared to pony up more each month.

During the trial at least, these plans will only apply to new subscribers, and Time Warner will waive overcharge fees for the first two months. At any time, users can monitor their data consumption by (ironically enough) logging into Time Warner’s Web site.

Now, the question isn’t if Time Warner will make these tiers a nationwide policy…it’s when.