6:00 AM -- I just boosted my bandwidth again, this time to 10 Mbit/s. Charter Communications Inc. , my service provider, charges me a little more because I don't take their TV service along with my bandwidth subscription. But, interestingly, they aren't exactly advertising the bump up to 10 Meg in my neighborhood, since it's not widely available.
But here's an interesting thing, I think: A look back at my bandwidth prices paid over a three-year period shows that my top download speed is up considerably, but the price per day is down about 3.8 percent.
Table 1: What I Get, What I Pay for Charter Bandwidth
Date
Downstream
Upstream
Price Per Month (After Tax)
Price Per Day
Price Per Megabit (Per Month)
Sep-03
1.5 Mbit/s
128 kbit/s
$62.91
$2.10
$41.94
Mar-04
2 Mbit/s
128 kbit/s
$41.23
$1.37
$20.61
Jul-04
3 Mbit/s
256 kbit/s
$41.23
$1.37
$13.74
Jan-05
3 Mbit/s
256 kbit/s
$52.05
$1.74
$17.35
Mar-06
3 Mbit/s
256 kbit/s
$32.46
$1.08
$10.82
Sep-06
10 Mbit/s
1 Mbit/s
$60.47
$2.02
$6.04
Mar-07*
10 Mbit/s
1 Mbit/s
$86.38
$2.88
$8.63
* Projected price based on the end of a 6-month promotion
The price per megabit of available bandwidth has fallen by about 80 percent in just three years. I'm not complaining -- but how do service providers even hope to make money on bandwidth when prices are falling that fast?
trzwuip, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:39:49 AM
re: 10 Meg Is Here! The answer is that prices for cable internet have always been too high, but now cable has to compete with fiber to the home services.
DCITDave, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:39:46 AM
re: 10 Meg Is Here! I think you're right. As soon as someone rolls into my 'hood with FTTx, I'll be 10 Meg goes down to $49 or less.
As an aside, I'll probably never pay the $70+ listed on the chart for my service.
The customer service people at Charter encourage customers to call after their price promotion ends so they can glom onto another promotion before the rate goes up.
Why not just be a good company and charge what's fair?
stephencooke, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:39:42 AM
re: 10 Meg Is Here! Phil,
There are at least a couple of points to consider here:
1) What is your actual network bandwidth (this generally has to do with the stat-muxing ratio in your 'hood)
2) It is assumed that not everyone will call customer service and will cough up the extra $23.47/month above what you are paying now. The point is that, as long as it didn't cost Charter that much to provide the bandwidth increase that you see, they are still gaining revenue if not margin as well. This is the same rationale behind mail-in rebates.
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