Comment (0)DSL Reports caught wind of the tiers Thursday and obtained the accompanying rate card.
For its new Docsis 3.0 tiers, with services as fast as 50Mbit/s, CableOne is charging 50 cents per gigabyte above a threshold -- 100GB per month for triple-play customers or 50MB with a two-service or standalone contract.
That's in line with "excessive use" policies for some of CableOne's other speed tiers. For its Standard, 5Mbit/s tier, a customer is charged extra for exceeding 3GB on more than half of the days of a given billing cycle. The ceiling jumps to 5GB per day during that span for its 10Mbit/s Premium service. Customers who violate the policy could be asked to move to a higher service level or possibly face service suspension or termination.
Why this matters
Already broadly adopted in Canada, usage-based billing policies for U.S. broadband could supplant all-you-can-eat tiers and large excessive use caps now that AT&T is charging overage fees for DSL and U-verse Internet.
CableOne is a Tier 2 MSO, but some analysts believe that bigger operators, including Charter Communications Inc. , Cox Communications Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), might also enact usage-based billing policies.
For more
Check out the stories below to learn more about the trend:
- AT&T to Fit Subs With Broadband Caps
- Will Cable Follow AT&T's Lead on Usage Fees?
- Charter's Internet Cap to Bare Its Fangs
- TWC Mothballs New Metering Trials
- Comcast Draws the Line at 250GB
— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable
