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Time Warner ToS Changes Could Mean Tiered Pricing, Throttling
Mirell writes "Time Warner Cable has recently changed their Terms of Service, so that they are allowed to charge you at their discretion via consumption-based billing. They were shot down a few months ago after raising the wrath of many subscribers and several politicians. Now they're trying again, but since they make exclusions for their own voice and video not to count against the cap, this could draw the attention of the FCC."
i beleive a change in TOS/contract that changed the ammount you can be billed should typically excuse you from any early termination fees, see point 3 in this article: http://consumerist.com/272305/6-ways-to-cancel-any-cellphone-so-you-can-get-an-iphone
That is nice, but most people have four choices for Internet service:
Cable
DSL
3G
Dialup
For a lot of people, choice #2 or #3 isn't an option due to coverage areas, choice #3 and #4 are too slow to be useful for a lot of things.
So, essentially Cable is a monopoly. This is why they are trying the usual garbage.
Its ironic that while the rest of the world gets faster links like 4G, US bandwidth actually suffers and gets more expensive as time goes on.
I'm also pretty sure that it is only a matter of time before a company like NebuAd or Phorm makes a deal with a cable company to insert ads into people's web pages.
>I'm stuck talking to my neighbor two apartment buildings away at 384kbit/sec.
The problem is that you dont know where the bottleneck is. Im sure in cable networks the bottlneck in many scenarios is local and in other times its the backhaul. Assuming there's 100mbps of unused bandwidth between the cable node you are on and the node your pal is on may not be correct.
Not to mention, the docsis protocl may not be able to understand who to lift the cap for and who not too. Considering there's no business reason to provide that service, perhaps you and your neighbor should spring for a wifi link.
I think the sad part of this scenario is that there should be a business reason to provide this type of service. I imagine a municipal run ISP would be able to handle this pretty well and it would help the community. It would be nice to have a 50 or 60mbps link to everyone on my local node. Oh well, perhaps someday the municipal government will wise up.
You can write whatever you want on your checks in 1 point font, it normally has zero effect on the agreement, although it may in theory be taken as an anticipatory breach of contract on your part..
That is, because an attempt at changing the agreement under such irregular conditions is an unenforcable one, and you're obligated under terms of existing contract with TWC to send payment. You cannot impose new conditions before you meet the terms required of you.
As a result, you also can't automatically bind TWC into an agreement based on them having payment made from your check.
Even if you had no prior agreement with TWC, you couldn't do it, because of the special nature of a check.
To condition accepting terms based on a payment, you have to make them sign the contract before or separate from the check.
And all the requirements to have a contract have to be met; consideration, meeting of minds, etc.
e.g. You'd have to send them a document that is the agreement but not a check / payment instrument that has another clear intent.
1 point font is also small enough as to make its contents unenforceable, as the other party can rightly claim the text was not visible.
But changing the TOS in a small-type on a flimsy insert sent with the bill that takes a law degree, additional experience, and hours of careful reading to comprehend constitutes a "meeting of the minds"? Bullshit.
The fact that this sort of thing is legally accepted shows only that common sense in the application of the law was thrown out the window long ago in order to accommodate the existence of mega-corporations.
It may be a necessary evil, but that's no reason to dissemble about what's actually happening.
Expanding a vast wasteland since 1996.