Uh Oh...I'm in Trouble

Hide me.  Please!  Take me somewhere, anywhere, but far from a laptop.  Miles from a wireless router. Lightyears from anything even remotely resembling a computer screen.  Let me explain my problem.

Time Warner is testing out a new pricing plan for Internet usage.  Mr. Gonsalves' article titled, Time Warner Tests $150-Per Month Unlimited Internet exposes Time Warner's recent shunning of traditional pricing methods.  And all I can say is...yikes.  As a college student I spend most of my life on this laptop.  When I'm not doing schoolwork its watching streamed TV, listening to downloaded music, and playing games.

The newly proposed method would charge customers based on their Internet consumption.  This would be measured in Gigabytes of data downloaded.  The steps include plans ranging from 1 to 100GB, including the unlimited package.  Obviously, the prices increase with consumption levels.  Also, I understand the need for doing this.  The current networks we use to access and use the Internet will soon be unable to support this growing YouTube culture.  Time Warner COO Randell Hobbs stated:

...without expensive upgrades, Internet demand in the United States would outpace capacity within a few years, possibly as soon as 2012.

Something must be done, I know.  But this? I might be able to get by with the 100 GB per month, but with overage charges of $1 per gig, I risk my weekly allowance.  Believe me, as a proud owner of my very own checking account, I am fully aware of the pitfalls of overage charges.  

Time Warner says that 30% of its customers use 1GB a month, the $15 pricing plan.  To that I say, "Bull*&%&".  Who did they do their market research on, the Amish?  I know of only one person who could use a data package that small... my dad.  I didn't feel like interviewing him, but I'm sure it would have went a little like this:

"Hey dad do you think its fair that Time Warner is patterning its Internet pricing based on consumption rather then a flat rate?  And, how do you feel as someone who uses the Internet away from the office once a month about the suggested $15 price for such service?"

"Well hello Dane, go to Church today?"

"No dad."

"Well get to Church, and sign us up for that $15 plan, sounds like a steal."

Not much help I know.  It seems that Internet fiends worldwide will be relegated to deciding between our passion and eating.  So I know I would be paying $150 for sure.  And I absolutely could not afford that.  So I've decided that I might take up tennis, or chess perhaps, to relieve myself of the need to spend my days by the computer.