HELP! Internet Provider, Gigs, and new charges LONG

[NikoSan999]

Please bear with me as I'm not even quite sure how to word this post. And it's going to read messy.

Got the new internet bill. In addition to the $39.95 there was another $37.50 attached for over usage. Yes, it was always unlimited.

Took it in in person. Explained to me that this started last month ( and already over again this month by alot ) and the owner ( HTN ) was being charged ( I think, extremely long conversation and not clear on alot of it ) for air usage and was going to have to pass it on to his customers. She said everyone was now limited to 10 gig a month and that that was alot. (NO, it's not.) Now for every gig over the 10 it is $7.95 for each.

Interject here. Example, I was thinking about going back to selling books on Ebay. I could kill 10 gig in pix alone, uploading etc easy. 10 gigs is large in sounding only. It's not all that big. But no, thankfully I hadn't started yet.

She said they were all going to go to it before long. Alot of it due to like Netflix and Blockbuster doing the watching the movies for "free" online. People watching a movie a night etc cause it is a download. Only free as far as Netflix and Blockbuster charges were concerned. She said when providers start charging for overage the customer would be charged for the overage by the provider. Two of their customers had racked up towards $600 a month on their $39.95 a month bill and yes, they were told.

Anyway, I've asked a few people who their provider was and I've received answers of Time Warner, Strato Net and a couple others. No one so far is being charged extra however only two are doing anything that could be "considered excessive". One does a Blockbuster online once a week and the other is doing Ebay with a ton of pix ( large MB!! ) and playing Farmville on Face Book. Both. The one doing Farmville and Ebay called her provider ( Time Warner ) and they were familar somewhat with her questions of overage but said they had no intentions at this time of doing this.

I called a couple other providers and they said they didn't do this. One asked if my computer could be taken anywhere and I said yes. They said that was the difference. Theirs couldn't. Don't know what that meant. HTN is all over the US, but I think Time Warner is also. so ????

So, I guess my question is has anyone else had this happen to them? Does anyone understand what is going on or if this is going to end up being all of them? This provider is good. Will help with a problem at the drop of a hat, open on Sat., open till 5:30 every day. Works with you on a problem such as billing. Going to drop the charges on last bill, probably this next one, not sure. I'd hate to cancel them if all of them are going to this in a matter of time.

Who out there uses alot of MB/Gigs and who is your provider if you don't mind my asking? Anyone else having a problem yet? I would think Gamers would be using a ton and there are alot out there. I'd like to start Ebay back up but scared to and can't call them everyday asking how much I've used.

[Russ]

Has not happened to me but I don't do any gaming.
I have a local company and pay $32/month unlimited.

try here for other providers in your area.
Wireless Florida Wireless Internet Services, Wireless ISPs

Florida ISPs, FL Internet Service Providers, FL ISPs

[Russ]

and btw... I know you would hate to cancel them, but do you think they would think twice about you if they had to raise rates?

[monkeywrangler71]

Our's had limits for years, but they were reasonable. I think ours was 60gig. We never came close to it, but apparently they would send a warning if you were going to exceed it. Does your provider not offer a higher level plan with more gigs?

If they don't all go this route then your provider will have to stop charging in order to stay competitive.

[warramra]

We use ALOT of bandwidth every month. Our computer is our entertainment/education appliance in the house. We use it for music, online classes, educational videos, and netflix daily. I'm locked into a "lifetime" rate for high-speed broadband through Time Warner (have had it for five years now). I started wondering about our bandwidth usage last month so I called TW and they told me that they had no plans to do away with unlimited access on these existing accounts...but what phone representatives know and what is discussed in boardrooms are two different things.

I hated TW for cable, every few months the rates would increases and constantly threatened with losing channels on standard cable. So, we dropped cable. But, I have no issues at all with our internet service. We pay $42 with taxes for real high-speed broadband and unlimited use. And I never have a problem with it dropping out or slowing down, we often run 3 computers online at a time.

[NikoSan999]

No, they wouldn't. I guess I'm trying to find out if ALL the providers are going to be doing this shortly in time. If they are then might as well stick with the best service. But if other providers are NOT going to be doing this then yes, would definitely be switching.

I'm glad it happened when it did cause I was seriously considering doing the Netflix $8.99, one out at a time and us being able to watch movies again. Man, would that have been a disaster. Thank goodness I procrastinated so long not wanting to spend that $9...which could have turned into several hundred.

[NikoSan999]

Our's had limits for years, but they were reasonable. I think ours was 60gig. We never came close to it, but apparently they would send a warning if you were going to exceed it. Does your provider not offer a higher level plan with more gigs?

If they don't all go this route then your provider will have to stop charging in order to stay competitive.

Thanks, no they don't offer a higher level. I asked. And I don't think they are worried about being competitive to tell you the truth.

We used to have HughesNet. But we had to buy the equiptment and if it even looked like it was going to be cloudy it went out. It was also $90 a month. There is a law somewhere about airtime, can't remember the name about usage. And I called around and verifed it ( not what's going on now ) . But what Hughes Net would do is if in a 24 hr period if you hit it the computer would just slow down to almost zilch. 20 minutes to turn a page. Really ticked us off at the time BUT at least you didn't go over. And after the 24 hr period it went back to normal.

[Russ]

I don't do Netflix, how much is it to get movies sent to your home via USPS?

[NikoSan999]

I don't do Netflix, how much is it to get movies sent to your home via USPS?

You mean with Netflix? They have 3 plans and all qualify for the unlimited movies online.
One is $8.99 for one out at a time. Another is I think $18.99 for 3 out at a time. Forget what the other is.

Nice thing about it is if you rent movies at all, is that

1.. No late fees. If you're tired you don't have to get out and take it back cause you forgot to take it in the car with you. Keep it a month if you want.

2. No gas...just walk to the mailbox.

3. No tax on the rental...$8.99 period.

4. And if you are truly unlimited on internet you can watch tons of their movies online without even going to the mailbox for free.

5. They provide the mailer no mailing charge to you either way.

6. 1 day turn around on movies..day they receive back the next on your list goes out.

7. And a biggie...if it gets lost either coming or going you just tell them thru the website and there is no problem. They totally believe you unless it's becomes abusive. No questions asked. Absolutely no charge to you for the lost one.

A great deal for cheap entertainment.

[Contrary Housewife]

No, all service providers are NOT going to a limited use plan. Yours is doing this to you because they can. And being able to take your computer anywhere, whether it is a laptop or not has nothing to do with your rate unless you are on some kind of mobile wireless plan like your phone.

FYI on the ebay photos: you should be able to keep your pictures under 200k per photo and still have nice pictures for ebay, maybe under 100k. Looking at pics I have posted or downloaded recently everything is under 200k, that's 5,000,000 photos per GB.

We have the cheap Netflix plan ourselves and enjoy it, although we have not been able to get the 'online' movies on demand thing to work on any of our computers.

[ladytoysdream]

No changes here and we use Verizon for our phone, direct tv, and our internet provider.
If you want to sell books on ebay, a good number of them are in their catalog now with pictures already. Just go to to the SELL page, then input the ISBN number for the book, and it's information and picture should be right there ready to go.
For example on my other id, I just put up 31 western books.
6 did not have pictures so I had to upload those myself.

If you need a few more ideas, shoot me a PM.

[Gabe]

Resize your picture before uploading them online.
use a better browser like firefox/Google Chrome it will download pages from certain websites as gzip. (Compressed Data, less data being transferred)

Shop for a better ISP. What's your zip code?

[NikoSan999]

Gabe, put Google Chrome on the one at hubbys work not long ago. Can't Ebay there. Could put on here tho. My pix are resized. It's just that I use so many of them for one and two some are large by design for detail. I have a several books that I sell over and over that I use between 20 and 30 pix each...which is what largely creates the interest/sells the books.

My zip is 33876...or soon to be so might as well use that one. thank you for answering.

[nodmicks]

We use centurytel dsl service as our only choices are them or dial up. Ours is still unlimited. Sorry you have to deal with this.

[Russ]

I use irfanview for resizing pics

IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide It's free to download.
one click, cut the size in half.