"For right now, it's off the table," said Alex Dudley, a Time Warner spokesman.

 

Time Warner had plans to introduce the “consumption-based billing” system this summer in New York and North Carolina to test it and then spread it to other states. The company argued that online video viewing has been growing very rapidly and that puts an unprecedented strain on data networks. The solution was simple, at hand, and would have increased the Time Warner Cable’s earnings. 

 

However, the new proposed system was met with heavy criticism by customers and by lawmakers as well who argued that the measure would be discriminatory, although the company’s CEO Glenn Britt underlined that there was “a great deal o misunderstanding” involved. 

 

"While we continue to believe that consumption-based billing may be the best pricing plan for consumers, we want to do everything we can to inform our customers of our plans and have the benefit of their views as part of our testing process,” said Mr. Britt.

 

Under the plan Time Warner Cable planned to introduce, the heaviest Internet users would have paid up to $150 for 100 gigabytes or more of Net access.