Time Warner Cable wants internet users to pay for heavy use

So you've discovered that you can watch a huge variety of television programs over the internet, and this has caused to you to consider canceling your cable television service. It should come as no surprise that internet service providers that are also cable television suppliers are working on a way to short-circuit your wily plan. Time Warner Cable (TWC), for example, plans to introduce a new way of charging for internet access -- by the byte.

According to the Silicon Alley Insider, in some markets the company will set a limit on how many bytes you can suck from the internet pipes in a month, and when you exceed that limit, you'll be charged extra. This follows the model used by cell phone companies to soak chatty downloaders. BusinessWeek reports that the company will charge around $30 to $55 per month for internet access, based on the plan you choose: 5, 10, 20, 40, or 100 gigabytes per month. Overages will cost $1 per gigabyte (1 gigabyte = 1,000 megabytes).