I recently read an article about Time Warner’s intent to start metering broadband internet access, charging monthly anywhere from $15 (for 1 GB) to $150  for unlimited bandwidth. Now, to be honest, I really have no idea how much I download in a month but I would almost guess that I would probably fall somewhere in the $100 a month range should Time Warner succeed. That alone is enough to get me a little perturbed because I get the feeling that they’re just doing it in order to make up for the dwindling number of cable subscribers (thanks to the net).

But it also makes me feel like they’re really taking a step backward in terms of technological progress. Remember when standard cell phone plans maxed out at around 500 minutes a month and then would charge insanely large overage charges every minute you went over? That’s exactly what Time Warner’s plan reminds me of. Instead of moving forward in creating innovative services for customers to increase revenue, they’re taking internet access back about 10 years to the days where having high-speed internet was something only the “privileged” kids had. Back to when cell phones were still somewhat of a luxury amongst high-schoolers. Back when…well nevermind.

I can only imagine what this is going to mean for parents when their tech-savvy children are downloading their favorite desktop apps or episodes of their favorite TV program and start generating $500 monthly internet bills. Or for disgruntled customers who get automatically bumped up into the next usage tier for going over their limit by a couple bytes. Or even college students who live off campus that can’t download their class materials because their evil, inconsiderate roommates were up all night downloading “movies” so Time Warner slowed their connection speed.

Sounds like a REAL good plan Time Warner. What’s next? Charging for color television?