When BendBroadband announced last month that it plans to switch to metered-pricing this summer for its cable Internet service, a number of concerned customers took to the Web in protest, and the company responded.

A small but vocal number of customers have become upset about the change, saying it penalizes tech-savvy users who download movies and stream videos over the Internet, listen to Internet radio or play games online. They worry it could stifle innovation or even cut into competition for entertainment dollars, as more Internet-based options — including Internet TV — pick up steam.

A recent post on the local blog, www.utterlyboring.com, drew a string of responses from BendBroadband customers and officials. Justin Morovitz, a Bend artist who works for the video game-making arm of Sony, launched a Web site — www.fixbbb.com — to vent his frustration with the company’s new pricing plans.

The clamor even caught the interest of the prominent technology blog Gizmodo, which posted a story about BendBroadband’s plans.

In response to some of the concerns, BendBroadband last week introduced a new service tier to its metered-pricing plan, said Chief Technology Officer Frank Miller.

The new platinum tier will feature a 100-gigabyte monthly usage allowance with a download speed of up to 8 megabits per second and an upload speed of 1 Mbps for $74.95 (or $64.95 if bundled with BendBroadband’s other services). Tier customers who go over the allotted bandwidth would pay $1.50 for each additional gigabyte of usage.

The new tier joins already announced tiers that allot bandwidth consumption at 10, 30 and 50 GB per month. Likewise, each additional gigabyte over the allotment is charged $1.50. The plan, which includes faster download speeds of up to 16 Mbps for one tier, is slated to begin July 1. Both downloads and uploads are counted against the bandwidth allotment.

According to the company, a user would have to download about seven movies or send more than 700,000 e-mails to reach the 10 GB allowance.

BendBroadband says 92 percent of its roughly 28,000 cable Internet customers will not have to pay more or change their Internet behavior under the new pricing plan.

“We have reached what we believe is a tipping point, where the usage of a very small group of customers is driving ever more significant cost, and bandwidth usage is expanding. So the question is, who pays for this?” said Miller. “It’s our view that the fairest approach is to provide a usage-based model that allows customers to choose the amount of bandwidth they need so that those that use more, pay more.”

Miller suggested that customers who use more than 100 GB per month might be better suited for a BendBroadband business account, which doesn’t limit bandwidth usage. The company has yet to announce a price for its new high-speed business service.

Priced out

Robin Welsh is a Bend Web developer who works from home. He has decided to cancel his BendBroadband account because of the new pricing plan, primarily because he fears it will cost him too much money. Welsh said he uses the Internet for everything from reading news to downloading movies for entertainment.

“I don’t get the paper; I don’t pay for satellite radio; I don’t listen to local radio, so there’s nothing else for me but the Internet … and this is a pretty big hindrance. I believe it should be available to everybody instead of the select few who can afford it.”

Welsh said he plans to switch to Qwest’s digital subscriber line service, which offers comparable broadband speeds to BendBroadband’s basic products.

Bill Fischer lives in Corvallis. He owns a second home west of Sisters and keeps tabs on it with an elaborate security system that uses cameras and a BendBroadband Internet connection to automatically send him photos of his home every hour. But under BendBroadband’s new pricing plan, Fischer estimates he would pay roughly $150 for his connection, based on the amount of material he uploads every day.

“You’ll end up paying through the nose if you miscalculate usage,” said Fischer.

Fischer also worries how it will affect users with an “always-on” broadband connection, in terms of programs that automatically update, or even those infected with spyware, sending out data unbeknownst to the computer’s owner.

Miller said BendBroadband will offer its customers a free virus protection program, and it will also waive usage charges caused by spyware or other malicious events. Miller said the company will also waive charges the first time a customer exceeds his or her bandwidth allotment.

To help its customers monitor their usage, BendBroadband will provide them with a software-based metering tool. It is already available on the company’s Web site, www.bendbroadband.com.

Fischer doesn’t plan on canceling his BendBroadband account, but he is planning on scaling back his security system, which worries him.

“It’s annoying,” said Fischer. “My house won’t be protected.”

A growing trend

A number of Internet companies in the country already have instituted metered, or consumption-based, pricing, including Sunflower Broadband in Lawrence, Kan., and CableOne, the country’s 10th largest cable provider, based in Phoenix.

Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second largest cable provider, plans to test metered-pricing in Beaumont, Texas, sometime this summer, said spokesman Alex Dudley.

“Somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 percent of people are using 50 percent of the network at any given time,” said Dudley in discussing the rationale behind metered-pricing. “That does two things: It demonstrates there is a very small population who is using an inordinate amount of bandwidth, and that it impacts the experience for the rest of our users.”

Dudley laid a lot of the blame on computer programs such as BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer software program that allows users to easily download large files, such as movies. Those programs are set up to use as much bandwidth as they can find, said Dudley, which means other users that share that same Internet connection often get squeezed out.

Dudley said there are several ways Internet service providers can manage traffic so it doesn’t affect their users’ experience. One is metered-pricing. Others are to cut off all P2P traffic or to reserve it for off-peak hours.

“There are lots of arguments people make … but the bottom line is the consumption-based model is in practice in a number of places, and the key is it’s based on usage, the way you pay for cell phone minutes,” said Dudley.

Time Warner’s metered-pricing plan set to debut in Beaumont will have bandwidth caps of 5, 10, 20 and 40 GB, said Dudley.

Infrastructure

Metered-pricing, said Morovitz, the Bend artist, challenges the notion of a free and unlimited Internet.

“It looks like it’s more a way to get more money from high-end users,” said Morovitz. “Most people in Bend just check e-mails and surf the news, but for those that use it for its full potential, like me, it’s a step backwards.”

Morovitz’s site includes an online petition protesting BendBroadband’s metered-pricing plan and a call to meet at an as-yet-to-be-determined location for a public rally on May 31.

Marvin Ammori is the general counsel for Free Press, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that supports media reform and also acts as a watchdog for Internet issues.

Ammori said metered-pricing may be anti-competitive. He worries that users will forgo downloading a movie from Netflix and instead watch the same movie by purchasing a video-on-demand product from their local cable system.

The real problem, he said, is the lack of infrastructure, which hasn’t kept pace with broadband’s development.

Miller said BendBroadband has spent plenty in the last decade to build out its network and maintain it. He said the company pays 40 percent more than urban Internet providers because of the physical costs of transporting Internet traffic to the relatively remote High Desert but at the same time hasn’t raised rates on its basic cable Internet service since introducing it a decade ago. Miller said the company has directly contributed to the growth of the region and helped it establish a reputation as a technology oasis.

“As a result of our early entry into this service, the Central Oregon region has been able to flourish, attracting business and telecommuters as well as residents seeking the benefits of larger metropolitan areas,” said Miller.