The proposed “consumption-based billing” plan by Time Warner Cable Inc has been put on hold after widespread criticism from users as well as some unidentified politicians. Glenn Britt, the company CEO, said that the implementation of the plan – under which users are to be charged an extra fee for Internet use beyond a set limit - has been delayed in some US states.

The public outcry against the bandwidth consumption plan stemmed from the argument that the extra charges proposed would result in considerable penalties for users who exceed their monthly bandwidth limits. The tiered pricing plan was supposed to be implemented in Rochester, N.Y., and Greensboro, N.C., along with San Antonio and Austin, Texas. 

Britt told The Wall Street Journal: “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.”

While Time Warner has said that merely 16 percent of customers in Beaumont, Texas - where the company’s Internet Pricing Plan was being tested - have had problems with the bandwidth caps; the protesters, who say that the Internet is a necessity, not a privilege, opine that to levy extremely high over-the-limit charges, is “not an acceptable option.”