Time Warner appears to be phasing out its "Xtreme" tier as the company moves toward greater downstream and upstream speeds. A somewhat odd and seemingly unofficial tier nation-wide, the service level was primarily used in saturated markets to legitimize billing "bandwidth hogs" considerably more. -

As users hit their invisible download caps in several markets earlier this year, we were the first to report that Time Warner was sending out this letter to users, urging that they upgrade to a new, faster tier.

Often the exact prices and download limits would vary from market to market, though the speeds generally remained consistent. The tier usually offered 3Mbps downstream and 512 Kbps upstream speeds, with a 40GB per month download limit. Prices for the service ranged from $79.95 to $99.95 per month.

Users who passed that limit would then be charged ten dollars (this fee varied as well) for every 5 gigabytes above the monthly download limit they traveled. Subsequent letters in different markets revealed that several regions had previously invisible bit caps of 15 gigs a month in place. One Time Warner exec we spoke to earlier this year informed us that these caps have always existed, the company has simply "selected not to enforce them".

Heavy downloaders in several TWC markets have never run into trouble despite consuming massive amounts of data, and several technicians from different markets we spoke to had never even heard of the Xtreme tier. Clearly enforcement of these limits isn't consistent across the board.

What was consistent was the fact that many users didn't want to pay $80-$100 for the 3Mbps/512kbps deal, as evident in a user created poll from earlier this year.

With 3mbps now the standard downstream speed company-wide, and 512kbps upstream trials underway, the 'Xtreme' tier, and the debate, have quickly lost their relevance. Some Xtreme users are being contacted by Time Warner and informed that they will no longer be charged for the higher speeds.

What isn't clear is if these users will retain their higher data cap limits. Since the Xtreme tier was a market-to-market tier and not a company standard, will data limits be set (and enforced) on a market-to market basis depending on network performance?

Hopefully Time Warner will seek to avoid the confusion plaguing Comcast users who often face account termination if they download too much; even when the limit is never clearly defined.