In a Thursday press release, Time Warner Cable said that it had applied the brakes on the testing of its seemingly-contentious "consumption-based billing" system for its broadband service. Time Warner had coined the term "consumption-based billing" for a tiered pricing of its broadband service, whereby it intended providing a monthly allocation of data downloads and uploads, with extra charges for use beyond the set limits.

The billing plan had Time Warner cap monthly data downloads and uploads at 10 GB to 60 GB, with a regionally-variable price range from $25 to $65. For all additional downloads, a $1-per-GB extra charge was levied; with an unlimited plan to cost $150 per month. Moreover, the company intended introducing a new plan, offering 100GB of downloads for $75 a month.

Since last year, the "consumption-based billing" system was being quietly tested by Time Warner in Beaumont, Texas. However, last week, the company announced its plans to expand the testing to other cities, including Austin, San Antonio, Rochester, N. Y., and Greensboro, N. C.

The New York-based company said that while the trials of the new billing system had been halted, the consumer education process was continuing. According to Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, the testing had to be shelved due to "a great deal of misunderstanding" by users as well as lawmakers who did not receive the proposed billing plan too well.