How many bytes to make a bronze?

How many gigabytes do you use? That's what customers of Sunflower Broadband in Lawrence, KS are asked when signing up for high-speed cable.

Gold customers use the internet the most, bronze the least. So-called average users like my partner and me are apparently "silver," meaning we don't use more than 12 gigabytes of bandwidth a month. If we do use more, we'll have to pony up $2 more per gigabyte. This week, Comcast, AT&T and Time Warner said they're all considering such tiered pricing.

Now really, do you know how many gigabytes you use? 4, 12, 100? To me this is like knowing how many liters of Diet Coke I drink a month. Heck, I'm still getting used to the idea that I yak on the phone 700 minutes a month.

If phone and cable companies can charge by usage level, why can't newspapers? If the studies are right, the average newspaper reader spends 20-30 minutes a day with their paper. Let's call them "silver" readers. Bronze would then be 0-20 minutes and gold would be 30 to 50 minutes. Read over the allotted minimum and you pay extra. Ala your cable modem, the newspaper will even let you rent your reading lamp.

I'm sure there's a sound economic model in this, perhaps even the solution the newspaper industry is looking for. But sorry, I can't work the numbers. i'm running out of bandwidth.