Cox Communications, an Internet Service Provider in the USA, will be implementing data overage fees past 1 terabyte (1,024 gigabytes) of usage in select markets spotted first on Reddit's /r/technology subreddit.
The information was spotted on a support article relating to the issue on the company's official website. (If you're not in a region serviced by Cox, you can have a look at this archived link instead.) Six separate High-Speed Internet packages are listed on the support page, and five of the six plans have a limit of 1 terabyte of date. The Gigablast package offers a 2 terabyte cap (2,048 gigabytes), but this higher-end plan isn't available in all areas.
Residents of the states Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma will be affected by this change. Smaller citywide markets will also be affected, namely Cleveland, OH, Las Vegas, NV, Omaha, NE, and Sun Valley, ID.
A 60-day grace period will be in place for customers to get used to the adjustment away from uncapped data. A data usage monitor will be provided by the company so that users can track their usage. Going past the data usage cap of your particular plan will incur overage fees after the 60-day grace period has passed.
Understandably, customers of Cox in the /r/technology thread discussing the matter are upset at the changes. Complaints of long hold times to cancel plans, lack of competition, and bills that are two or three times higher than normal due to data overages are littered throughout the thread. According to Engadget, the changes will be taking effect in July 2017 for the newest set of regions with data caps; overage fees will be $10 per 50 gigabytes of data over the limit.
What do you think of Cox Communications implementing 1 terabyte data caps? Do you think this will be enough data for the average customer in the age of streaming video? What do you feel would be a reasonable threshold for a data cap (if any)? Let us know in the comments below!
