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Tariq_K's avatar
Tariq_K
New Contributor II
4 years ago

Wireless Contour Stream Player (Cox TV) usage is being counted towards my Data Usage

I realized today that Cox is counting my Contour wireless usage (Cox cable TV) towards my Data usage cap. Got an alert yesterday that I have used 75% of my data and I still have 10 more days left in the monthly cycle. I had just installed Google Nest Wifi couple of weeks ago, so now I have more detailed wireless stats available to me than just the Cox Data Usage meter. Using Google Wifi app, I can see that over half of my data usage is attributed to "Arris" device which is my Cox TV stream player. I have been repeatedly told by Cox that watching Cox TV either by the wireless stream player or using Contour app on a mobile device DOES NOT count towards my data usage. Cox website also states that the following Cox-provided services do not count towards your monthly data plan:

• Watching live or On Demand content via the Contour app
• Watching On Demand content via a Cox HD receiver or Cox DVR
• Watching Cox On Demand for TiVo
• Cox Digital Telephone services
• Cox Homelife services

Called Cox today, got thru after 45 minutes, spoke to the agent, got put on hold as she researched (she said she will call me if we got disconnected), she got back and as soon she she started saying "thanks for waiting, I looked at everything…".  the line went dead. Waited 10 minutes, no call back

Posting my issue here to see if anyone else has had similar issue and also to get Cox's attention.  

Will try calling Cox again today or tomorrow.

Data Usage Discrepancy

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  • swagby019's avatar
    swagby019
    New Contributor
    4 years ago

    It seems like it has almost doubled the usage amounts for everything in the past 4 months you used to be have unlimited with everyplan I was granfathered in but because I upgraded my net speed they said you lose your unlimited data plan they charge you for everything you need wifi for it makes no sense.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    4 years ago

    The problem is Cox refuses to produce an app.  In the day of SmartTV sets and streamers, Cox is forcing us to wire an antiquated box in our houses.  My router, TV and Roku already have Internet connectivity; however, if I want to watch cable TV, I need to wire another device onto the connection.  An app can do this.  If you want cable TV, you need a box.  If you need a box, you need to rent it.  If you need to rent it, Cox gets more cha-ching.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    4 years ago

    Cox didn't increase their data cap.  Cox uses "TB" (terabyte) to express data cap but technically it's a TiB (tebibyte).  Data Cap assumes storage.  A byte measures storage.  1 byte equals 8 bits.  If you do the math, it's 1.1 TB…or 1 TiB.  It's kinda in the weeds but I doubt Cox will charge you for less than 1.1 TB.

    I've always understood watching regular TV programming with the Wireless 4K Stream Player does not count towards your data cap.  Here's a post of a moderator (Becky) distinguishing between data caps for regular TV content and streaming through the Contour streamer.

    forums.cox.com/.../88794

    • bearone2's avatar
      bearone2
      Contributor III
      4 years ago

      i do almost everything with wifi, except this pc, which is hardwired.

      [img]i.imgur.com/.../img]

    • Tariq_K's avatar
      Tariq_K
      New Contributor II
      4 years ago

      Wow! Thank you Bruce for your reply and the post link. 

      @DustinP - Thoughts?

      • ChrisL's avatar
        ChrisL
        Former Moderator
        4 years ago
        Prior to the pandemic all Internet plans included 1TB/mo. of data allowance. After the temporary moratorium on data usage billing ended the allowance was increased to 1.25TB/mo. to try and make things a little easier for everybody.

        -Chris
  • bearone2's avatar
    bearone2
    Contributor III
    4 years ago

    you're using cox data whether ethernet/rj45 cable or wifi........wifi isn't a freebie!!

    • Tariq_K's avatar
      Tariq_K
      New Contributor II
      4 years ago

      Yes it is, according to Cox. For Cox TV, I am using Cox provided wifi streaming box because I don't have a cable outlet where my TV is. Cox confirmed when I first got this about a year ago (and since then) that using this wifi box for TV does not count towards my data usage. Same is true (according to Cox), for watching TV via Contour app on my mobile device.  

      • matt1212's avatar
        matt1212
        New Contributor II
        4 years ago

        I want to echo that I was told the same thing by Cox - my Contour 4k Streaming boxes would not count against my metered data usage.  If you're saying this isn't the case even for regular live TV viewing (not on demand, Netflix, etc.), then this is very deceitful on their part.

        I wasn't given an option during my install back in Feb'19 and was told MoCA-type boxes were no longer being issued, despite having coax already wired to all room locations it was desired.  I imagine Cox prefers this approach to avoid having to address unique issues with old, outdated coax networks within each customer dwelling.  Now they can just connect the incoming coax straight into the internet modem - no splitters, unterminated ends, etc.  Despite this one benefit, I had originally pushed back against this due to concern that it would cut into my usable WiFi bandwidth (I try and hard wire as much as possible and ideally reserve WiFi for roaming devices like phones & tablets).  Note that here I was told another lie - that my WiFi wouldn't be affected because "these boxes work on a different frequency".  It seemed unlikely but still somewhat believable that Cox would be using anything outside standard 2.4 or 5 GHz for these boxes.  But then when the tech told me I could use my own mesh WiFi system I knew this was BS since the access point would have to also broadcast on the special frequency used by the streaming boxes.  I have one box connected through ethernet and two others on WiFi.  The two boxes on WiFi have given me nothing but headaches.

        On top of all this it would be extremely disappointing to learn that of another disadvantage to these wireless boxes being that they count against your data usage limit.  It doesn't seem fair that customers with traditional MoCA-type boxes (like I wanted) don't have this limitation.  I would reluctantly be understanding if Netflix and on demand were forced to count towards data usage (note that I've tried to watch thru the Contour box rather than my Apple TV to prevent data usage, despite the Apple TV having better picture/sound... 😕).  But I strongly object to traditional TV being metered.  We pay for a TV service for a reason.  We shouldn't have to pay for the internet service needed to use our TV service on top of that.  TV-only customers obviously wouldn't be subject to this penalty, so neither should we.

        Another concern I had with the Wireless system I was forced into was that our DVR is now "in the cloud" rather than stored locally.  Sure there are some small advantages to this, but also many cons; including added stress on what appears to be an overly-strained Cox network.  In addition to live TV, I also would have an issue with my cloud-based DVR usage being counted towards my data limit.  It wasn't my decision to change to cloud-based storage, why should I pay the consequences for this?

        Hopefully someone can clarify all of this because this seems beyond an unfair practice by Cox...