Exceeding Data Usage Notification

When making the case that the limits aren't realistic, you should first find out how much your using. Both what Cox says, and a alternative method to fact check them. This shows the Cox way, though its out of data since the page redesign, should be close enough. You can break it down by month or week, so it should give you some information to start with.

As for the non Cox way, what kind of router do you have? It may have a way to check usage there, and might even isolate what computer is using the bandwidth and when. There is also free software you can use to monitor your use.

Once you know what your usage is, and have confirmed its accurate, and its legit, and not a virus on your network or something else fixable, then its up to you to see how much more you need. If you find Netflix is taking up too much, you can adjust how much it takes. See here more info.

Thanks for that response but im not thinking unrealistic as in inaccurate I know what I use and also know what is using it. It is not a problem of that its a issue of at my level 25Mbps my network performance is great so do I need more? I dont see any reason to have more other than to up the amount of data I can use before I peak out, but currently I am using more data than even the Ultimate plan. I understand most users may not hit that 250gb data cap but its pretty easy for me.

So when I say unrealistic I mean at 25Mbps I can very easily use 250gb of data in far less than a month for someone that utilizes streaming services. Also adjusting my netflix settings would lower the quality and that does not seem like the correct solution either. I would just like to know will this affect my service as far as getting throttled, canceled, or charged for my excess usage?

Thanks for your help.

I don't get this... Lowering the quality of the stream isn't the answer... that's why we pay for faster service, so we can use that speed... using Netflix's general guidelines for streaming video at it's highest we're only using 10-15% of our allotted bandwidth... and we're already being conditioned to think that is too much... If you're going to keep us under a cap, at least make it realistic to the speeds we're paying for... I'm not paying for 50 Mb/s and then being swindled into lowering the quality of my stream, thus negating the entire reason I would pay for the extra bandwidth in the first place... When I got my first T-1 line installed nobody told me how much data I could push or which data was more important... I paid for the bandwidth and I got the bandwidth I paid for... 

So, with Netflix, while you can stream at internet speeds of 1 Mb/s, the quality will be grainy on your big screen TV — as if you were watching a VHS movie. 

After scouring the Netflix website, I found this from Steve Swasey, Vice President of Communications for Netflix. 

As a guideline, Swasey suggested the following minimum internet speeds for Netflix:

1 Mb/s for viewing on a laptop computer (SD, 4:3 aspect, poor audio)

2 Mb/s for viewing standard definition video on a TV (SD, 480p, but blotchy and still poor audio)

4 Mb/s for viewing High Definition video (HD, 720p, with Stereo or compressed Digital Audio)

5 Mb/s or more for the best audio and video experience  (HD, 1080p, Digial Audio)

9+ MB/s or more for anything HDX, 3D, or 4k...

I'm going to run with the 300GB advertised cap I'm seeing for the 50/10 plan... and assume the average movie is 100 mins (just trying to round, but movies generally run 90-120 mins)...

Don't forget that the GB which usually stands for Gigabyte can have different meanings in different contexts. The GB could be Gigabyte, or Gibibyte... and while Gibibyte is starting to be reffered to as GiB, in most cases currently that line is still unclear... (It's the reason why that shiny new 500 GB hard drive only reports being 465.66 GB, it's actually 465.66 GiB...  GiB is more commonly used for storage, while GB is used for data per second)

So, at the lowest possible rate, 1 Mb/s, a single film would take up approx 750 MB of your 300 GB cap, it's about 445 movies at 100 mins a pop, meaning you could feasibly just stream video at that rate for approx 31 days before running out of data... You wouldn't WANT to watch it, but you COULD... and if you did, all you would need is a halfway decent DSL line...

Moving on to the worst case scenario (In the eyes of the people capping our legal data use) - 1080p, with Digital Audio (still not the highest quality you can stream, but completely adequate... After all it's the same as the new digital OTA broadcasts... at that rate each flick would use approx 3.75 GB of data bringing the total number of films you could watch down to 80 before hitting your cap... that's a 365 movie difference... or 27 days less...

(For the math geeks - 1 GB = 10⁹ B = 1,000,000,000 B, and 1 GiB = 2³⁰ B = 1,073,741,824 B)

Sure, somewhere just over 72 hours of movies SOUNDS like a lot, but what about all that other data you're bouncing around out there... after all you're only using 5 Mb/s of your 50 Mb/s speed... aka 10% of what you're paying for... and they're asking you to slow it down... if we were actually to use the full bandwidth we're paying for, we'd go over the 300 GB cap by about 458% every month (or about 1.374 Terabytes)... and that's not going over 50 Mb/s... 

I know it's not all that black and white... Cox (and just about every other ISP) as the "Acceptable Use" policy... but at this point that seems less like trying to control traffic, than like trying to lessen existing traffic so that lines and servers will have to be upgraded less frequently... The original intent of the "Fair Use" rule was to stop illegal activities, not make me watch The Avengers in poor quality on my 50" TV... 

Without asking I got the slower plan.  I got my first over data limit letter and not my download speeds for pdfs and short training videos are greatly throttled.  My web my be a bit slower but it's hard to tell since that's always .

Hi olduser,

I would like to investigate the speed issue that you're having.  We would not make any changes to the service without your permission, we also do not throttle our service in any way so we should review the account and figure out what's causing you to have slow connection speeds.  Can you please email us at cox.help@cox.com, please include the name and address listed on the account. 

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I wasn't even aware there was a bandwidth limit with COX when I signed up 5 years ago.  This is absolutely insane to begin with, but to hide this fact from you and not advertise that a "limit" exists is pretty shady.  We the consumer already pay WAY TOO much for mid-tier internet that barely touches the speeds found in other advanced nations like Japan and areas of Europe (who's users pay much, much less for by the way)...Now COX appears to be telling me, that I have to accept these unrealistic limits and poor quality yet they raise your bill $10...I mean do you not expect this to eventually backfire...I'm already canceling cable first thing Monday as is because you jacked that up another $10.  ZERO customer loyalty!  

McCringleberry said:

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I wasn't even aware there was a bandwidth limit with COX when I signed up 5 years ago.  This is absolutely insane to begin with, but to hide this fact from you and not advertise that a "limit" exists is pretty shady.  We the consumer already pay WAY TOO much for mid-tier internet that barely touches the speeds found in other advanced nations like Japan and areas of Europe (who's users pay much, much less for by the way)...Now COX appears to be telling me, that I have to accept these unrealistic limits and poor quality yet they raise your bill $10...I mean do you not expect this to eventually backfire...I'm already canceling cable first thing Monday as is because you jacked that up another $10.  ZERO customer loyalty!  

Hi McCringleberry,

We've had Data Usage Policy in place since 2001. The details can be found on our site by clicking here. I want you to enjoy your service and expect it to work just as I expect mine to when I get home. Please email me at cox.help@cox.com to further investigate. 

That's why I said that I wasn't AWARE of it 5 years ago.  It has only recently become more of an issue because more people are streaming than ever before.  Just for your information AT&T just cut my family plan bill by $30...Didn't even have to ask.  What have you done for me lately? 

McCringleberry said:

That's why I said that I wasn't AWARE of it 5 years ago.  It has only recently become more of an issue because more people are streaming than ever before.  Just for your information AT&T just cut my family plan bill by $30...Didn't even have to ask.  What have you done for me lately? 

Hi McCringleberry,

I'm happy to review the account. Please email me at cox.help@cox.com to further investigate.