Forum Discussion

EMAW86's avatar
EMAW86
New Contributor
4 years ago

Cox monthly data calculations & overage policy???

First of all, let me just say that according to Cox's own website 1280 GB of data is the equivalent of streaming 10 hours of your favorite shows in HD video and 7+ hours of streaming music every day. I'm here to say, there is NO WAY this is remotely even close to being accurate! Or they way they are calculating data is way off! They claim that 1280 GB of data is more than enough for most households. I live by myself in a apartment & don't ever use my WiFi at home for my cell phone nor can I use my iPad because I would be way over every month in data. I can't even back up my iPhone data or do iOS updates using WiFi at my own residence. The only data I use is streaming Hulu which according to Hulu is about 3.5 GB per hour. If I were to stream 10 hours of Hulu in a day that would be 35 GB. I don't ever come close to streaming 10 hours per day on average, yet somehow I average around 55 GB per day. Cox always has 31 days in a cycle so with a total of 1280 GB per month that leaves you with an average of 41.29 GB of data per day you can use to be right at the 1280 cycle limit. I'd have to stream about 15.7 hours of per day to reach 55 GB by the way Cox's calculates my data. There is NO WAY I'm using half of that per day on average! That doesn't even include the 7+ hours of streaming music they claim would be included in that 1280 GB per month. I can't stream any music. Something doesn't add up! There is no way that families and households of more than 1 person can get by with the way Cox calculates the data as I can't myself as an individual the way they calculate the data & that is with all my devices turned off wifi except one tv streaming Hulu. I basically have to go at least 4 days without using any data per month in which I have to shut down my router & modem to avoid going over the limit each month. That is the only way I can ensure Cox doesn't overcharge my data. I can't backup my iPhone data or update my iOS on my iPhone or iPad at my residence & it's not right. The data calculations are ridiculously incorrectly figured. You would think Cox would relax their data policy especially during a spike in the COVID pandemic with the delta variant. Having adequate access to the internet today is an absolute necessity. I've already used my one time overage exemption in which I tried to use as little as possible without completely shutting down my router & modem for at least 4 days but still went over by $50 but wasn't charged with it being my first occurrence. There needs to be more accountability, oversight & transparency with how Cox calculates data. I use my own router & modem (rather than renting & spending more than if you bought a new router & modem every single year except your using Cox's old, outdated ones) & often wonder how accurate they are able to determine how much data is being used. The FCC really needs to look into this. I'm beginning to wonder if Cox's revenue is heavily dependent upon collecting overage charges from customers each month especially with more & more people cutting the cable cord? They have to make up for it somewhere. There have been days when I've been charged 120 GB of data on days when I was out of state & shouldn't have registered any data. It also seems, the closer you get towards the end of a cycle, the data suddenly seems to add up faster than even Cox's already over calculated data normal. According to Cox's data overage policy, for every time you go over the 1280 you get charged $10 per 50 GB so even if you went over by 51 GB, you are automatically charged two charges of $10 for a total of $20 for that 1 GB. So during a day when I'm out of town & charged 120 GB of data when I actually haven't used any data, I can be hit with $30 in charges without any recourse. Cox's word against mine. It isn't even possible to use 120 GB during a day when all I do is stream Hulu. Even if somehow I magically streamed 24 hours that day while out of town, it doesn't add up as 24 x 3.5 equals 84 GB. During the month I went over with $50 in overages, during that cycle, on four consecutive days Cox had me using between 120-160 GB per day so supposedly I used half my monthly allotment in 4 days. It's not possible. One of those days I was out of town & the other 3 were my typical user patterns that should have been around a max of 30-35 GB each day. I have a question regarding Cox's overage data policy that hopefully a user or Cox employee can answer; Cox charges $10 per each 50 GB and they state with a maximum amount of $100 in charges. So does that $100 maximum amount in charges include what you normally pay per month? Or is that $100 maximum amount include what you normally per month plus an additional $100? So for ex. if I pay $59.99 per month, does this mean that $40 in overage charges is the maximum amount that can be charged to make $100 or does that mean that I could pay a maximum of $159.99? If I'm not mistaken for unlimited data it is $99.99 per month or somewhere near $100. You would think Cox wouldn't charge more with overage fees than what they charge for unlimited data... That is what I am trying to determine. Thanks 

  • St8kout's avatar
    St8kout
    New Contributor III

    The most I've ever used is around 700GB, otherwise it's 500-600 GB. I cancelled Directv and have been streaming movies from Prime all day everyday, plus my PC pretty much stays online all day, not to mention my Ring cams are always active. Are you streaming 4k resolution or something? 

    I tried out their data calculator and you can stream almost 14 hours of HD content per day without breaking past the data limit, but of course this might depend on how many days in the monthly billing cycle they use. They might use 31 days one month (causing you to go over the limit, and 30 days for another billing cycle, leaving you under the limit. I suggest bookmarking the link to your data usage and check it everyday.

    Maybe someone is stealing your bandwidth. It's not unheard of. Google it for how to find out.

    Meanwhile, change your passwords on everything connected such as your wifi router and your computer. If someone nearby hacked your wifi router, they could be using up your data plan. Then start monitoring your data usage often, to see if changing your passwords made a difference.

    • EMAW86's avatar
      EMAW86
      New Contributor

      St8kout: Thanks for the reply. This is exactly why I know my data isn't being calculated correctly. I don't stream in 4K, only 1080p. Per your example of using 14 hours per day of HD streaming without going over and Cox's own example of using 10 hours of HD video streaming plus 7 hours of streaming music per day to being equivalent of 1280 GB per month is exactly why I know my data isn't being calculated correctly. Most people I've talked to with Cox internet have numerous devices & use much more data, like yourself & don't have the problem like I do of going over the data limit. Like I mentioned, I can only use one device-streaming Hulu on tv & it's no where near 14 hours per day, most days not half that much (yet I still will go over their 1280 data limit unless I shut down my modem & router for at least 4 days out of the cycle which I'm about to do right now for this cycle as I'm right at the limit with 4 days left to go through Sept 2). I can't use WiFi on my iPhone to backup, update iOS & I only get 2 bars at my house from Verizon's cellular data, my iPad has become absolute because it only works with WiFi. Cox always uses 31 day cycles. I already have their data usage link bookmarked & check it daily. I already changed my WiFi password per Cox's suggestion and it hasn't made a difference. All I know for sure is that one person living in one residence, using one device shouldn't have this issue. And Football season hasn't even officially started yet.

  • Any overage charges would be separate from your regular monthly internet plan charges. The maximum of $100 in data usage charges would only be if you do not subscribe to any of our data plans. We have an additional 500 GB block for $29.99 or unlimited for $49.99 per month. www.cox.com/.../add-internet-data.html

    Brian
    Cox Support Forum Moderator
    • EMAW86's avatar
      EMAW86
      New Contributor

      BrianM: Thanks for your reply. I'm confused with your answer. You state that any overage charges would be separate from your regular monthly internet plan charges. So that makes it sound like if you pay $59.99 per month for your normal plan, you could be charged another $100 in overage charges for a total of up to $159.99. However, then you mention the maximum of $100 in data usage charges would only be if you did not subscribe to any of our data plans. So that makes it sound like you are saying the exact opposite of your first sentence and that you would only be charged the difference of $100 from your normal monthly fee of $59.99. So which one is it? Also how can you be charged overage charges if you don't have a cox data plan? That doesn't make sense. Can you purchase an additional 500 GB block for just one month or just certain months you know your going to go over for $29.99? Does it automatically switch back to your normal rate for the next cycle or does the owner have to do that? Thanks

      • MichaelJ's avatar
        MichaelJ
        Moderator
        Hi EMAW86, thank you for your inquiry concerning Data usage and Billing. The purpose of the Cox Forum is to allow customers to discuss technical topics related to Cox applications with other customers. If you need help with billing or other account-specific issues, please reach us on Twitter at @CoxHelp, visit us on Facebook, or email us at cox.help@cox.com.

        You may find information here that is useful: www.cox.com/.../data-usage.html

        -Mike J.
        Cox Support Forums Moderator