Forum Discussion

1486374269's avatar
1486374269
New Contributor II
5 years ago

How does Cox measure data "usage"?

I've been dealing with a spotty connection for the past few weeks, well, few months really, but the past few weeks have been exceptionally bad. 

I've noticed that during the periods of Cox network failures my data "usage", as shown on their website, is significantly higher than normal.  During these periods it also deviates significantly from the throughput logged by my gateway, which is both fairly consistent day-to-day and more representative of the expected network load. 

My assumption is that this is due to retries initiated by the modem.  There have been a huge number of un-correctable errors logged by the modem across a number of channels during these periods, so that seems to support my theory.

Does anyone have any insight into this?

Data Usage Meter
  • BrianM's avatar
    BrianM
    Moderator
    5 years ago
    Any data that actually passes through the modem (either upload or download) would count against data usage (with the exception of a few things www.cox.com/.../data-usage-and-cox-services.html). Any local network activity of sending files back and forth (without using the internet to do so) would not count. If the modem was offline and was attempting to acquire a signal, that would not count against it either.

    Brian
    Cox Support Forum Moderator
    • 1486374269's avatar
      1486374269
      New Contributor II
      5 years ago

      So, a large amount of un-correctable errors would increase "data usage" if it results in a retry? 

      For example cloud synchronization with file storage that fails to upload multiple times, or a VPN that has to constantly re-authenticate when the connection drops? 

      It sounds like I'm about to be billed in $10 increments for lack of service.  That can't be right, can it?