Cox Communications has expanded its 1-terabyte data-usage limit to customers in Arizona, Las Vegas, Louisiana and Oklahoma City.
Cox has already capped the services of customers in markets including Cleveland, Nebraska, Florida, Georgia and Idaho since last year, charging subscribers an additional $10 for every 50 gigabytes of monthly usage above 1 TB. Customers in these regions have had the option of paying $50 extra each month to avoid that usage limit.
A New Orleans-based commenter in DSLReports user forums reported getting this message: "Your Cox high-speed internet service currently includes a data plan of 1 TB (1,024 GB). Beginning 07/06/2017, if you exceed your monthly data plan we will automatically provide additional blocks of data for $10 per 50 gigabytes, as needed. This will not impact 98% percent of customers, but instead only charges the heaviest internet users."
"We’re trying to provide customers as many choices as possible based on their usage behavior," said Cox spokesman Todd Smith in an email to FierceCable. "For the 98% of customers who use far less data than 1 TB per month, our traditional service tiers will continue to meet their needs at a great value. For the few who consume more than that, they will have the option to pay more for additional blocks when needed or move to an unlimited plan."
RELATED: Cox ups data usage cap to 1 TB
For its part, Comcast has used very similar language in explaining its 1 TB cap to customers in the select markets in which it has been deployed. While providing plenty of legroom for users now, the 1 TB usage limits could soon become an issue if data-dense technologies including 4K and virtual reality catch on with consumers.
RELATED: WOW! reaffirms pledge to steer clear of data caps
For their part, several operators have used their lack of data caps as a marketing hedge. Charter sales reps, for example, make it a point to mention to customers that the MSO’s service is uncapped and doesn’t require contracts.
WideOpenWest, meanwhile, recently put out a press release that merely touted the fact that it doesn’t cap usage.