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Cox Communications has rolled out a usage meter for its broadband customers, starting with its Gulf Coast market in northwest Florida, but launching elsewhere very soon according to Cox officials.
Broadband Reports readers first noticed the usage meter popping up on Cox’s website under “My Connection” — an account control panel.
The new usage meter accompanies usage limits Cox has had on its broadband tiers for more than a year — limits that have rarely been enforced.
Cox has traditionally left their broadband customers alone unless consumption creates a technical problem or begins to impact other customers. The usage allowances range from 30-400GB, depending on the speed tier, and they are buried on Cox’s website.
Most Cox customers appear unconcerned about the new usage meter, so long as Cox continues its “soft cap” program that only targets users that create issues for others on its network. But if the company begins to impose overlimit fees, or begins hard-enforcement of its caps, some customers are prepared to leave.
“AT&T or Knology are just a phone call away in many Cox cities,” writes our reader Kevin. “If Cox starts a full scale overcharging scheme with customers, we’ll just switch.”
Cox is the nation’s fifth largest pay television provider with just over 5,000,000 customers.
Cox chairman James C. Kennedy only has a net worth of 5 billion dollars. He might starve if Cox doesn’t implement usage caps
This is just the broadband providers slowly working towards implicit collusion the same as the cellular companies have in implementing capped usage such as AT&T and Verizon.
As long as they make the moves known and slowly implement the caps and give the competition time to adjust, it’s only a matter of time before their direct competiton implements caps and increase pricing in their territories as well.
I don’t see Knology doing this in their areas, and it all may be moot if Time Warner Cable buys them out. I am very wary of providers sticking usage meters and gas gauges on customer accounts because it usually is a prelude to something worse later on (otherwise why spend resources implementing such a thing.) I think Cox customers should complain about usage meters appearing on their accounts, if only because customers are already paying plenty for their current access. If Cox wants more money, increase speeds and offer premium accounts. The “good news” is that they are not… Read more »
I pay Cox about $80 for their highest tier in this area. That’s almost $1K per year. I think they get enough in return. Most months, I am well under the cap. This month (December), there’s not much to do, and I think we might go over. Their network can handle it, so unless they want an earful, they better not say much about it.