This is the email from Cox Communications that I got today regarding broadband caps:

Dear Cox High Speed Internet Customer,

We’d like to take this opportunity to announce the availability of the Data Usage Meter. This new feature provides an easy way to check monthly household high-speed Internet data usage at any time. Monthly data usage is the amount of data that users send, receive, download or upload each month for movies and videos, photos, web surfing, email, gaming, and other files.

Each of our packages has a specific data usage amount. The amount depends on your Cox High Speed Internet package and corresponds to the speeds provided with the package. Our speediest package provides the highest usage amount. You are currently subscribed to the Premier Package which has a monthly data usage amount of 250 Gigabytes (GB). This is equivalent to streaming about 138 standard definition movies, or 83 high definition movies in a month*.

The vast majority of our customers do not exceed their usage amount in a month and Cox does not charge you an additional fee if you exceed it. However, if you find that you are exceeding the usage amount for your package, you should check for the following potential causes:

An unsecured wireless home network. If your wireless router does not have security enabled, others outside your home may be using your Internet service. Cox provides a free tool to test the security of your home network. The Home Network Security Check can be accessed by logging into your account via myaccount.cox.net which will place you into Internet Tools. From there, simply select the Home Network tab

A computer virus. If your computer is infected with a virus, it may be transmitting large amounts of data without your knowledge. Cox strongly advocates Internet safety and security. That’s why we offer all of our High Speed Internet customers free security software that will help protect your computers. Cox Security Suite Powered by McAfee® will shield you from many viruses, spam, phishing and spyware. It even comes with parental controls.

To download your copy in just a few minutes, simply visit myaccount.cox.net and select the Security Suite tab in Internet Tools.

If after checking for these problems you find that you are still exceeding the usage amount, you may want to consider upgrading to another package that more closely matches your use of the service. Cox’s top High Speed Internet package includes 400 GB per month.

To view your current data usage, follow these easy steps: 1. Visit myaccount.cox.net 2. Sign in with your primary Cox username and password 3. Select the “Data Usage Allowance” tab on the left bar

The Data Usage Meter shows daily and monthly usage for your account starting with the beginning of your billing period. The monthly view shows the usage by month determined by the date of the end of your billing period. Over time, you will be able to see your household usage over the previous 12 months. The Data Usage Meter is only available to primary account users and secondary user accounts with billing access.

If you would like to learn more about the Data Usage Meter and how it works, please click here. To view the Cox High Speed Internet Acceptable Use Policy please visit.

You can also contact your local Cox customer service center for more information. Visit to find your local Cox contact number.

Thank you for choosing Cox

* Based on 1.8 GB for a Standard Definition Movie, 3 GB for a High Definition Movie

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This email was sent by:
Cox Communications, Inc.
1400 Lake Hearn Dr.
Atlanta, GA 30319, USA

Looking at our usage, we use over 250GB every other month.  This makes sense as most of the work I do is in the cloud, plus we have cloud backup services that run on all four of our computers through Livedrive and Dropbox.  Also, the reports only go back as far as April, so I think they’re just rolling this cap out.

I’m not sure how pricing works if you go over your cap.  I may place a call to their sales / billing line to see what I can find out here.

This is a sad day for the internet!