A lot of Las Vegas valley folks are upset over notices they are getting from Cox Communications they would possibly have to pay more. Cox is instating new data caps in Southern Nevada.
Travis Whidden works in technology and his whole family embraces it.
"We're a high-tech family that does lots of 4K video streaming, we have our tablets, the YouTube, cloud backups from our phones, everything, and we actually do use more than one terabyte a month," said Whidden.
But starting this summer, going over one terabyte could cost him hundreds. Whidden estimates that using two terabytes, which his family often does, could make his $100 Cox bill as high as $300.
Whidden monitors his family's data use carefully. He calculated watching one season of a show on Netflix in 4K would use about 100 gigs of data -- that's about one tenth of the new monthly allotment.
"I think it's something that people need to be aware of and realize that it's not just watching your Netflix, it's all the other things," Whidden warns.
Things like apps on your phone, a smart fridge, video doorbells, and home security systems also use data.
13 Action News contacted Cox. They defended the new data caps, saying it's not new to the industry -- cell phone providers have long limited customer data and charged for overages.
But Cox would not give us a straight answer to why they're making this change. They said was "internet service packages will continue to evolve with customer needs."
"I got concerned because I didn't want to have to change my usage habits of the internet to satisfy the cable company's desire to keep their costs low," said Whidden.
The change happens in July. You won't be charged for overages for two billing cycles to get used to the change.
