Whether its Netflix or Hulu, San Diego families use their Internet to stream all sorts of movies.
It adds up.
And now Cox Cable is telling some of its heaviest users that they may have to pay a little more.
Every Cox internet customer gets 1 Terabyte of data each month.
A spokeswoman for the company says a family would have to watch 140 two-hour HD movies, 100 30-minute standard definition t-v shows, 1,500 three-minute videos, surf the web for 2,000 hours, and stream 500 hours of music in one month just to surpass it.
Sound impossible? Actually, 1.6 percent of Cox’s residential San Diego customers beat that every month.
And to this point, there's been no penalty.
So Cox is now informing all of its customers that once they go over, they'll be charged an additional 10 dollars for every 50 Gigabytes.
Cox says they don't slow speeds for its highest users, and is one of the last companies to charge the extra fee.
Stanley Schqartz fixes computers and smartphones at Tech Experts in Grantville. He says 1 Terabyte is probably enough for most people, but for big families, streaming can add up.
“Not everyone’s going to watch the same movie, not everyone's going to be home at the same time to do the same thing, one kid's going to want to watch some child's movie on Netflix, while the parents are going to want to watch something else in the other room,” he said.
Cox is giving families a two-month grace period before adding the overage charge to their bills.
Cox has a tool where you can track your usage in real time.
Famlies also have the option to prepay for additional data if they choose.
