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NEW ORLEANS — Starting in September, Cox internet customers will have limits on data usage, and if they exceed the allotted data, they will be charged.

Cox spokesman Steve Sawyer said customers are being notified now, but the changes will be implemented in September and reflected on October bills.

Cox estimates that the changes will impact less than 2 percent of customers in South Louisiana. Sawyer said the average Cox customer in New Orleans uses about 250 GB of data per month.

It’s a “generous” data plan, according to Cox, and will include 1 Terabyte, or 1,024 Gigabytes, of data. That equates to 140 two-hour HD movies, 300 half-hour standard definition TV shows, 1,500 three-minute videos, 3,000 hours of web-surfing, and 30,000 songs that are four minutes long.

For the 2 percent of South Louisiana customers who do use more than 1 TB of data, they will be charged $10 for every 50 Gigabytes they use above the 1 TB.

One reason for placing limits on data is that internet usage is doubling every two years, and customers are adding more and more devices to their homes, according to Cox. Also, a very small percentage of internet users consumes an “overwhelming majority” of internet data.

“By the year 2020, Americans are expected to have an average of 50 devices connected to the internet,” Sawyer said.  “As data usage patterns change over time, data service plans also need to evolve to serve changing market needs and help consumers manage their data.”

Sawyer said Cox offers the following tools to help customers manage their data usage:

  • Data Usage Meter on Cox.com and Cox Connect (mobile app)
  • Email, text message, and Cox Browser Alerts at 85%, 100%, and 125% of their data plan
  • Usage status alerts on both Data Usage Meter and customer portal