How to avoid going over your broadband data cap
Managing broadband data caps can be aggravating, frustrating, and—if you go over and incur a penalty—expensive. But there’s hope: With a little knowledge and a bit of patience, you can learn to avoid going over your data cap.
Two of the largest broadband ISPs, Comcast Xfinity and Cox Communications, still impose data caps—though many other service providers are phasing them out. If you exceed the limits (1.2TB/month for Xfinity, 1.25TB/month for Cox), you’ll pay $10 for every additional 50GB. AT&T still charges a data cap, too, though only for its legacy DSL service, according to the data-cap registry at Highspeedinternet. All of these providers allow you to pay extra for unlimited data, but who wants to do that?
Minimizing your data usage to stay under the cap requires three things: First, knowing how much total data you’re using at any one time; second, knowing how much data a particular device or app is consuming; and third, actually minimizing data usage.
HOW TO TELL HOW MUCH DATA YOU’RE USING
All of the ISPs mentioned above list your data consumption on their website. Some also provide an accompanying mobile app where you can find out that information. In
