Some U.S. broadband providers are switching around the ways they handle overage fees. Ars Technica reports that Cox has increased the number of states in which it charges overage fees for broadband services, while CenturyLink rolled back overage fees in the state of Washington.
Cox charges $10 per 50 GB for customers in select states who go over their data limit of 1 TB per month. This plan is in effect now in 12 states, although three are not enforced. Overage fees went into effect in Arizona, Louisiana, Nevada, and Oklahoma last week.
Meanwhile, CenturyLink has ended a data cap trial that it began last year.
“This approach no longer aligns with our goal to simplify offers and pricing for our customers,” CenturyLink says in regards to the data cap, which was tested in Yakima, Washington. The fee took $10 per 50 GB if customers went over a 300 GB per month cap. Charges incurred as part of the program will be credited back to customers.
Ars Technica notes that CenturyLink may actually be hitting the upper limit of what its network can handle. While it does offer gigabit service in some locations, most of its network uses DSL lines.
