Illegal? Or nah.

[dannyboyd2k19]

Ok, let me explain, back in 2015 We switched from at&t internet (15 download 6 upload)  to cox internet (100 download 10 upload). Everything was fine and dandy through the holiday season no hidden fees, no hoops to jump through, it seemed perfect. but there was a law Passed recently in Ohio (where I am currently residing) where they can no longer slow down the internet speed (Throttle) when more people were on the internet in my area. A month after out bill on Christmas day, they put this data usage cap OF ONLY 700GB per month! and if you go over its $10 per 50gb you go over. Now YouTube and Netflix are playing constantly around the house with 5 family members You can see how fast the data just disappears. But I noticed that when we would start getting close to the data cap (about 100gb's left) That the videos would just buffer non stop. And to get a constant watchable non buffer video I would have to watch at 240P! wtf is that? Since then we have upgraded to 300 download and 30 upload with a 2000Gb limit. But that throttling that was going on, Can we sue them? Should we even try? any help is appreciated!

[Volbet]

Whether or not it's legal depends on the laws and court practices in your state.

 

If I had to guess, I would say it's legal. 

Your parents most likely singned a contract when they ordered internet from Cox, and my bet is that that contract has a clause in it about changes to their services, 

Basically, Cox can probably make changes to their services without breaking your contract, so no, they haven't done anything you can sue them for.

 

If I were you I would read through the contract to see if such a clause is in there, and if there is, see if there is any vagueness to it or any potential loopholes.

There most likely isn't any of those things, since lawyers are paid quite hansomely to make those contracts.

[dannyboyd2k19]

Thanks for posting back the whole thing has been pretty dumb.

[SansVarnic]

Check with your state attorney office they should be able to provide you with the proper information.

*edit

Just make sure to provide a detailed description of the issue. The more in formation you provide the better answer you will get.

Edited February 20, 2016 by SansVarnic

[Spartancloud]

I find it unusual that they would want to throttle you before hitting your data cap since they charge you for going over, you would think they would wait until you go over to charge you more. I would look into whether they have a cap on the data surcharge. I once had internet through Rogers with a monthly cap of 250 GB shared between 5 people, so often when it seemed like we would go over we would just go way over like downloading over a terabyte a month and the extra fee was capped at 50$ so once you're over a bit you might as well not care at all. Although if they are throttling you that might not work the best.

 

Anyway I feel like companies reserve the right to change your internet plan, you'd have to see what you agreed to, in my experience big companies do whatever they want including raising the cost randomly when your contract is done, but I've never had them change an existing contract on me. I'm a big fan on using small ISPs if it's available as they often offer unlimited internet and no contracts, it may be worse seeing if there's any available in your area, they don't always advertise the best so it's easy to not know they are an option.

[D-Dos Dan]

The internet here is better, I get 1.3 down and .25 up, the internet is so fast the copper cables catch on fire sometimes  along with a 200gb data cap that I'd struggle to get to 150 a month.