Internet Data Caps & Overage Fees 2026: Who Still Charges

Updated on October 25, 2026

18 min read

By Christopher Burg · Last updated October 25, 2026

An internet data cap is the fee your bill never advertises. Until September 16, 2026, Cox was the last major cable provider still charging overage fees on a 1.25 TB cap, Xfinity’s 1.2 TB internet data cap now applies only to legacy plans, and AT&T caps its copper plans at 1.5 TB. Every big fiber network, Spectrum, Optimum and the 5G home carriers sell unlimited data. And it did not survive: Spectrum, which doesn’t cap anyone, closed its purchase of Cox on August 20 and launched its full lineup in Cox markets on September 16 — with unlimited data on every plan sold from that date.

Where this stands now: data caps are nearly gone. Spectrum, Optimum, Verizon, Frontier, Brightspeed, Kinetic and every fiber provider sell unlimited data, and Cox’s 1.25 TB cap ended when its plans became Spectrum plans in September 2026. What remains are legacy plans: Xfinity’s 1.2 TB cap applies only to older accounts in some markets, and some satellite and fixed-wireless plans still deprioritize heavy users rather than charging overage. If you are on an older plan, the cap is a reason to switch, not to pay more.

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What is an internet data cap?

An internet data cap, sometimes called a data plan or data allowance, is a monthly limit on how much data your home plan includes, measured in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB). Everything you stream, download, upload, back up or video-call counts toward it. Go over and one of three things happens depending on the provider: you’re billed for extra data in blocks, you’re pushed toward an unlimited add-on, or your speeds are slowed until the next billing cycle.

Cable networks tend to use hard caps with per-block overage charges. Satellite providers sell “priority data” buckets and slow you afterward. Fixed-wireless 5G plans have no hard cap at all but can deprioritize your traffic.

Which providers still have an internet data cap in September 2026?

The short version: the internet data cap has retreated to three places — Cox’s cable footprint, Xfinity’s legacy plans, and AT&T’s copper network — plus satellite, where it takes the form of priority-data buckets. Here is the provider-by-provider status, verified against each company’s own policy pages where they publish one.

Sources: Cox “Speeds and Data Plans” policy (updated Feb 24, 2026), Xfinity 1.2 TB data plan FAQ, AT&T data allowance support article, CableTV.com data cap guide (Apr 15, 2026) for the Cox unlimited price and the Mediacom/Sparklight/Astound rows.

Cox: the last big internet data cap, and why the Spectrum deal matters

Cox is the only large cable operator that still bills overages. Its policy page, updated February 24, 2026, lists the same 1.25 TB monthly data plan on every wired tier from Fast 300 Mbps to Go Beyond Fast 2 Gig, with overages at $10 per 50 GB block up to $100 a month ($30 for ConnectAssist customers). Cox credits the first overage in a customer’s history, sends usage alerts starting at 50%, and doesn’t count Cox phone service or most Contour video toward the cap. Two quiet exceptions: plans delivered over Cox’s wireless network and the prepaid StraightUp Internet product carry the same 1.25 TB allowance but “Not Applicable” overage charges.

What changed is the owner. Charter, which runs Spectrum, completed its acquisition of Cox on August 20, 2026, and Spectrum has never enforced a data cap. Charter’s closing announcement says Spectrum plans to launch its entire product suite to consumers in the former Cox markets in mid-September, while telling existing customers they will “not see any pricing or service changes at this time, unless initiated by you.” Read those two sentences together and the picture is this: a Cox customer who moves to a Spectrum plan when the lineup arrives leaves the cap behind; a customer who stays on a legacy Cox plan keeps it until Charter says otherwise. Neither company has announced a date for retiring the Cox cap outright. If you’re a Cox customer who regularly clears 1 TB, the mid-September plan launch is the moment to compare, and our Charter–Cox merger guide tracks what’s changing month by month.

Xfinity: unlimited on new plans, 1.2 TB on legacy plans, and the 13 states that never had a cap

Comcast’s own support page is unusually plain about it: “New Xfinity Internet plans include unlimited data and equipment at no extra cost. The 1.2 TB data limit only applies to older (legacy) internet plans.” If you’re still on a legacy plan, the first time you exceed 1.2 TB in a 12-month period is a courtesy month with no charge; after that it’s $10 per 50 GB up to $100. Alerts arrive at 75%, 90% and 100%, and again when overages hit $50 and $100. You can’t opt out of the legacy cap, but you can escape it three ways: switch to any new plan at 300 Mbps or above, add Unlimited Data, or add xFi Complete where it’s offered.

The exclusion list is worth knowing. The 1.2 TB cap never applied to Xfinity customers in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., plus parts of North Carolina and Ohio — the old NBCUniversal/Northeast footprint. It also never applied to Internet Essentials, Prepaid, NOW Internet or Gigabit x10. Xfinity’s page notes most of its customers use about 498 GB a month. If you’re on a legacy plan, our Xfinity speed-tier guide shows what the current no-cap plans cost.

How much do overage fees actually cost?

On a capped cable plan, every overage is billed in 50 GB blocks at $10 each, up to a $100 monthly ceiling. That ceiling is the number to remember: a $60 plan can become a $160 plan in a heavy month, and AT&T DSL’s ceiling is $200. The unlimited add-ons that avoid the risk cost $30 a month at AT&T and Xfinity legacy plans, and about $50 at Cox, which means a capped customer paying for unlimited is often paying more than an uncapped fiber or 5G plan at the same address would cost outright.

Those numbers explain why the cap became a retail problem for cable operators. An average home is now using more than half of a 1.2 TB allowance every month, and the 2 TB club is growing at double digits. Homes that work from home with cloud backups, run several 4K streams, or download games in the 100 GB range are the ones that hit overages, and they’re exactly the customers a provider least wants to lose to fiber.

How do I know if I’m hitting my internet data cap?

Every provider with a cap runs a usage meter. Cox shows it under Internet Tools in the Cox app; Xfinity shows it to primary or manager users in the Xfinity app; AT&T shows it in myAT&T. Check it twice in a billing cycle, at the midpoint and three days before the reset, and you’ll know whether your household is a 400 GB home or a 1.4 TB home. For a rough forecast, Netflix publishes that 4K streaming uses up to 7 GB an hour and HD about 3 GB an hour; three hours of 4K a night is roughly 630 GB a month on its own before anyone downloads a game, backs up a phone, or joins a video call.

How to avoid internet data caps and overage fees

The surest way to avoid a cap is to pick an uncapped plan in the first place, and in 2026 that’s most of the market. If you’re already on a capped plan, work through these in order:

1. Check whether you’re on a legacy plan. Xfinity customers on a cap can move to any current plan at 300 Mbps or above and the cap disappears. Cox customers should watch the mid-September Spectrum lineup for the same reason.
2. Compare uncapped providers at your address. If AT&T Fiber, Frontier, Fios, Google Fiber, Quantum, Spectrum, Optimum or a 5G home carrier serves you, the cap question is over. Our guide to fiber vs. cable vs. 5G home internet covers the tradeoffs.
3. Price the unlimited add-on against a switch. Cox’s roughly $50 add-on and AT&T’s $30 add-on are, in most markets, more than the gap between your plan and a competitor’s uncapped one.
4. Use the courtesy month deliberately. Xfinity legacy plans forgive one overage per 12 months; Cox credits your first ever. If a big move or a new console is coming, schedule the heavy month.
5. Trim the invisible usage. Set streaming apps to “auto” or 1080p on TVs that aren’t 4K, turn off automatic cloud backup of video, and pause console auto-updates. Those three settings are the difference between 900 GB and 1.3 TB in a lot of homes.

Is anyone going to ban the internet data cap?

Not soon. The FCC opened a formal Notice of Inquiry into broadband data caps in October 2024 (WC Docket No. 23-199) to study how caps affect consumers and competition. Industry groups asked the agency to drop it, an inquiry gathers information rather than making rules, and the commission that opened it changed leadership in January 2025. As of September 2026 no rule has followed, and the FCC’s public “data caps” consumer page now returns a notice that access has been disabled. In practice, the data cap is being retired by competition, not regulation: fiber overbuilders and 5G home internet sell unlimited data as a headline feature, and the two cable companies that held out longest, Comcast and now Cox through Charter, are the ones giving way.

Frequently asked questions

Data caps and overages: the questions people ask, answered

What people type when they are staring at a usage alert or a bill, in their own words, answered as of October 2026.

How much is my internet data limit, and why isn’t it listed on my plan?

If your plan page does not list a data allowance, you almost certainly do not have one: fiber providers, Spectrum, Verizon, T-Mobile 5G Home, Google Fiber and Xfinity’s current plans are all unlimited, and they do not print a number because there is none. The providers that do cap you (legacy Xfinity plans in some markets, Cox accounts not yet converted to Spectrum, Mediacom, Sparklight, Astound’s lower tiers, satellite and most fixed-wireless plans) put the figure in the plan details or terms, usually 1 TB to 1.25 TB for cable. The fastest way to check is the usage meter in your provider’s app: if there is no meter, there is no cap.

What is the Xfinity data cap amount in 2026?

There is no cap on Xfinity’s current plans (300 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 1 Gig, 2 Gig and the NOW Internet prepaid tiers); they are unlimited in every market. The 1.2 TB monthly allowance still applies only to grandfathered legacy plans in Xfinity’s Central, West and some Northeast divisions, with overages at $10 per 50 GB up to $100 a month, and the Northeast division never had a cap at all. If your bill shows a legacy plan name (Connect, Fast, Superfast, Gigabit), switching to the equivalent current tier removes the cap, usually at a similar price.

Does Cox still have a data cap, and when does it go away?

Cox’s 1.25 TB cap and $10-per-50 GB overage ends for each account on the date its market converts to Spectrum plans, which began in mid-September 2026 after Charter closed the Cox purchase on August 20. Converted accounts are unlimited; accounts still on Cox plan names technically keep the allowance until their conversion date, though Cox waived most overage billing during the transition. Existing Cox customers do get unlimited data once converted; it is not limited to new customers.

On my Cox bill, is ‘data’ the same as ‘internet’?

Yes. Cox labels the home internet service line ‘Data’ or ‘Internet Data’ on many bills, so that charge is your internet plan itself, not a data overage. Overages, when they applied, showed as a separate ‘Additional Data’ line. Spectrum bills label the same thing ‘Internet’, which is one of the small changes you see after conversion.

What does a $50 Cox credit limit mean?

It is unrelated to data. A credit limit on a Cox or Spectrum account is the amount of unpaid charges the company will carry before it suspends service or requires a deposit; $50 is a common limit for new accounts without a deposit. Your data allowance is a separate number, and the only data-related dollar figure on a Cox account was the $100 monthly maximum on overage charges, now gone with the Spectrum conversion.

How do I know if I maxed out my internet data this month?

Open your provider’s app or account page and find the usage meter; capped providers show a bar against the monthly allowance and send alerts at 75, 90 and 100 percent by email or text. If your provider has no meter, you have no cap to max out. A connection does not slow down when you hit a cable cap; you are billed overage instead, so the only sign is the alert and the next bill. Satellite and some fixed-wireless plans are the exception: those slow you to a low speed after the allowance.

We have 1 Gig internet and keep going over our data. Why, and what causes 1,500 GB of usage?

Speed and data are different things: a 1 Gig plan downloads faster but has the same allowance as a 300 Mbps plan on a capped provider, and the faster line makes it easier to burn through it. 1,500 GB a month is a household streaming 4K on several TVs (about 7 GB an hour each), console game downloads of 100 GB or more, cloud backup of phones and PCs, and security cameras uploading continuously. The fix is not a smaller plan; it is moving to an unlimited provider, or if you must stay, paying your provider’s unlimited add-on, which is cheaper than two overage blocks.

How can I avoid data overages in the future?

In order of effectiveness: switch to a provider with no cap, which at most addresses means fiber, Spectrum, 5G home internet or a current Xfinity plan; if you stay on a capped plan, add the unlimited option ($30 a month on legacy Xfinity, included with the xFi gateway); and at home, set streaming apps to 1080p instead of 4K, schedule game and OS updates, stop cloud backups from re-uploading whole libraries, and check for a security camera or a shared Wi-Fi password that is quietly uploading. Enter your address above to see which unlimited providers reach you.

Does Cox Wi-Fi hotspot use, or a provider’s Wi-Fi app, count toward the data cap?

Using Cox or Xfinity public hotspots away from home does not count toward your home allowance; the cap applies to the modem at your address. Inside the home, everything through your gateway counts, including the provider’s own streaming app, smart TVs, phones on Wi-Fi and guest devices. Phone service over the provider’s line and the provider’s TV boxes are generally excluded.

Do websites or apps charge me for data usage?

No. A website or app does not bill you for the data it sends; only your internet provider can, and only if your plan has a cap or your mobile plan has an allowance. ‘Data charges’ on a phone bill come from the carrier, and ‘data’ line items on a home internet bill are the internet service itself. If a site tells you it will charge for data, it is a scam.

Why do I have to pay full price to upgrade my plan if I am over the cap?

Because changing tiers resets you to the current price for the new tier rather than the promotional rate you had, and on a capped provider a bigger plan does not bring a bigger allowance anyway. If overage is the problem, ask for the unlimited add-on on your existing plan or for retention pricing on the current unlimited equivalent (on Xfinity, moving a legacy plan to the matching new tier removes the cap and usually keeps the price close). Do not upgrade speed to fix a data problem.

Does Spectrum have a data cap? I keep seeing ‘1.25 TB’ and ‘unlimited’.

Spectrum has never had a data cap or overage on home internet; every tier is unlimited. The 1.25 TB figure you see belongs to Cox, which Spectrum’s parent bought in 2026, and it disappears as each Cox market converts to Spectrum plans. If you are a former Cox customer in Tulsa, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego or anywhere else in the Cox footprint, your allowance ends on your conversion date.

What is AT&T’s data cap?

AT&T Fiber has no cap on any tier. AT&T’s remaining copper DSL and the older Internet 25 to 100 Mbps tiers carried a 1.5 TB allowance with $10 per 50 GB overage, and AT&T Internet Air (fixed wireless) is unlimited but can be slowed during congestion. If you are on AT&T DSL and hitting 1.5 TB, the answer is to move to fiber or Internet Air if either serves your address.

Which cable providers still have a 1.2 TB data cap in 2026?

Xfinity on legacy plans only (1.2 TB, Central and West divisions). Cox had 1.25 TB until the Spectrum conversion. Mediacom caps every tier at 1 to 3 TB depending on speed, Sparklight at 1.5 TB on most plans, Astound at about 400 GB to 1 TB on its lower tiers (no overage, just an allowance), and Buckeye, Armstrong and some smaller operators still cap. Spectrum, Optimum, WOW and every fiber provider do not. The federal government has not banned caps; the FCC opened an inquiry in 2024 and it has gone nowhere since.

Also searched as: internet data limit, data overage, internet overage fees, data usage cap, monthly data allowance and capped internet. They all mean the same thing: a monthly limit on how much data your home internet plan includes before extra charges.

Sources

• Cox — Speeds and Data Plans Information for Internet Services (updated February 24, 2026)
• Xfinity — Xfinity Internet 1.2 TB data plan FAQs
• AT&T — Home internet data allowances
• Charter — Charter and Cox Communications Complete Transaction (August 20, 2026)
• OpenVault — Broadband Insights Report (OVBI) 2Q26 (July 22, 2026)
• FCC — FCC Explores How Broadband Data Caps Impact Competition and Consumers (Notice of Inquiry, October 2024)
• CableTV.com — Internet Provider Data Caps Guide (April 15, 2026)

Keep going

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• Xfinity internet speed tiers and what they cost
• Fiber vs. cable vs. 5G home internet
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• How to lower your internet bill without canceling
• Best cheap internet plans
• Sparklight internet: the $40 gig that becomes a $95 bill