Photographers and videographers push a lot of data around the Internet; that’s just the nature of what we do. Unfortunately, that could soon be a problem, as Internet service providers are beginning to impose data caps with overage charges on customers. 

Our friends over at SLR Lounge recently posted an article detailing how Pye Jirsa discovered the data cap on his COX Internet service, which charges $10 for every 50 GB a customer uses over 1 TB every month. The company also offers additional 500 GB packages for $29 extra or unlimited services for $50 extra. COX isn’t the only company to do this either. They did mention that the cap only affects the top two percent of users, but then again, image and video creators aren’t standard customers. While 1 TB seems like a practically infinite barrier, I know I personally push about 200 GB a month simply in backups, and I just upgraded to a camera with twice the resolution. What happens when you switch from 1080p to 4K video? Do you think ISPs will move the bar to match and put that fee toward building better infrastructure to keep up? Call me cynical, but the moral purity of cable companies is not something I believe strongly in. 

So, I ask you: do you think such caps are fair or are they simply needless fees to further gouge consumers? Head over to SLR Lounge to read the full story on Jirsa’s experience,

[via SLR Lounge]

Lead image from Pixabay user Martinelle, used under Creative Commons.