James, a Cox cable-Internet customer in Irvine, California, got an unwelcome email on Tuesday from the Internet provider. Cox’s email told James, who pays $80 a month for broadband, that his 30Mbps upload speeds will soon be reduced to 10Mbps.

A Cox spokesperson told Ars that James and similar customers can keep their 30Mbps upload speeds if they upgrade to a newer modem. But that option wasn’t included in the email to customers, which created the impression that the upload-speed cut is mandatory unless they pay for a more expensive Internet plan.

The different messages given to customers and an Ars reporter suggest that Cox is trying to get people to switch to the lower-upload speed plan and is only mentioning the option of keeping the existing plan as a last resort. Based on what we’ve learned, customers who want to keep their current upload speeds and price should talk to a Cox customer-service rep and ask for that option if the rep doesn’t mention it. Customers can keep their existing modems without losing Internet service entirely, but their upload speeds will be cut unless they upgrade to a new modem and choose to keep their existing plan. Cox has about 5.3 million broadband customers in the United States.