Why do we have to manage traffic on our network?
All Metronet broadband products are contended, or shared. This industry-wide method is proven to provide a fast and reliable service at an affordable price.
There can be a lot of traffic competing to use our network at peak times. If we didn't manage traffic, it would be possible for intensive activities such as file downloads, peer-to-peer (P2P) and Usenet traffic to swamp the network and slow down time-sensitive traffic, such as web browsing, email, gaming and Internet phone calls. By managing traffic, we can ensure these time sensitive activities have priority.
How do we manage traffic on our network?
Different types of traffic have a different priority at peak times on our network, with time-sensitive applications such as gaming and VoIP having the highest priority.
| Network Traffic Priority Level |
Activities and Traffic |
Customer Experience |
| Platinum |
Paid for priority services, e.g. video-on-demand content |
Not yet in use |
| Titanium |
Time critical traffic: e.g. VoIP and gaming |
Fast - Up to line speed* |
| Gold |
Time sensitive products, including email, HTTP, SSH and VPN |
Fast - Up to line speed* |
| Silver |
Non-time critical traffic: e.g. P2P, Usenet and FTP |
Average - speeds up to 500Kbps |
| Bronze |
Currently unused |
- |
|
PAYGo Broadband Products
Traffic will only be restricted on PAYGo products if you exceed your product's Usage Ceiling for the month:
- All traffic restricted to 128Kbps at peak-times
- P2P, Usenet and FTP traffic will be blocked at peak times
Peak-times: 4pm - midnight
All restrictions are lifted at the start of a new billing month.
Please note: only a small minority of customers ever exceed their product's Usage Ceiling.
PAYGo
Option 1 |
Data Usage (Uploads & Downloads) |
Price |
Traffic Restrictions |
| Up to Included Usage |
0 - 419MB |
£11.75 |
None - normal up to line speed* |
| Up to Usage Ceiling |
419 - 7,746MB |
£11.75 - £22.74 (0.15p per MB) |
None - normal up to line speed* |
| Above Usage Ceiling |
7,746MB + |
£22.74 (Price Ceiling) |
Restrictions at peak-times (see above) |
|
PAYGo
Option 2 |
Data Usage (Uploads & Downloads) |
Price |
Traffic Restrictions |
| Up to Included Usage |
0 - 2,097MB |
£13.75 |
None - normal up to line speed* |
| Up to Usage Ceiling |
2,097 - 10,764MB |
£13.75 - £26.75 (0.15p per MB) |
None - normal up to line speed* |
| Above Usage Ceiling |
10,764MB + |
£26.75 (Price Ceiling) |
Restrictions at peak-times (see above) |
|
PAYGo
Option 3 |
Data Usage (Uploads & Downloads) |
Price |
Traffic Restrictions |
| Up to Included Usage |
0 - 10,485MB |
£18.75 |
None - normal up to line speed* |
| Up to Usage Ceiling |
10,485 - 23,812MB |
£18.75 - £38.74 (0.15p per MB) |
None - normal up to line speed* |
| Above Usage Ceiling |
23,812MB + |
£38.74 (Price Ceiling) |
Restrictions at peak-times (see above) |
|
New Data Usage Measurements
In February 2006 we changed how we define a MB when measuring data usage.
We now measure usage in megabytes rather than mebibytes (MiB).
This will make no difference to your service as we have adjusted all included usage amounts to ensure you get slightly more data for the same price as before.
* Up to line speed is the speed your broadband product is provisioned on. |
