NBN Satellite Fair Use Policy FAQ

This Fair Use Policy is implemented at a wholesale level, which means it applies to all NBN™ Satellite services nationwide including Westnet and any other retail service provider of NBN™ Satellite. We're proud to provide transparent information so you can make informed decisions about using your NBN™ Satellite service.

 

What is the Fair Use Policy?

NBN Co has created a Fair Use Policy to help protect national service quality on the NBN™ Satellite network. You can search "Fair Use Policy" on nbnco.com.au to access the full document, but we'll be explaining here how the policy applies to NBN™ Satellite services sold by Westnet.

 

How does the Fair Use Policy affect my usage?

NBN Co's Fair Use Policy applies the following rules for data usage:

  • Individual services may not exceed 150GB of peak period (7AM-1AM) usage over any 4 week rolling period.
  • Individual services may not exceed 300GB of off-peak period (1AM-7AM) usage over any 4 week rolling period.

It's important to monitor your usage to avoid breaching the Fair Use Policy.

 

What happens if the Fair Use Policy is breached?

  • If the Fair Usage Policy is breached, NBN Co will restrict the speed of your NBN™ Satellite service to 256/256kbps and will continue to do so until such a time that NBN Co determines your usage is compliant with their Fair Use Policy. Westnet has no ability to remove this shaping.
     
  • This is not the same as being shaped by us for using all of your monthly data. If you are in breach of NBN Co's Fair Use Policy, your service may be shaped by NBN Co even if you have not used all of your monthly data.
     
  • If your service is shaped as a consequence of breaching the Fair Use Policy and you then proceed to use up all of your monthly data, your service will be further shaped by us to 128/128kbps. This is standard practice for all Westnet NBN™ Satellite services and the shaping will be automatically removed at the beginning of your next monthly billing period.
     
  • As per our Customer Relationship Agreement, you are not entitled to financial compensation or "downtime credit" if your service is shaped as a consequence of breaching the Fair Use Policy, or using all of your monthly data.
     
  • Severe or continual breaches of the Fair Use Policy may result in the suspension or termination of your service by NBN Co.

 

What measures has Westnet taken to make things easier for their customers?

To reduce the risk of customers getting shaped as a consequence of breaching the Fair Use Policy, Westnet NBN™ Satellite plans are designed to give customers "safe" amounts of monthly data at a great-value price.

While other providers may offer plans with larger quotas, you should be wary of these because usage is measured over a rolling 4 week period rather than a calendar month. With the speeds offered over LTSS being much faster than older satellite technologies, if your usage is particularly high during the beginning or end of any monthly billing cycle, you may breach the Fair Usage Policy without realising it if you do not monitor your usage.

 

So what can I do with my monthly data?

We've broken down the peak period data (7AM-1AM) in our two plans to show one example of how much time you could spend on certain online activities each week.

We've calculated this example based on the typical percentage of broadband data the average household uses on a range of common online activites - you may choose to spend more or less time on different acitivities, and your actual experience may differ depending on the amount of data required by any one activity such as varying download/upload size and image/video quality.

Online activity Avg. % monthly data used for activity Estimated data per hour for activity Example of usage in a typical week
30GB monthly peak data plan 45GB monthly peak data plan 60GB monthly peak data plan
Web browsing and emails 10% 0.09GB/hour 8.3 hours/week 12.5 hours/week 16.66 hours/week
Standard High Definition (720p) video streaming
(e.g. Netflix on 'Medium' quality setting)		 60% 1GB/hour 4.5 hours/week 6.75 hours/week 9 hours/week
Low Definition (480p) video streaming
(e.g. YouTube on 480p quality)		 17% 0.3GB/hour 4.25 hours/week 6.37 hours/week 8.5 hours/week
Social media browsing and messaging (excludes video) 7% 0.12GB/hour 4.37 hours/week 6.56 hours/week 8.75 hours/week
Video calls (e.g. Skype) 4% 0.5GB/hour 36 minutes/week 54 minutes/week 72 minutes/week

Data-intensive applications such as online gaming have not been included in this example as they are not recommended over an NBN™ Satellite connection due to the likelihood that the high data usage will lead to a breach of the Fair Use Policy.

 

How do I monitor my data usage?

The best way to monitor your usage is through MyAccount. If you're not sure how to do this, please see Checking your broadband usage in MyAccount.

There are also many software applications available to help you do monitor your usage (both free and paid) however these software applications typically do not measure the usage of every device connected to your NBN™ Satellite broadband, such as computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets and other WiFi devices. MyAccount is a more reliable option because it shows all of your usage in once place - you can even see your usage broken down to a daily view.

 

Does Westnet have any additional policies for NBN™ Satellite?

The iiNet Group, including Westnet, does not have any additional policies specifically for NBN™ Satellite. You may want to have a read of the Acceptable Use Policy in our Customer Relationship Agreement which applies to all customers, however this policy is more about keeping your service usage safe, legal and secure rather than anything to do with the amount of data you use.