Data Usage Policy

Ziplink Internet has experienced a dramatic increase in the amount of data that is sent and received over its broadband networks.  This dramatic increase is driven primarily by a small fraction of our customers.  In fact, the top 5% of customers use about 60% of the total capacity on our network.  A single high traffic user can utilize the same amount of data capacity as 15 typical households.  Lopsided usage patterns can cause congestion at certain points in the network, which can slow Internet speeds and interfere with other customers' access to and use of the network.

Ziplink Internet does not believe in limiting customer speed or cutting off service when users exceed a resonable usage limit. Therefore, in an effort to keep costs as low as possible while keeping the service level as high as possible, Ziplink Internet has instituted a policy to shift some of the extra expense to the customers using the most data.

Each service plan inlcudes a data volume usage amount. When a user exceeds that data volume, the account will be billed an extra usage fee for the month. The volumes and fees are listed below:

* Only applies if you exceed the included Data volume amount.

The usage fee is charged on the month following the end of your billing cycle. If the data usage amount is not exceeded for the billing cycle, no usage fee will be charged. Also keep in mind that this is a one time charge for any amount over the included data usage for that month.

What is a GB?
GB is short for gigabyte. A gigabyte is a unit of measurement of the amount of data that is transmitted over the Internet.  Approximately 50,000 single-page e-mails (without attachments), for example, equate to about 1 GB.  It is important to remember that a GB represents the amount of data sent over the network, and not the amount of time spent using the Internet. As an example, for the plan with 20GB of usage included, you can recieve about 3,000 emails, download about 1,500 songs, share about 5,000 pictures and watch about 10 hours of HD movies.

Will spending a lot of time on the Internet cause me to exceed my monthly usage allowance?
Time alone is not the determining factor; it is the activity that matters.  You could spend several hours reading e-mails, for example, and use less than 1 GB of data.  You could spend 30 minutes downloading a movie, on the other hand, and use 2 GB of data.  It is important to remember that it is what you are doing on the Internet, not how long you do it, that determines the amount of data that you use.

How can I check my usage during the month?
At any time during your billing period, you can look at the current data usage using the following proceedure.

1. Go to www.ZiplinkInternet.com and click on the Customer Registration and Service Portal link.
2. Click the link to manage your account and log into your account.
3. Click on the service plan of interest.
4. Data useage is listed for your current billing period.
5. The data usage is updated once per day at approximately 2AM CDT.

Updated Aug 1, 2011