All about Quota and Shaping

This information does not apply to Liimitless data services.

"Quota" is the amount of data you may use each month as a part of your internet plan. Whenever you use the internet (e.g. look at websites, upload or download files, watch videos) data traffic passes through your internet connection and is counted towards your monthly quota.

 

As a general guide, 1GB of data usage will let you:

  • Receive 1000 emails
  • Surf the web for 20 hours
  • Watch 5 four minute YouTube video clips
  • Download 20 four minute music tracks
  • Download 40 photos

Your usage of each service may vary. The guide above is based on the following assumptions: Email received at 100KB per email, web browsing at 30MB per hour, YouTube 4min video clip at 24MB per clip (standard 360p quality), music downloaded at 4MB per track, photo downloads at 2MB per photo.

 

You can check your data usage in Toolbox.

Toolbox is the best way the check any of the following:

  • If your broadband plan has anytime or peak/offpeak quota
  • When the peak period is (if applicable)
  • When the offpeak period is (if applicable)
  • When your quota resets
  • Which Data Packs are available if your service has been shaped

If you can't log in to Toolbox, please give our friendly Support team a call on 13 22 58. They can get you back on track and you can write down your Toolbox login details for future reference.

 

If your plan has peak/offpeak quota, that means you have two separate quotas – one for a peak period and one for an offpeak period. These quotas are also shaped separately - if you use all of your Peak quota, your service will be shaped during the peak period but it will not be shaped during the offpeak period.

For this reason, you'll need to specifically buy a "Peak" Data Pack in Toolbox if you've used all of your Peak quota and want to get unshaped before your quota resets.

Plans with Anytime quota have a single quota that may be used at any time of the day or night.

Most of our current plans offer anytime quota. Plans with additional wholesale network requirements such as nbn Satellite include peak and offpeak quotas.

 

If you exceed your quota on one of our current fixed-line broadband plans, you will not incur any excess data fees. Instead, the speed of your service will be "shaped" to a slower speed for both downloads and uploads.

This speed varies depending on your specific broadband plan. Common shaping speeds are 128kbps, 256kbps and 512kbps, although different shaping speeds may apply to other plans, particularly those on the latest nbn technologies.

Your internet speeds will return to normal when your quota resets. If you want to remove the shaping before your quota resets, you'll need to either buy a Data Pack or upgrade your plan through your Toolbox.

 

Your quota does not reset if you change plans. Your current quota usage will be deducted from the total quota of your new plan.

You will receive the full quota for your new plan when you begin a new billing cycle.

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