Fair Use Policy

The Fair Use Policy applies to all Clients with Unlimited Nighttime service. Most users however will not be affected as their usage is well within what we would expect from a Client with Unlimited Nightime service.

If a Client's usage exceeds what BLUELINE Broadband deems fair and reasonable for a Unlimited Nightime service, speed-limiting restrictions may be applied in the first instance. We'll also be in contact with Clients whose usage is deemed excessive with advice and recommendations of how to reduce usage.

If usage continues to be very high, we may reluctantly give a Client notice that their account will be terminated.

Excessive bandwidth usage slows down our broadband service and affects the online experience of all other BLUELINE Broadband Clients. A small minority of Clients are engaging in substantial continuous download activity of a level that is not the norm for a Unlimited Nightime service. The Fair Use Policy has been put in place to ensure that there is optimal service for all Clients. We monitor network capacity and usage accordingly.

The BLUELINE Access Agreement allows for BLUELINE Broadband to introduce a variety of forms of network management on specific individuals where such individuals' usage of their BLUELINE Broadband connection is so heavy that it affects the speed of our network and subsequently the enjoyment of other users. Unlimited Nightime service does not come with download limits. It is and remains an unlimited service without surcharges for the amount of data traffic used by a connection. Saying that, a client's use becomes inconsistent with the reasonable use of a Unlimited Nightime service, such a client may find that their internet connection is speed-limited or, in extreme circumstances, their account may be terminated after being served notice.

As an extreme example, using Unlimited Nightime service all night long, every day, to continuously download large files is not reasonable use. We do not publish specific figures for excessive usage as they may change. We reserve the right to take appropriate action to preserve the online experience of all other BLUELINE Broadband users.

Becoming an extremely heavy user relates to the active and continuous downloading of files, usually using peer-to-peer (P2P) services. The majority of BLUELINE Broadband Clients will NOT trigger the policy by normal activity including surfing, email and file uploading or downloading. Having a computer or router just connected to the internet will not trigger the policy. The intention of a Broadband service is to provide an extended, continuous link to the internet. It is not to facilitate continuous downloads of large files.

The Fair Use Policy is not based on specific hard and fast limits. The service is designed to meet demands from the BLUELINE Broadband Client community. The policy is in place all the time but speed restrictions are only applied, if required, at busy times.

The Fair Use Policy affects users who, over a continuous number of weeks and months, download an unreasonable volume of data. Therefore the Fair Use Policy will not be applied to you if you do a one off download in a month in the order of 5GB.

We are not able to guarantee that we will inform everyone who has had their connection speed-limited under the Fair Use Policy, however the Fair Use Policy is covered in our Terms and Conditions of use. Therefore, we are not required to notify Clients if they are speed restricted. The small minority of Clients affected will notice slower download speeds during times when speed limiting applies.