BaseSpace.net bandwidth billing and metering policy =================================================== draft 2001-06-20 Alex revision 1 2001-06-23 Alex 1. Billable Bandwidth Rate Every BaseSpace.net colocation or managed server client has a Billable Bandwidth Rate (BBR) for each switch port network connection they are using. The BBR is expressed in increments of 4 kiloBytes per second (kBps): 4 kBps, 8 kBps, 12 kBps, ... 2. Actual average monthly utilization The actual average monthly bandwidth utilization is measured by mrtg, and can be found labelled "Average In" under the graph in the Monthly section of the mrtg web page for that switch port (this is a monthly average of 2-hour averages). 3. Policy for increasing BBR and monthly charge We (the BaseSpace.net staff) will periodically compare the actual average monthly utilization to the BBR. If the monthly average utilization exceeds the BBR, we will increase the BBR by a number of 4 kBps increments sufficient to cover the new utilization level, and increase the client's monthly rate by $40 per 4 kBps increment. You will be notified by email should this happen. 4. Policy for decreasing BBR and monthly charge If your current average monthly utilization is more than 4 kBps under your BBR, you may contact BaseSpace to request a reduction in your BBR. We will grant that reduction if either A) your current daily and weekly average utilization rates are less than your monthly utilization rate, indicating a downward trend, or B) your current average monthly utilizations remain 4 kBps less than your current BBR for a whole month, starting from the point at which you request the reduction. In addition, BBR and bandwidth-related monthly charge may decrease at the discretion of BaseSpace.net. 5. Initial BBR New colocation or managed server clients start with a BBR of 4 kBps. This is included in the standard colocation or managed server monthly rate. The notes that follow are intended as explanations of the policy, not part of the policy itself. Statements made in the Notes section shall not be construed as committments on the part of BaseSpace.net. Notes ----- We are metering bandwidth this way rather than the more industry standard 95th percentile utilization simply because we don't have the instrumentation in place to do that. The advantage of this system is that your monthly charge will pretty much stay constant, unless there is a large change in your bandwidth utilization. That makes life easier for me and for you. This makes it difficult to compare my $40 / 4 kBps to the rates charged by other places. In general it is safe to say that the way I measure is more generous to the customer than the 95th percentile way. The most extreme case would be someone who bursts using 100 kBps 6% of the time, and the rest of the time nothing. Under 95th percentile metering, they would be charged for 100 kBps, while I would charge them for the average, or 6 kBps. A more realistic assumption might be that utilization is uniformly distributed between 0 and 100 kBps. Then they would charge for the 95th percentile, or 95 kBps, while I would charge for the average, 50 kBps. The difference is nearly a factor of two. However if the usage is pretty constant, for example uniformly distributed between 90 and 100 kBps, then both ways give very similar results. Reducing the bandwidth usage charge officially requires you to notify us when your bandwidth usage drops and possibly wait a month before reducing. This is simply because we won't necessarily notice when your utilization drops. If your utilization increases and we don't notice, we just suffer a litte lost income, so that's our problem. If it drops and we don't notice, you are being overcharged, so you have to have some way of letting us know so we can reduce the BBR. We will be reasonable about that: if your site gets slashdotted and you fill the T1 for a short while, and then drop back down to more normal utilization, I will increase the BBR as per the policy, and then reduce it appropriately afterwards. It is possible to abuse this system. For example, there is no protection in place in this policy against hogging all the bandwidth for a short time: each customer does not have a committed information rate. If we do end up with a customer who makes life difficult for everybody I will deal with it on a case by case basis. If you find yourself unable to get enough bandwidth as you need, you can invoke the SLA, if the slowdown is enough to meet the criteria of the SLA.