Fair Usage Policy

Purpose of this policy

Inclusive-call plans are designed for ordinary individual business communications. This policy helps keep those plans fair and suitable for customers using the service as intended.

This policy forms part of our Terms and Conditions and applies to account holders, users, extensions, devices, applications and call routes connected to the service.

Normal business use

Normal business use means calls made by an individual user as part of genuine day-to-day business activity.

Inclusive calls

Inclusive-call plans include only the destinations and number types shown in the selected plan or current pricing information. Plan-specific allowances and restrictions continue to apply.

Calls outside the inclusive allowance or to excluded destinations may be charged at the applicable PAYG rate, blocked, restricted or made available only on a different plan.

Use that is not included

Unless expressly stated otherwise, inclusive allowances do not cover:

• premium-rate and special-service numbers;
• directory-enquiry, personal-number, satellite and maritime services;
• machine-to-machine or data services;
• certain international, virtual or non-standard destinations;
• calls made primarily to generate revenue, rebates, credits or another financial benefit;
• usage outside ordinary individual business communications.

Excluded destinations may be charged separately or blocked even where the account has an inclusive-call subscription.

Automated, artificial and abnormal use

The following may be treated as abnormal or outside fair use:

• automated, predictive or power dialling;
• sequential calling of large lists of numbers;
• continuous or near-continuous calling;
• calls generated by software, scripts, bots or machines without normal human interaction;
• artificially extended call durations or repeated short calls designed to manipulate charging or reporting;
• simultaneous use of one user subscription by several people;
• reselling, sharing or transferring inclusive minutes;
• routing third-party traffic through the service;
• usage designed to avoid normal call charges.

Call centres, diallers and high-volume operations

Standard inclusive-call plans are not intended for call-centre, outbound-dialler, bulk telemarketing, lead-generation or sustained high-volume calling unless expressly agreed by us.

Customers with these requirements must contact us before starting the activity so we can confirm whether a suitable plan, usage rate or service arrangement is available.

PAYG services

PAYG customers pay for chargeable calls at the applicable rate. PAYG does not remove the requirement to use the service lawfully and responsibly.

We may restrict or suspend PAYG usage where it is fraudulent, unlawful, abusive, automated in a way that risks network integrity, or likely to create unusual financial or security risk.

How usage is reviewed

We may review account and call-usage patterns to apply charges correctly, protect against fraud, identify abnormal usage, maintain service security and determine whether a plan remains suitable.

Usage may be assessed by user, extension, account, destination, call duration, frequency, time pattern, concurrent calls and other relevant indicators.

A high total alone does not automatically mean misuse. We consider the pattern, purpose and business context.

Action we may take

Where possible, we will explain the concern and provide a reasonable opportunity to resolve it. Immediate action may be taken where delay would create fraud, security, legal, regulatory or network risk.

Fraud, nuisance and unlawful use

The service must not be used for fraud, caller-ID spoofing intended to mislead or cause harm, harassment, threats, nuisance calls, unlawful unsolicited communications, impersonation, scams, phishing or any criminal purpose.

Serious or suspected unlawful activity may be reported to relevant network providers, regulators, law-enforcement bodies or other authorities where appropriate.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect changes in plans, pricing, network arrangements, regulation, fraud risks or service design. Material changes affecting existing customers will be communicated where required.

Questions about usage or plan suitability

Contact us before starting sustained high-volume, automated, call-centre or unusual calling activity. We can confirm whether the selected plan is suitable.