Transfer Management Assistance Program for High Speed Plans

We are looking out for you!

Thank you for choosing Net Idea as your high-speed internet service provider. We hope you are enjoying your connection and all the internet has to offer.

While a high-speed connection opens up many more opportunities on the internet to explore music, film and other new media it is very important that you understand the relationship between the new media you download to your computer and the transfer included with your connection package.

Please see below some answers to frequently asked questions:

• What is Transfer?
• What is a Gigabyte?
• What happens if I go over my allowable transfer?
• What are my options if I use up all my transfer before the end of the month?
• How do I know how much transfer I am using?
• How do I avoid exceeding my transfer quota?
• What uses up a lot of bandwidth?
• What are the risks if I have File Sharing turned on?

What is Transfer?

So what is 'Transfer'? Transfer is the amount of bandwidth you use or, more simply, the amount of information that travels from your computer to the internet and back.

Each high-speed internet package offered by Net Idea has bundled with it, an allowable monthly transfer quota. Please see the table below to find out how much transfer is included with your package. If you are unsure of your package, please check a recent invoice for the name of the service:

What is a Gigabyte?

A Gigabyte is equal to 1024 Megabytes. In terms of new media, 1GB is the approximate equivalent of:

• 200,000 standard length email messages (5 KB each)
• 20,000 typical web pages (50KB each)
• 4,000 digital photos (900x600 pixels, 250 KB each)
• 1000 emails with attachments (1 MB each)
• 200 MP3 format songs (5 MB each)
• 1 hour movie DivX or MPG encoded at medium resolution.

What happens if I go over my allowable transfer?

While it is unlikely that most customers will actually use all of the allowable transfer in a plan, additional charges are billed when they do. The additional transfer is billed at $3 per GB or part thereof in excess of the quota on your plan.

What are my options if I use up all my transfer before the end of the month?

1. If you do not wish to incur the additional usage charges, every High-speed internet package offered by Net Idea includes additional Dial-up internet access which you can use for the remainder of the month.
   
2. Keep using the high speed connection knowing that you will be charged $3 per additional GB. We will not cut you off of the high speed service, we simply make sure you know in advance that you are reaching your limit.

How do I know how much transfer I am using?

Finding out how much transfer you are using is easy anytime. Click on 'Account' at the top of this page page with the folder icon. The next window will prompt you for you username and password. Enter that and click on usage on the menu on the left. Choose Data Transfer. There you will be able to see how much transfer you have used.

As a safeguard, we have a system in place that will send you a warning email when you are close to your limit (around 85%).

If you wish to check your transfer now, simply click on: https://secure.netidea.com/ibis/, enter your username and password and follow the instructions above.

How do I avoid exceeding my transfer quota?

There are some simple measures that can be taken to avoid racking up extra bandwidth charges. These include:

• Turning off filesharing on your computer
• Avoiding file sharing programs such as KaZaA, Limewire etc.
• Keeping your virus software up to date
• Monitoring your kids' usage

Taking these basic measures will ensure you will have plenty of transfer to last your entire month.

What uses up a lot of bandwidth?

• Music and video downloads
• Streaming audio and video
• Viruses that use your computer to access the internet

What are the risks if I have File Sharing turned on?

A PC Magazine report explains that there are significant risks associated with file sharing, whereby there has been a significant increase in malicious code posted on P2P networks.

ICSA Labs officials claim that 45% of thousands of free files they collected via Kazaa, the most popular P2P client on the Net, contained viruses, Trojan horses and back doors. If you decide to keep file sharing turned on, you run the risk of increased chance for these problems.