Telnetworks
Fair Use Policy
Telnetworks provides business-grade telecommunications, internet, voice, data and hosting services to business, corporate and government customers across Australia.
Our services are designed to support legitimate business operations, including business internet connectivity, business communications, hosted telephony, data connectivity, server hosting and data centre infrastructure.
This Fair Use Policy sets out the reasonable and acceptable use of Telnetworks services and the circumstances in which Telnetworks may take action where a service is misused, compromised or used in a manner that may adversely affect our network, infrastructure, other customers or third parties.
This policy should be read together with the customer’s applicable service agreement, Standard Form of Agreement, service order, Critical Information Summary where applicable, Service Level Agreement and any service-specific terms.
Purpose of this policy
The purpose of this policy is to:
- protect the security, stability and integrity of the Telnetworks network;
- protect the performance and availability of services for customers;
- prevent telecommunications fraud and abuse;
- protect Telnetworks’ data centre and hosting infrastructure;
- prevent malicious or unlawful use of our services;
- ensure that one customer’s use does not materially interfere with other customers;
- establish reasonable expectations for the use of Telnetworks services; and
- provide a transparent process for responding to misuse or abuse.
This policy is not intended to restrict legitimate, high-volume or intensive business use where that use is consistent with the customer’s contracted service.
General fair use requirements
Customers must use Telnetworks services:
- for legitimate business or organisational purposes;
- in compliance with applicable Australian laws and regulations;
- in accordance with their service agreement;
- in a manner that does not materially interfere with Telnetworks’ network or systems;
- in a manner that does not materially interfere with other customers;
- in a manner that does not create an unreasonable security risk; and
- in accordance with any technical requirements applicable to the service.
Customers are responsible for the use of their services by their employees, contractors, agents, customers and other authorised users.
Business NBN Internet Services
Telnetworks Business NBN Internet Services are designed for business-grade internet connectivity and legitimate business use.
Business NBN services may be used for activities including:
- business web access;
- cloud applications and Software-as-a-Service platforms;
- business email;
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and similar business platforms;
- video conferencing;
- Voice over IP and Hosted PBX services;
- VPN connections;
- remote access;
- cloud backup and disaster recovery;
- large business file transfers;
- software and operating-system updates;
- business websites and applications;
- business-to-business communications;
- data replication;
- remote workers and branch-office connectivity; and
- other legitimate business internet activities.
High-volume internet usage
Telnetworks recognises that business customers may have significantly higher internet usage requirements than residential customers.
High data consumption does not, by itself, constitute unfair use.
Examples of legitimate high-volume business usage include:
- cloud backups;
- large data transfers;
- video conferencing;
- software distribution;
- business application hosting;
- data replication;
- large office environments;
- remote-work environments;
- media or content businesses; and
- other legitimate business workloads.
Telnetworks will consider the customer’s contracted service, technical requirements, usage patterns and the effect of the activity on the network before determining that usage is inconsistent with this policy.
Unlimited Business NBN services
Where a Business NBN service is advertised or supplied as unlimited, this means that the service does not have a specified monthly data allowance or data quota, subject to the terms of the applicable service.
An unlimited service may be used for legitimate business internet activity without a predetermined monthly data limit.
However, unlimited does not permit:
- unlawful activity;
- malicious activity;
- network attacks;
- deliberate network interference;
- fraud;
- operation of malicious infrastructure;
- activities that materially threaten network integrity; or
- other prohibited activity under this policy or the customer’s contract.
Telnetworks will not impose an undisclosed data quota or usage threshold on an unlimited Business NBN service solely through this Fair Use Policy.
Where a service has a specified usage allowance, speed profile, traffic management arrangement or other technical limitation, that limitation will be identified in the applicable service documentation.
Business internet performance
The actual performance of a Business NBN service may be affected by factors including:
- the NBN access technology available at the premises;
- the customer’s selected speed tier;
- network congestion;
- the customer’s internal network;
- customer equipment;
- Wi-Fi performance;
- VPN overhead;
- third-party networks;
- internet congestion;
- application or server performance; and
- circumstances outside Telnetworks’ reasonable control.
Telnetworks will provide the service in accordance with the applicable service specifications and service documentation.
VPN and remote access
Customers may use Business NBN services for legitimate VPN, remote-access and business connectivity requirements.
Customers are responsible for the security and configuration of their VPN infrastructure, firewalls and internal network.
Telnetworks may investigate traffic where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a customer’s connection is being used for malicious or unauthorised activity.
Hosting from a Business NBN service
Customers may operate legitimate business applications, websites, VPN endpoints or other services from a Business NBN connection where this is technically supported and permitted by the applicable service.
Customers must ensure that any systems accessible from the internet are appropriately secured.
A Business NBN service must not be used to operate:
- botnets;
- malware distribution infrastructure;
- phishing infrastructure;
- command-and-control systems;
- unauthorised proxies;
- attack infrastructure; or
other malicious services.
Where a customer requires significant hosting, server or data centre infrastructure, Telnetworks may recommend a Managed Hosting, VPS, CoLocation or other appropriate service.
Prohibited use of Telnetworks services
Customers must not use Telnetworks services for unlawful, fraudulent, malicious or abusive purposes.
Prohibited activities include:
- unauthorised access to systems, networks or accounts;
- hacking or exploitation of systems without authorisation;
- distribution of malware or ransomware;
- operation of botnets;
- denial-of-service or distributed denial-of-service attacks;
- unauthorised network scanning or probing;
- phishing;
- credential theft;
- identity theft;
- fraudulent activity;
- deliberate network interference;
- malicious traffic generation;
- telecommunications fraud;
- scam activity;
- deliberate abuse of telecommunications services;
- unlawful automated communications;
- falsification or misuse of caller identification;
- activities intended to circumvent security controls;
- activities designed to evade fraud detection;
- hosting or distributing unlawful material;
- reselling services where not authorised;
- cryptocurrency mining where prohibited by the applicable service; or
- any activity that materially threatens Telnetworks’ network, infrastructure, customers or third parties.
SIP Trunk Services
SIP Trunk services are intended for legitimate business voice communications, including connection to compatible PBX and Hosted PBX systems.
Reasonable use includes:
- inbound business calls;
- outbound business calls;
- customer service;
- sales operations;
- contact centres;
- internal business communications;
- legitimate automated communications; and
- other lawful business voice traffic.
High-volume calling
High-volume voice traffic is not automatically unfair use.
Businesses such as contact centres, sales organisations, customer service operations and other legitimate high-volume users may generate substantial call traffic.
Where a customer’s requirements materially exceed the technical characteristics of its contracted SIP service, Telnetworks may recommend a more suitable service configuration.
Prohibited voice traffic
Customers must not use Telnetworks SIP services for:
- scam calls;
- fraudulent calls;
- traffic pumping;
- artificial call generation;
- deliberate generation of chargeable traffic;
- unlawful robocalling;
- unauthorised caller-ID spoofing;
- malicious call traffic;
- traffic intended to evade fraud controls; or
- other unlawful or abusive telecommunications activity.
SIP security
Customers are responsible for protecting SIP credentials, PBX systems and associated network equipment.
Where Telnetworks detects unusual or potentially fraudulent SIP activity, we may temporarily restrict affected outbound calling or other functionality to protect the customer and the Telnetworks network.
Where practical, Telnetworks will contact the customer and work with them to secure the service.
Hosted PBX Services
Hosted PBX services are intended for legitimate business communications.
Customers may use Hosted PBX services for:
- business extensions;
- inbound and outbound calls;
- auto attendants;
- hunt groups;
- call queues;
- voicemail;
- conferencing;
- call forwarding;
- remote workers;
- business-hours routing; and
- other supported business communications.
Customers must not use Hosted PBX services for fraudulent, malicious or unlawful activities.
Customers are responsible for ensuring that call recording, monitoring and related features are used in compliance with applicable laws.
Data Centre CoLocation Services
CoLocation services provide customers with physical data centre infrastructure for legitimate business IT and hosting requirements.
Customers must ensure that equipment installed in Telnetworks facilities:
- is properly maintained;
- complies with agreed technical specifications;
- remains within agreed power allocations;
- does not create an unreasonable safety risk;
- does not interfere with other equipment;
- does not compromise facility security; and
- is used for lawful purposes.
Customers must not use CoLocation facilities for malicious infrastructure, attacks against third parties or other prohibited activity.
Power and infrastructure (Data Center Services)
Customers must operate equipment within the power, rack, cooling and electrical specifications agreed for their service.
Where a customer’s equipment requires additional power, rack capacity, cooling or connectivity, Telnetworks may require the customer to upgrade or modify the applicable service.
Managed Server Hosting
Managed Server Hosting is intended for legitimate business applications and workloads.
Customers must not use managed servers for:
- malware distribution;
- phishing;
- credential theft;
- botnets;
- command-and-control infrastructure;
- denial-of-service attacks;
- unauthorised network scanning;
- fraudulent activity;
- illegal activity;
- cryptocurrency mining unless expressly approved;
- activities that materially threaten Telnetworks’ infrastructure; or
- activities that materially interfere with other customers.
Where Telnetworks manages the operating system or security controls, customers must not deliberately disable or circumvent those controls without authorisation.
Virtual Private Servers
VPS services are intended for legitimate business computing, development, application and hosting requirements.
Customers are responsible for applications, software, accounts and content operated within their VPS unless otherwise agreed.
Customers must not use VPS services for:
- malware;
- ransomware;
- botnets;
- phishing;
- credential harvesting;
- spam operations;
- denial-of-service attacks;
- unauthorised network scanning;
- attacks against third-party infrastructure;
- fraudulent activity;
- unlawful activity;
- cryptocurrency mining unless expressly permitted;
- malicious proxy services; or
- other activity that materially threatens Telnetworks’ infrastructure or other customers.
VPS resource usage
VPS resources, including CPU, RAM, storage, disk I/O and network capacity, are determined by the customer’s selected VPS plan.
Customers must not deliberately circumvent resource allocations or use resources in a manner that materially affects the operation of shared infrastructure or other customers.
Sustained use of resources beyond the capacity of a selected VPS may indicate that a larger or differently configured service is required.
Where the workload is legitimate, Telnetworks may recommend an appropriate service upgrade.
Storage and hosted content
Customers are responsible for content stored on Telnetworks-hosted infrastructure.
Customers must not knowingly use Telnetworks infrastructure to store or distribute:
- malware;
- stolen credentials;
- data obtained unlawfully;
- content whose possession or distribution is unlawful;
- material used to facilitate fraud;
- material used to facilitate cyber attacks; or
- other material prohibited by applicable law or contract.
Telnetworks does not generally monitor customer content for commercial or editorial purposes.
We may investigate or act where reasonably necessary to respond to security incidents, abuse reports, legal requirements or threats to Telnetworks’ infrastructure.
Email, spam and messaging
Where Telnetworks services are used to send email or electronic communications, customers must not use the service to conduct:
- spam;
- phishing;
- fraud;
- malicious communications;
- credential harvesting; or
- other abusive activity.
Customers are responsible for securing email accounts, mail servers and applications.
Where a system is compromised and generating abusive traffic, Telnetworks may temporarily restrict affected services to protect our network and other customers.
Cyber security
Customers are responsible for maintaining reasonable security over their systems, applications and credentials.
Depending on the service, customers should consider:
- firewalls;
- strong passwords;
- multi-factor authentication;
- security updates;
- malware protection;
- intrusion detection;
- regular backups;
- access controls;
- logging and monitoring; and
- appropriate disaster recovery arrangements.
If Telnetworks reasonably believes that a customer’s service has been compromised, we may contact the customer and recommend remedial action.
Where there is an immediate and significant risk to Telnetworks, other customers or third parties, Telnetworks may temporarily restrict affected traffic or services.
Network scanning and security testing
Customers may conduct legitimate security testing of systems they own or are authorised to test.
Customers must not use Telnetworks services to conduct unauthorised scanning, penetration testing, exploitation or attacks against third-party systems.
Where Telnetworks detects activity that appears malicious or unauthorised, we may investigate and take reasonable steps to protect our network and customers.
Denial of service attacks
Customers must not use Telnetworks services to launch or facilitate denial-of-service or distributed denial-of-service attacks.
Where a customer’s service is itself subject to an attack, Telnetworks may take reasonable protective measures to mitigate the attack.
Protective measures may include traffic filtering, routing changes, temporary restrictions or other network-security measures.
Crypto Currency and high-resource workloads
Crypto Currency mining and other high-resource workloads may consume substantial CPU, GPU, storage, power or network resources.
Such activities are not permitted on Telnetworks services unless expressly authorised under the applicable service agreement.
This restriction does not apply to ordinary business applications that interact with cryptocurrency or blockchain networks.
Resale and third party access
Customers must not resell, commercially redistribute or provide third-party access to Telnetworks services where the applicable service does not permit such use.
This does not prevent normal use by the customer’s employees, contractors, customers or other authorised users.
Customers requiring wholesale, managed service, hosting resale or multi-tenant infrastructure should discuss their requirements with Telnetworks.
Security monitoring and traffic management
To protect the Telnetworks network, infrastructure and customers, Telnetworks may monitor technical and network information for security, fraud, abuse, performance and operational purposes.
This may include:
- traffic volumes;
- connection patterns;
- authentication attempts;
- call patterns;
- destination information;
- server activity;
- resource utilisation;
- security events; and
- other technical information reasonably necessary to operate and protect the service.
Telnetworks will handle personal information in accordance with applicable privacy laws and its Privacy Policy.
What happens if a potential breach is identified?
Where Telnetworks reasonably believes that a customer’s use may breach this policy, we will generally seek to:
- investigate the circumstances;
- contact the customer where reasonably practicable;
- explain the nature of the concern;
- provide the customer with an opportunity to address the issue where appropriate; and
- work with the customer to identify a reasonable solution.
Depending on the circumstances, Telnetworks may ask the customer to:
- stop the relevant activity;
- secure a compromised account or system;
- remove malicious software;
- change passwords or credentials;
- reduce or modify particular traffic;
- implement additional security controls;
- remove prohibited content or applications;
- upgrade or modify the service; or
- take another reasonable remedial action.
Immediate restrictions
Telnetworks may temporarily restrict, suspend or block affected services without prior notice where reasonably necessary to:
- protect the Telnetworks network;
- protect other customers;
- respond to a serious security incident;
- prevent fraud or suspected fraudulent activity;
- prevent malicious traffic;
- respond to a denial-of-service attack;
- comply with a legal or regulatory requirement;
- prevent significant financial or operational harm;
- address a serious breach of this policy; or
- address an immediate and significant risk to Telnetworks, a customer or a third party.
Where practical, Telnetworks will notify the customer as soon as reasonably possible and explain the reason for the restriction.
Suspension or termination
A serious or repeated breach of this Fair Use Policy may result in suspension or termination of the affected service in accordance with the customer’s contract and applicable law.
Where circumstances permit, Telnetworks will generally provide notice and an opportunity to remedy the breach before suspension or termination.
Nothing in this policy limits rights or obligations that Telnetworks or a customer has under applicable law or the customer’s service agreement.
Fraud and scam prevention
Telnetworks takes telecommunications fraud and scams seriously.
Customers must not use Telnetworks services to originate, transmit or facilitate fraudulent or scam activity.
Telnetworks may monitor, block or restrict suspected scam or fraudulent traffic and may cooperate with telecommunications providers, regulators, law enforcement and other authorised organisations where required or permitted by law.
Customers using Telnetworks voice services must comply with applicable Australian telecommunications scam-prevention requirements.
Customer responsibility
The customer is responsible for:
- the security of its equipment and systems;
- its employees, contractors and authorised users;
- applications and content it operates;
- passwords and authentication credentials;
- traffic generated by its systems;
- compliance with applicable laws; and
- ensuring that its use of Telnetworks services complies with this policy.
Where a customer’s system is compromised, the customer must take reasonable steps to remediate the compromise.
Legitimate high-volume business use
Telnetworks recognises that some businesses have substantially greater telecommunications, internet, voice or computing requirements than others.
The following activities are not considered unfair use merely because they involve significant usage:
- legitimate call centre operations;
- high-volume legitimate business calling;
- substantial Business NBN data usage;
- large legitimate data transfers;
- cloud backup;
- data replication;
- software development;
- business application hosting;
- large-scale business websites;
- legitimate video conferencing;
- remote-worker environments;
- business data processing; or
- other legitimate workloads consistent with the customer’s contracted service.
Where a legitimate workload exceeds the technical capacity of the customer’s selected service, Telnetworks may recommend a more appropriate service rather than treating the usage as prohibited.
Complaints and disputes
If you believe Telnetworks has incorrectly applied this Fair Use Policy to your service, please contact us and request a review.
You may also make a formal complaint through the Telnetworks complaints process.
Telnetworks will investigate complaints in accordance with its applicable complaints-handling procedures.
Eligible customers may also have access to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman or another applicable external dispute resolution mechanism.
Privacy
Telnetworks will handle information collected in connection with this policy in accordance with applicable privacy laws and the Telnetworks Privacy Policy.
Technical and network information may be collected and used where reasonably necessary to:
- operate and maintain services;
- detect and prevent fraud;
- detect and respond to security incidents;
- investigate abuse;
- protect customers and third parties;
- manage network performance;
- comply with legal or regulatory requirements; and
- administer the customer’s service.
Contact Telnetworks
If you have questions about this Fair Use Policy or believe your service has been affected by a Fair Use Policy decision, please contact Telnetworks.
Telnetworks Pty Ltd
Suite 603, Level 6
370 St Kilda Road
Melbourne VIC 3004
Australia
Telephone: 1300 700 077 (International: +61 3 8373 7788)
Email: info@telnetworks.net.au