Key Fact Indicators for broadband traffic prioritisation
To find out how and when we prioritise traffic, see our traffic prioritisation guide.
In the sections below you’ll find a series of KFI (Key Fact Indicator) tables, showing when speeds are limited and to what extent. Just click on the broadband service you’ve got to see the table that’s relevant to you.
We publish these KFI tables as part of our commitment to a voluntary code of practice aiming to make traffic prioritisation easier to understand and compare between service providers.
Business Broadband
Traffic prioritisation Key Facts Indicator*
| Section 1: Traffic prioritisation in relation to your broadband product (not including during busy times and places to manage network congestion see Section 2) | |
|---|---|
| Name of broadband product(s) | Business Broadband |
| Use and availability of services, content, application and protocols on this product | |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always blocked on this product?** | No |
| If so what? | N/A |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always slowed down? | No |
| If so what? | N/A |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always prioritised? | Yes |
| If so what? | VoIP, VPN, Gaming |
| Are any 'managed services' delivered on this product? | No |
| If so what? What Impact? | N/A |
| Data caps and download limits | |
| What are the download/upload limits or data usage caps on this product? | 25GB (unlimited between midnight - 8am) |
| Is traffic management used to manage compliance with data caps and download limits? | Yes |
| Under what circumstances? | If a customer reaches their allowance and has set a maximum spending limit |
| Level of speed reduction? | 256Kb/s across all traffic types |
| Duration of speed reduction? | Speed reduction in place at all times until next billing date. |
| Is traffic prioritisation used in relation to heavy users? | No |
| Under what circumstances? | N/A |
| Level of speed reduction? | N/A |
| Duration of speed reduction? | N/A |
| Section 2: Traffic prioritisation to optimise network utilisation (what happens during busy times and places in addition to traffic prioritisation as described in section 1) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Is traffic prioritisation used to manage congestion in particular locations? | No | |
| Is traffic prioritisation used during peak hours? | Yes | |
| What are typical peak hours? | Weekdays: 12.00pm - 02.00pm | Weekends: 8.00pm - 10.00pm |
| What type of traffic is managed during these periods?*** | See the table below | |
| Traffic type | Blocked | Slowed down | Prioritised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peer to Peer (P2P) | |||
| Newsgroups | |||
| Browsing/email | |||
| VoIP (Voice over IP) |  | ||
| Gaming | | ||
| Audio streaming | |||
| Video streaming | |||
| Music downloads | |||
| Video downloads | |||
| Instant messaging | |||
| Software updates | |||
| VPN | | ||
| Is traffic prioritisation used to manage congestion in particular locations? | No | ||
| If so how? | N/A | ||
Business Fibre
Traffic prioritisation Key Facts Indicator*
| Section 1: Traffic prioritisation in relation to your broadband product (not including during busy times and places to manage network congestion see Section 2) | |
|---|---|
| Name of broadband product(s) | Business Fibre |
| Use and availability of services, content, application and protocols on this product | |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always blocked on this product?** | No |
| If so what? | N/A |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always slowed down? | No |
| If so what? | N/A |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always prioritised? | Yes |
| If so what? | VoIP, VPN, Gaming |
| Are any 'managed services' delivered on this product? | No |
| If so what? What Impact? | N/A |
| Data caps and download limits | |
| What are the download/upload limits or data usage caps on this product? | 50GB (unlimited between midnight - 8am) |
| Is traffic management used to manage compliance with data caps and download limits? | Yes |
| Under what circumstances? | If a customer reaches their allowance and has set a maximum spending limit |
| Level of speed reduction? | 256Kb/s across all traffic types |
| Duration of speed reduction? | Speed reduction in place at all times until next billing date. |
| Is traffic prioritisation used in relation to heavy users? | No |
| Under what circumstances? | N/A |
| Level of speed reduction? | N/A |
| Duration of speed reduction? | N/A |
| Section 2: Traffic prioritisation to optimise network utilisation (what happens during busy times and places in addition to traffic prioritisation as described in section 1) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Is traffic prioritisation used to manage congestion in particular locations? | No | |
| Is traffic prioritisation used during peak hours? | Yes | |
| What are typical peak hours? | Weekdays: 12.00pm - 02.00pm | Weekends: 8.00pm - 10.00pm |
| What type of traffic is managed during these periods?*** | See the table below | |
| Traffic type | Blocked | Slowed down | Prioritised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peer to Peer (P2P) | |||
| Newsgroups | |||
| Browsing/email | |||
| VoIP (Voice over IP) | | ||
| Gaming | | ||
| Audio streaming | |||
| Video streaming | |||
| Music downloads | |||
| Video downloads | |||
| Instant messaging | |||
| Software updates | |||
| VPN | | ||
| Is traffic prioritisation used to manage congestion in particular locations? | No | ||
| If so how? | N/A | ||
Unlimited Business Broadband and Unlimited Business Fibre
Traffic prioritisation Key Facts Indicator*
| Section 1: Traffic prioritisation in relation to your broadband product (not including during busy times and places to manage network congestion see Section 2) | |
|---|---|
| Name of broadband product(s) | Unlimited Business Broadband and Unlimited Business Fibre |
| Use and availability of services, content, application and protocols on this product | |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always blocked on this product?** | No |
| If so what? | N/A |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always slowed down? | No |
| If so what? | N/A |
| Are any services, content, applications or protocols always prioritised? | Yes |
| If so what? | VoIP, VPN, Gaming |
| Are any 'managed services' delivered on this product? | No |
| If so what? What Impact? | N/A |
| Data caps and download limits | |
| What are the download/upload limits or data usage caps on this product? | Unlimited |
| Is traffic prioritisation used to manage compliance with data caps and download limits? | No |
| Under what circumstances? | N/A |
| Level of speed reduction? | N/A |
| Duration of speed reduction? | N/A |
| Is traffic prioritisation used in relation to heavy users? | No |
| Under what circumstances? | N/A |
| Level of speed reduction? | N/A |
| Duration of speed reduction? | N/A |
| Section 2: Traffic prioritisation to optimise network utilisation (what happens during busy times and places in addition to traffic prioritisation as described in section 1) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Is traffic prioritisation used to manage congestion in particular locations? | No | |
| Is traffic prioritisation used during peak hours? | Yes | |
| What are typical peak hours? | Weekdays: 12.00pm - 02.00pm | Weekends: 8.00pm - 10.00pm |
| What type of traffic is managed during these periods?*** | See the table below | |
| Traffic type | Blocked | Slowed down | Prioritised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peer to Peer (P2P) | |||
| Newsgroups | |||
| Browsing/email | |||
| VoIP (Voice over IP) | | ||
| Gaming | | ||
| Audio streaming | |||
| Video streaming | |||
| Music downloads | |||
| Video downloads | |||
| Instant messaging | |||
| Software updates | |||
| VPN | | ||
| Is traffic prioritisation used to manage congestion in particular locations? | No | ||
| If so how? | N/A | ||
* This KFI gives an overview of typical traffic prioritisation practices undertaken on this product; it does not cover circumstances where exceptional external events may impact on network congestion levels.
** This excludes any service, content, application or protocol that an ISP is required to block by UK law and child abuse images as informed by the list provided by the Internet Watch Foundation.
*** If no entry is shown against a particular traffic type, no traffic prioritisation is typically applied to it.
Glossary
Traffic management
Traffic management is the term used to describe a range of technical practices undertaken to manage traffic across networks.
The different outcomes achieved by the use of technical practices can include:
- the prioritisation of certain types of traffic in busy times or busy areas to ensure that it is of an adequate quality
- the slowing down of certain traffic types that are not time-critical at busy times or busy places
- ensuring compliance with a consumer's contract, for example slowing down of traffic for the heaviest users
- supporting the delivery of managed services, for example to ensure a guaranteed quality of service for a specific piece of content
Managed services
The majority of Internet traffic is delivered on a 'best efforts' basis. A managed service, on the other hand is one whereby an ISP offers 'quality of service' that can guarantee a certain level of performance, so that the content, service or application can be delivered without risk of degradation from network congestion. Such a quality of service arrangement can be made between an ISP and a content or service provider or directly between an ISP and the consumer.
Best Efforts
This phrase relates to the delivery of Internet traffic where traffic management is applied without distinctions based on the source of that traffic.
Slowed down
This outcome is achieved by the deployment of technologies that can decrease the priority of traffic types deemed to be non-time critical on the network e.g. slowing down traffic such as downloads during busy times and busy periods.
Prioritised
This outcome is achieved by the deployment of technologies that increase the priority given to certain traffic types, e.g. time-critical traffic such as video. This outcome can also be achieved as a consequence of slowing down other selected traffic which reduces the overall data flow on the network.
Heavy users
Heavy users can cause peak traffic volumes to exceed the engineered maximum load. In practice this refers to a very small proportion of users of a network whose use is excessive to the extent that it impacts on other users.
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