Accounting IP Transit Services

Please find here an overview of all common IP transit pricing models. We recommend bandwidth usage in cases where data transfer exceeds 1,000 gigabytes.

IP-Transit Pricing Models

Volume
	The actual amount of IP-traffic is calculated and charged.
	Incoming and outgoing IP-traffic is retained and added at the end of each accounting period (end of month). Charges are according to the price for each Gigabyte or parts thereof.
Flat Rate
	The entire bandwidth that Mainlab provides to the customer is monthly charged, regardless of the actual consumption.
Average
General Information	The customer selects a bandwidth rate as minimum purchase per month.
	A monthly charge for the amount of minimum purchase as well as a charge for exceeding bandwidth per Mbps or parts thereof is determined. IP-traffic can be transferred using full bandwidth or using a pre-defined burst-bandwidth (“burstable”).
Data Collection	Every 5 minutes the average bandwidth is calculated and a value for all incoming and outgoing IP-traffic is retained. 288 samples are taken per day and (during a 30-day-month) 8,640 are taken per month.
Calculation of bandwidth according to the average method	At the end of each accounting period (end of month) an (arithmetic) average value is generated of all measured values. The average values of incoming and outgoing traffic are added. The overall result constitutes the consumed bandwidth rate.
Accounting	In case the calculated consumption is below minimum purchase, no further charge will be invoiced. In case the calculated consumption is above minimum purchase, the exceeding bandwidth will be charged according to the price for all exceeding Mbps or parts thereof.
95%-Percentile
Area of Application	This accounting method is commonly used by carriers and ISPs in cases, where bandwidth is above 100 Mbps.
General Information	The customer selects a bandwidth rate as minimum purchase per month.
	A monthly charge for the amount of minimum purchase as well as a charge for exceeding bandwidth per Mbps or parts thereof is determined. IP-traffic can be transferred using full bandwidth or using a pre-defined burst-bandwidth (“burstable”).
Data Collection	Every 5 minutes the average bandwidth is calculated and a value for all incoming and outgoing IP-traffic is retained. 288 samples are taken per day and (during a 30-day-month) 8,640 are taken per month.
Calculation of bandwidth according to 95th. Percentile	At the end of each accounting period (end of month) all measured values are sorted in ascending order. However, only the higher value of “in” and “out” is taken into consideration. The highest 5 % of all values (approx. 432 values) are then discarded. The highest remaining value constitutes the consumed bandwidth rate.
Accounting	In case the calculated consumption is below minimum purchase, no further charge will be invoiced. In case the calculated consumption is above minimum purchase, the exceeding bandwidth will be charged according to the price for all exceeding Mbps or parts thereof.
Example Calculation	During a 30-day month and measured every 5 minutes (300 seconds), 8,640 values are taken. Example of calculated traffic consumption: Value 1 : 3,241 MB = 10.80 Mbps (3,241 / 300) Value 2 : 2,596 MB = 8.65 Mbps (2,596 / 300) Value 3 : 4,187 MB = 13.97 Mbps (4,187 / 300) Value 4 : 2,978 MB = 9.93 Mbps (2,978 / 300) … (Values 5 to 8,639)... Value 8,640 : 3,195 MB = 10.65 Mbps (3,195 / 300) In case the customer has committed to 10 Mbps, data con-sumption during a single value should be 10 x 300 = 3,000 MB. The highest 5 % of all values are discarded. In the example above, value no.3 (13.97 Mbps) and 431 other high values would be dropped. The highest remaining value constitutes the consumed bandwidth rate according to the 95th. percentile.
Advantage	So-called „peak“-values are not taken into consideration for invoicing. This means that the highest 5% of consumed bandwidth are not charged at all. This equals 1.5 days per month! On the other hand, customers can be sure that Mainlab holds out sufficient bandwidth reserves for each customer.
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