Under Roam Like at Home rules, we are able to implement fair usage policies for customers who use our mobile services whilst in Roam Like at Home destinations. Where you breach these fair usage policies, the rules allow us to add a surcharge to any further use of the service. This is something all providers can do by law. Details on our fair usage policy and where we may apply a surcharge are set out below.
Our mobile fair usage policy
Using the service mainly in the UK
You may use our service in certain countries outside the UK, although our mobile plans are not intended for use just or mainly in countries outside the UK.
To make sure all of our customers use their mobile plans fairly, we'll monitor your mobile usage over a rolling period of at least 4 months. Usage will be reviewed for each mobile service used, for example calls, SMS and data.
If we believe that over a 4 month period, you have been living or are usually based in another Roam Like at Home destination and have mainly used one or more mobile services in Roam Like at Home destinations, we will view this as unfair usage. For a list of our Roam Like at Home destinations, see our Mobile Price Guide.
Here's some of the points we will consider when assessing your usage:-
- Any presence or use in Roam Like at Home destinations will be reviewed against presence and usage in the UK and outside Roam Like at Home destinations
- If you are on the UK network for any amount of time during a particular day this will be considered a day of UK usage, even if you use the service in a Roam Like at Home destination on the same day
- If you've not used your mobile on any network on a particular day, this day will not be included in the 4 month period in which we assess your usage
Where we identify unfair usage, we will send you an SMS to confirm what we've noticed. You will receive a separate SMS for each service we have identified you have unfairly used, including calls, SMS and data. We'll give you a 2 week period in which to contact us to provide an explanation on your usage, and allow you time to make sure you don't continue to use the service unfairly.
If you are unable to provide us with any reasonable explanation for your mobile usage over the relevant 4 month period, and/or do not change you usage during the 2 week period, we may apply a surcharge to any mobile services you use unfairly, including calls, SMS and data. Where we choose to apply a surcharge, it will be applied from the date we sent the first SMS to notify you of unfair usage, and to any further unfair use.
Before applying any surcharge, we will send you a SMS message to confirm that we will start charging this. Details on the surcharge are set out in our Mobile Price Guide. We will continue to monitor your usage in line with the process set out above. If you continue to use the service unfairly, you will continue to be charged. If your usage pattern changes, we will let you know by sending you an SMS message and we will stop applying the surcharge.
Other acceptable use
We may contact you where we identify:-
- long inactivity of your Plusnet mobile SIM card, where any use is mostly or exclusively in Roam Like at Home destinations, over a 4 month rolling period; or
- you have signed up to multiple Plusnet mobile SIM cards and use these SIM cards in succession whilst in Roam Like at Home destinations
Inactivity, as set out above, may occur over a continuous period of 2 to 3 months, or consecutive shorter periods of UK inactivity, together with use mainly outside the UK.
Where we identify such unfair usage as described above, we will send you an SMS to confirm what we've noticed. You will receive a separate SMS for each service we have identified you have unfairly used, including calls, SMS and data. We'll give you a 2 week period in which to contact us to provide an explanation on your usage, and allow you time to make sure you don't continue to use the service in this way.
If you are unable to provide us with any reasonable explanation for your mobile usage over the relevant period, and/or do not change you usage during the 2 week period, we may apply a surcharge to any mobile services you use unfairly, including calls, SMS and data. Where we choose to apply a surcharge, it will be applied from the date we sent the first SMS to notify you of unfair usage, and to any further unfair use.
Before applying any surcharge, we will send you a SMS message to confirm that we will start charging this. Details on the surcharge are set out in our Mobile Price Guide. We will continue to monitor your usage in line with the process set out above. If you continue to use the service unfairly, you will continue to be charged. If your usage pattern changes, we will let you know by sending you an SMS message and we will stop applying the surcharge.
Where we have evidence of organised reselling of our SIM cards to persons not residing in or having stable links to the UK, we may block the SIM card(s) and roaming services.
For any plan that includes 20GB of data or more, when you're using your data in any of our Roam Like at Home destinations, a fair usage policy of 15GB will apply. This will apply to all tariffs including Mates Rates and special offers.
When you've used 15GB of data in a Roam Like at Home destination during one billing period, we may apply a surcharge to any further use of data. When you've used all of your mobile plan data allowance, we may apply the surcharge in addition to any out-of-plan charges. You can find more details of our surcharge in our Mobile Price Guide.
We've included some examples below to help explain how this will work alongside any data usage outside of Roam Like at Home destinations.
- If you are on a 20GB plan and you use 10GB of data in the UK and you go to a Roam Like at Home destination, your data fair usage allowance will still be 15GB regardless of your UK usage. This means that when you've used 10GB in the UK and 10GB in the Roam Like at Home destination (a total of 20GB), for any further data use, out-of-plan charges will apply. When you've used 10GB in the UK and 15GB in the Roam Like at Home destination (a total of 25GB) for any further data use, out-of-plan charges will apply and we may also apply a surcharge
- If you are on a 25GB plan and you use 5GB of data in the UK and you go to a Roam Like at Home destination, your data fair usage allowance will still be 15GB regardless of your UK usage. This means that when you've used 5GB in the UK and 15GB in the Roam Like at Home destination (a total of 20GB), for any further data use we may apply a surcharge. When you've used 5GB in the UK and 20GB in the Roam Like at Home destination (a total of 25GB) for any further data use, out-of-plan charges will apply and we may also apply a surcharge
- If you are on a 10GB plan, the data fair usage policy will not apply
Don't worry, we will help you keep track of your data usage whilst using the service in our Roam Like at Home destinations. We will send you a SMS to let you know when you are near your 15GB fair usage limit and a further SMS when you have reached your limit, which should also confirm details of any surcharge that may be applied for any further data use.
If you are unhappy with the way we have applied our Mobile Fair Usage Policy, you can contact us. Please see our Complaints Code of Practice for more details.
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