How Is Network Bandwidth Calculated With the PAYG Model?

At Cloudzy, we offer Cloud VPS services with a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) billing model for network consumption. This document aims to explain the calculation of bandwidth usage and charges in different possible cases.

1. Monthly Network Bandwidth Limit:

Each Cloud VPS plan includes a predefined monthly bandwidth limit, which you can check on the Cloudzy pricing page. The allocated bandwidth is intended to cover the expected network usage for a full month. For example, the basic $4.95 plan comes with 1 TB bandwidth, meaning that the bandwidth usage limit on this plan is 1 TB.

The monthly bandwidth limit is renewed exactly one month (720 hours) after creating the Cloud VPS. For example, if you have a Cloud VPS with 1 TB of bandwidth, after 30 days, you’ll again have 1 TB of bandwidth regardless of how much you’ve used.

2. Bandwidth Allocation:

As long as you have your Cloud VPS active for a month, your bandwidth usage pattern doesn’t have to follow a balanced usage. You can use 500 TB of your bandwidth in the first ten days of the month and use the other 500 TB in the remaining 20 days. However, if you delete your Cloud VPS in the middle of the month, we calculate the bandwidth limit based on the duration the service was active.

For calculating the bandwidth limit for a specific number of days, we divide the monthly limit by the number of days in the billing cycle and multiply it by the number of days the service was active. For example, let’s say you get the basic $4.95 Cloud VPS that has 1 TB bandwidth, and you delete your Cloud VPS after ten days. You’re only allowed to use 333 GB of bandwidth within 10 days (1000 GB / 30 * 10 = 333 GB). So, the bandwidth limit for 10 days of usage is 333 GB. In the following sections, we’ll cover how the price is calculated if you’ve used more than the bandwidth limit.

3. Exceeded Bandwidth Calculation:

Exceeded bandwidth refers to the data transferred beyond the bandwidth limit of the active period. To calculate the exceeded bandwidth, we measure the total data transferred during the active period and subtract the bandwidth limit of the active period from it. Imagine you delete your $4.95 Cloud VPS after 10 days, and you’ve used 400 GB of bandwidth. This amount of usage is 67 GB (400 - 333 GB) more than the bandwidth limit of 10 days.

4. Charges for Exceeded Bandwidth:

If you exceed the bandwidth usage limit, the charges are based on the actual amount of data that exceeds the limit. The pricing for exceeded bandwidth usage is typically determined by a predefined rate per gigabyte (GB) of data. Each GB of extra bandwidth is $0.01. So, for example, if you’ve used 67 GB more than the bandwidth allocated to ten days, you need to pay $0.67. This extra cost will be deducted from your account credit when you delete your Cloud VPS.

It’s important to note that even considering the extra bandwidth cost, you’ll never pay more than the standard monthly cost of the plan in a month. To elaborate on this, take the basic $4.95 plan as an example. If the cost of the extra bandwidth plus the hourly cost of the plan itself is less than the standard monthly cost (in this case, $4.95), then the calculated bandwidth cost will be deducted from your account credit.

Example:

You have used a basic $4.95 Cloud VPS for 10 days with 67 GB extra bandwidth. The hourly cost of the plan for this period of time is $2.3 (10 days x 24 hours/day x 0.0068 dollars/hour). And the cost of the extra bandwidth is 0.67 (0.01 dollars/GB x 67 GBs). The sum of these two numbers is $2.97, which is less than the monthly cost of the plan. So you only pay the whole cost of the extra bandwidth you’ve used.

But if the cost of the extra bandwidth plus the hourly cost of the plan for ten days exceeds $4.95, you don’t need to pay the whole cost of the extra bandwidth. And what you need to pay is equal to the whole monthly cost of the plan and not a cent more.

Example:

You have used a Cloud VPS with the $4.95 plan for 15 days. This plan has 1 TB bandwidth limit. So, you can use 500 GB of bandwidth in 15 days. But in this example, you’ve used 800 GB, which is 300 GB above the bandwidth limit. The hourly cost of the plan for this period of time is $2.44 (15 days x 24 hours/day x 0.0068 dollars/hour). And the cost of the extra bandwidth is $3 (0.01 dollars/GB x 300 GBs). The sum of these two numbers is $5.44, which is more than the standard cost of the plan. In this situation, what you pay for the extra bandwidth usage is calculated by subtracting the hourly cost of the plan for 15 days from the standard cost of the plan ($4.95 - $2.44 = $2.51). So, the cost of your extra bandwidth is $2.51.

5. Bandwidth Package:

The scenario explained in the previous section is for when you don’t have a bandwidth package, and your usage limit is determined by the standard bandwidth of the plan. However, if you already know you’re going to need more bandwidth, you can add extra bandwidth to your Cloud VPS. When you buy extra bandwidth, you’ll only pay $0.005 for each GB of the added bandwidth.

Putting these two prices in larger scales can help you compare them better. Imagine you use 1 TB of extra bandwidth and you haven’t added a bandwidth package. That extra 1 TB of bandwidth costs you $10. But when you add a bandwidth package and then use 1 TB of extra bandwidth, your overall extra bandwidth costs $5.

We believe that by prorating the bandwidth allocation and charging only for the exceeded usage during the active period, our billing method ensures fairness and accuracy in calculating the charges for our customers.

If you have any further questions or require additional clarification, please do not hesitate to contact our support team. We are here to assist you and provide any necessary information regarding our bandwidth calculation and billing process.

FAQ

What happens if I reach the monthly bandwidth limit and my account doesn’t have enough credit?

As long as your plan has enough credit to support the cost of your plan and the extra bandwidth, you’re fine. But if you don’t have enough credit to cover the bandwidth cost, your Cloud VPS will be suspended.