business VPN FAQ's
What is Business VPN?
Business VPN provides the means to securely connect remote locations over iiNet's expansive ADSL2+ network. In many ways a VPN Connect service is similar to a regular DSL service however, VPN does not provide direct internet access, only access to the shared resources within each unique network. These resources may include servers, applications and mission critical company data.
Internet access can be broadcast across the network by 'patching' in a separate DSL service at one of the VPN sites and sharing it with the remainder of the network. This is done by specifying a location as the 'default gateway' for specific traffic types such as Internet.
How do I apply for a Business VPN service?
To apply for a Business VPN service you will need to speak to an iiNet Business support operative. Our dedicated business support team can be contacted on 13 24 49. These operators will help guide you through the steps required to getting up and running.
Can I get iiNet Business VPN anywhere in Australia?
iiNet Business VPN is available in most areas covered by our national broadband network with the exception of Hobart and Darwin. For information on where our network is, see our iinetwork coverage page.
If I already have a DSL service with iiNet that is on a contract and I convert it to VPN, will I have to pay the contract breakage fees?
No you will not. However when converting to VPN your 24 month contract period recommences and new conditions apply. Contract break fees for VPN are as follows.
Early termination of an entire VPN and its access services will result in a bulk cancellation fee and proportionate, pro-rated fees for each access service, applied according to the months remaining on contract. Should you cancel on a per access service level, fee's will apply according to the proportionate, pro-rated scheme mentioned above.
What is the average speed that you are likely to get upstream and downstream?
On the VPN Connect 1 (1,500kbps/256kbps) plan you should get the forecasted speed (down and up) as a consistent allocation.
For VPN Connect 2 (8,000kbps/384kbps) and VPN Connect 3 (24,000kbps/1,000kbps), factors beyond our control can affect speeds. However the majority of any possible variation is experienced on the download speed and not the upload. Upload speeds will at a worst case only experience slight variance.
On 8,000kbps/384kbps plans you will get a near constant upstream allocation of 384kbps.
On 24,000kbps/1,000kbps plans you might experience slight variation, dropping the upload stream to a worst case 950kbps
The following things can affect download speed on both the Connect 2 and Connect 3 plans
- the distance you are from your exchange;
- the quality of your line;
- signal strength;
- the number of joins in your line;
- factors within your location such as unfiltered devices and lengthy phone cords.
- For these reasons we display speeds as 'up to' 8,000kbps and up to 24,000kbps
That said more than half of our broadband2+ customers experience speeds in excess of 10,000kbps with a small percentage clearing 20,000kbps, up to 24,000kbps.
Are VPN speeds guaranteed? If not what is the min speed up/down?
No speeds are not guaranteed due to many factors out of iiNets reasonable control. Howevr speeds should be as described above. In cases where they are not, we have a threshold agreement in place with Telstra by which they measure unacceptable speeds and respond accordingly. Please rest assured we take all measures and will make all inquiries into any speed related issues.
If the problem is related to a fault on the iiNet network we have internal response and escalation times in place to attend to the problem in a timely manner. If the problem is PSTN line related the solution may lie outside our control. It's for this reason we recommend considering one of our Business Phone services to ensure business grade response times for all phone faults.
Will congestion affect my VPN service?
Data is carried across the iiNetwork and out to the telephone exchange that serves your VPN location. This is called the provider edge. From the telephone exchange to your VPN premises is what's known as the customer edge or backhaul.
VPN traffic is marked as premium across our network, up to the provider edge where we can influence and control congestion. This is done by prioritising VPN traffic over standard traffic like web browsing. When congestion begins to reach a certain percentage, load balancing is carried out to even traffic flow. However iiNet network operations pro-actively monitor and cater for expected traffic flow to ensure load balancing is seldom needed.
Once data leaves the provider edge and is transported across backhaul to the VPN location as a download we cannot guarantee data flow, due to many factors out of iiNet's reasonable control. However, upload speeds from your premises can be prioritised using quality of service (QOS) functionality that can be found on most routers. Defining upload QOS is optional and not considered iiNet's responsibility to configure or manage.
My phone line is with AAPT/Optus. Can I get Business VPN?
You can't get Business VPN if your line is owned by a phone carrier other than Telstra. What you can do is move your phone service back to Telstra and apply for VPN as a customer with a 'working phone line'.
Multi Protocol Label Switching provides networks with a more efficient way to manage applications and move information between locations.
With the convergence of voice, video and data applications, business networks face increasing traffic demands. MPLS enables class of service (CoS) tagging and prioritization of network traffic, so administrators may specify which applications should move across the network ahead of others.
This function makes an MPLS network especially important to firms that need to ensure the performance of low-latency applications such as VoIP and their other business-critical functions. MPLS carriers differ on the number of classes of service they offer and in how these CoS tiers are priced.
sourced from Wikipedia
I haven't been able to get ADSL on my line before as my house is too far from the exchange to support it. Will I be able to get a VPN service?
Unfortunately not. If your line can not support at least regular ADSL, it won't be able to host a VPN service.
I'm switching a DSL service to a VPN Connect plan. What will change?
Any pre-existing DSL and Internet services will be affected when converted to VPN. Previous levels of access, to the internet etc will be lost as a result of the intrinsic network confinement of a VPN.
Will Business VPN affect services that use my phone line?
No. Phone services will continue to function as normal.
What is the Fair Use Policy on Business VPN?
The fair use policy allows us to keep quota unlimited on VPN services by restricting blatant exploitation of this feature. The policy only restricts excessive users of the service.
Check out the full policy.
Will I be able to use the present Belkin wireless routers that are supplied by iiNet?
Most certainly. We've built the VPN service to utilise current Belkin equipment.
All that is required is a username and password change on the modem to identify and authenticate your locations as belonging to your unique virtual network. That said, depending on the complexity of services that can be run over a VPN more advanced equipment like CISCO 877s may be required for more complex routing. We have relationships in place to help order these should they be required.
Please email businessteam@iinet.net.au should this interest you.
