Notel – Unlimited Communication
Notel is a service product of Solbridge Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
Introduction
This Fair Use Policy (“Policy”) forms part of the Terms of Service between you and Notel – Unlimited Communication, a service product of Solbridge Holdings (Pty) Ltd (“Notel”, “we”, “us” or “our”).
Our Services include Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony, hosted Cloud PBX, telephone numbers, international calling and related communication products. Certain packages, features or rates are marketed as “unlimited” or “free”, and this Policy explains what we mean by those terms, and the limits that apply in order to keep the Services sustainable, reliable and fair for all customers.
This Policy applies to all customers, users, extensions and numbers provisioned under your account. You are responsible for ensuring that your Users comply with this Policy.
Where a conflict exists between this Policy and a signed service order or quotation, the service order or quotation prevails to the extent of the conflict. Where no conflict exists, this Policy prevails in respect of matters relating to the fair and reasonable use of the Services.
What We Mean by "Unlimited"
Where we describe a calling plan, feature or rate as “unlimited” or “free”, we mean that such calls are included at no additional charge, subject to reasonable use by ordinary business or residential users in the ordinary course of their communication activities.
An “unlimited” plan does not mean that calls are unlimited in a technical or absolute sense. Our network, upstream operators and interconnect partners charge us for every call connected, whether that call is domestic or international. In order to keep the Services affordable and reliable for all customers, we apply the fair use limits set out in this Policy.
Fair use is not designed to restrict normal business communication. It is designed to prevent abuse, to ensure that the network remains available to all customers, and to prevent a small number of users from placing disproportionate load on shared resources.
Permitted Use
The Services are intended for legitimate business and residential communication, including:
ordinary voice calls to clients, suppliers, colleagues and other parties;
internal calls between extensions on your Cloud PBX;
call handling for inbound customer enquiries within normal business volumes;
conferencing and collaboration;
international calling for legitimate business or personal communication; and
remote and hybrid working through the Notel mobile and desktop applications.
Usage is measured against what we reasonably consider to be the ordinary behaviour of a business or residential user on a comparable plan. Seasonal peaks, marketing campaigns, events and other legitimate short-term fluctuations are taken into account.
Prohibited Use
The following uses are prohibited, whether or not a plan is described as “unlimited”:
Traffic pumping and access stimulation: artificially inflating call volumes to generate interconnection or termination fees, or arranging for calls to be routed to high-cost or revenue-sharing destinations.
Automatic or predictive diallers: using the Services for automatic, predictive or power dialling at volume, except where expressly permitted in a signed service order.
Bulk SMS or bulk outbound campaigns: using voice, SMS or other channels for unsolicited bulk messaging, except where expressly permitted and compliant with the Consumer Protection Act and all applicable direct marketing rules.
Telemarketing in breach of the law: contacting persons who have registered on the national Do Not Contact register, or otherwise engaging in unlawful telemarketing.
Nuisance, harassing or fraudulent calling: making silent, abandoned, nuisance, harassing or fraudulent calls.
Premium-rate, high-cost and revenue-share destinations: calling premium-rate, satellite, chat-line or other high-cost destinations that are not reasonably connected to legitimate business or personal communication.
Reselling or sharing outside your organisation: reselling, sub-licensing, sharing or providing the Services to third parties outside your organisation, except under a signed reseller or partner agreement.
Multi-tenant or shared-extension abuse: allowing multiple unrelated persons, organisations or locations to share a single extension, number or seat in order to avoid paying for the appropriate number of extensions or seats.
Call centres without authorisation: operating call centre, dialler, outbound sales floor or similar high-volume operations on a plan not designed for such use, without a signed service order authorising that activity.
Circumvention of limits: using multiple numbers, extensions, SIM cards, accounts, devices or third-party platforms to circumvent the limits in this Policy or in your plan.
Unlawful interception or recording: intercepting or recording calls in breach of RICA or any other applicable law.
Excessive Use and Reasonable Use Thresholds
We may treat your usage as excessive where, in our reasonable opinion, it materially exceeds the usage ordinarily associated with a business or residential user on the same plan, whether in relation to total call minutes, average call duration, number of calls, ratio of inbound to outbound calls, ratio of international to domestic calls, ratio of long-duration calls, pattern of destinations called, or concentration of usage on a small number of extensions or numbers.
By way of illustration, and not as an exhaustive statement of what we may consider excessive, usage on a single “unlimited” extension may be treated as excessive where it materially exceeds the following indicative thresholds over a rolling 30-day period:
a materially higher total outbound call volume than other customers on the same plan with a similar number of extensions;
an unusually high proportion of long-duration calls to a limited set of destinations;
a pattern of calling premium-rate, high-cost, satellite or revenue-share destinations;
a pattern of automated, sequential or predictable dialling; or
a pattern of calls that generate low answer rates or are frequently disconnected shortly after connection.
These indicative thresholds are not a hard cap, and a legitimate seasonal peak, marketing campaign or business event will not of itself be treated as excessive use. Where we have concerns, we will ordinarily contact you to understand your usage before taking any action.
International Calling Fair Use
Some plans include international calling minutes or preferential international rates. International calling is a significant cost driver for us, and it is subject to additional fair use limits.
International calls included in a plan, where offered, are intended for ordinary business or personal communication. International calling is not intended for continuous calling, high-frequency call centre traffic, bulk termination, or traffic to destinations that are commonly associated with fraud, revenue-sharing or premium-rate abuse.
We may apply destination-specific limits, exclude certain high-cost destinations from inclusive minutes, or require prepayment for international calling where, in our reasonable opinion, the pattern or volume of your usage warrants it. Where we do so, we will notify you in advance and provide alternative options (including pay-as-you-go airtime top-ups) so that you can continue to place the calls you need.
Call Recording, Conferencing and Storage
Certain features, including call recording, conferencing and voicemail storage, may be offered with an inclusive allowance. Where an inclusive allowance applies, it is intended to cover ordinary use by the number of users on your plan.
Where your usage of a feature materially exceeds ordinary use, we may require you to move to a more suitable plan, purchase additional storage, or reduce the volume of recorded content retained. We may apply retention limits to recorded content where, in our reasonable opinion, the volume of recordings affects the performance or integrity of our systems.
Where call recording is enabled, you are responsible for ensuring that recording is lawful, that parties are notified as required by RICA, and that recordings are retained only for as long as is necessary and lawful.
Reselling, Wholesale and Multi-Tenant Use
Unless you have entered into a signed reseller or partner agreement with us, you may not:
resell, sub-license or commercially exploit the Services;
provide the Services to third parties as a service bureau, carrier, interconnect partner or wholesale provider;
share a single extension, number or seat between multiple unrelated persons, organisations or locations; or
use the Services to provide communication services to your own customers outside the scope of your organisation.
Where you operate multiple locations, brands or teams, we are happy to structure a plan that reflects that use. Please contact us before scaling usage in a manner that may fall outside a single organisation’s ordinary use.
Monitoring and Detection
We monitor usage patterns in order to detect fraud, abuse, excessive use and unusual traffic that may threaten the integrity or security of our network or the networks of our interconnect partners.
Monitoring is conducted through automated systems and, where appropriate, manual review. We look at aggregated and pattern-level data such as call volumes, durations, destinations, answer rates, and the distribution of usage across extensions, rather than the content of calls, except where we are lawfully permitted or required to review call content (for example, where required by a court order or regulator).
Where we identify an anomaly, we will ordinarily contact you to understand the cause before taking any action. If we are unable to reach you and the anomaly presents a material risk of loss or fraud (for example, a compromised account being used to call high-cost international destinations), we may apply a temporary protective restriction to your account, which we will lift as soon as the matter has been investigated.
Consequences of Breach
Where we reasonably believe that your usage breaches this Policy, we may, depending on the nature and severity of the breach:
contact you to discuss the matter and agree reasonable remedial steps;
ask you to move to a more suitable plan, or to purchase additional usage or airtime, in order to continue the usage in question;
suspend or restrict the affected service or feature, in whole or in part, pending resolution;
apply a temporary protective restriction to prevent further loss or fraud; or
terminate the affected service or the Agreement, in accordance with the Terms of Service.
Where a breach relates to fraud, unlawful activity, traffic pumping, or the placing of calls that expose us to material cost, we may act immediately and without prior notice, and we may report the matter to the relevant authorities.
We will use reasonable endeavours to apply a proportionate response, and to discuss the matter with you where the circumstances reasonably allow.
Reporting Abuse
If you become aware of fraud, abuse, unauthorised use, or suspicious activity on your account, or if you have reason to believe that another customer is using the Services in breach of this Policy, please report it to us immediately.
Email: contact@notel.co.za
Telephone: 010 746 8925
WhatsApp: 068 630 7743
We take all reports seriously and will investigate promptly. Where appropriate, we will work with the relevant authorities, interconnect partners and regulators.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the Services, changes in our upstream costs, changes in technology, or changes in applicable law.
The updated Policy will be published on our website with a revised “Last Updated” date. Where a change materially affects your rights or obligations, we will take reasonable steps to notify you before the change takes effect, either by email, through a notice in the Notel portal, or by another appropriate means.
If you do not accept an updated version of this Policy, you may terminate the affected service on written notice before the changes take effect, subject to payment of all amounts due up to the termination date.
Your continued use of the Services after the changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated Policy.
Relationship to Other Policies
This Fair Use Policy should be read together with our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Acceptable Use Policy and any service-specific terms, order forms or quotations that apply to the Services you have ordered.
Where a conflict exists between this Policy and a signed service order or quotation, the signed service order or quotation prevails to the extent of the conflict. Where a conflict exists between this Policy and our Terms of Service in respect of matters relating to fair use, this Policy prevails.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Fair Use Policy, or if you would like to discuss whether your intended use of the Services falls within this Policy, please contact us.
Notel – Unlimited Communication, a service product of Solbridge Holdings (Pty) Ltd.
Email: contact@notel.co.za
Telephone: 010 746 8925
WhatsApp: 068 630 7743
Address: 284 Oak Avenue, Ferndale, Randburg – Johannesburg, 2094
For information about how we handle personal information, please see our Privacy Policy. For information about how we use cookies and similar technologies, please see our Cookie Policy. For information about permitted and prohibited use of the Services, please see our Acceptable Use Policy.