Billing in Advance & Arrears

Each of your services is billed either in advance, for the month ahead, or in arrears, for the month that has just ended. You can see how a service is billed in the Billing Cycle field of the Billing Overview section on that service's detail page, for example Monthly - In Arrears.

	In Advance	In Arrears
Services	Service Ports.	Connection services: Peering (including Extended Reach and Virtual Peering), VLLs (including iVLLs) and Cloud Connect.
When it's billed	On the first of each month, for the month ahead.	On the first of each month, for the month that has just ended.
New orders	Invoiced once your order is completed, for the remainder of the month.	Not invoiced at the time of order. Your first charges appear on your next monthly invoice, prorated from the day your service is provisioned.
Cancellation notice	30 days.	None - can be cancelled same day.

How Arrears Billing Works

Services billed in arrears are charged for each day they were provisioned during the previous month, on the first day of the following month:

The daily rate is the service's MRC divided by the number of days in that month.
A day runs from 00:00 to 23:59 UTC.
Billing starts from the day your service is provisioned, and stops after the day it is cancelled.
If your service changes speed during a day, the highest rate that applied at any time during that day is charged for the whole day.

Example

A VLL is provisioned on 11 June at an MRC of $300, then is upgraded on 21 June to an MRC of $450. June has 30 days, so the 1 July invoice will include:

11 June - 20 June: 10 days at $300 / 30 days = $100.00
21 June - 30 June: 10 days at $450 / 30 days = $150.00

If your account is on a quarterly or other multi-month billing cycle, services billed in arrears are invoiced at the start of each billing cycle, for the cycle that has just ended.

Changing Speed

The speed of a Per Mbit priced connection service, such as an Extended Reach Peering, iVLL or Cloud Connect service, can be changed from the service's Edit Service form. An estimate of the new MRC is shown as you adjust the speed.

Speed increases take effect once the change has been provisioned. The higher rate applies for the whole of the day the increase takes effect.
Speed decreases can take effect immediately, or from a later Effective Date you choose, up to 12 months ahead. You'll be billed at your current rate through the day before the decrease takes effect. A decrease that takes effect immediately is billed at the higher rate for the rest of that day, and at the lower rate from the following day.

See Editing a Peering Service, Editing a VLL Service or Editing a Cloud Connect Service.

Cancelling a Service

Services billed in arrears have no minimum notice period, and can be cancelled same day or scheduled for a later date. Your final usage, up to and including the cancellation date, will be billed at a prorated daily rate on your next monthly invoice.

If the service is under a Service Schedule, an Early Termination Fee may apply. See Early Termination Fees.

Service Terms

Services that aren't under a Service Schedule are provided under our standard Service Terms, which set out how the service is billed, priced and cancelled. Connection services are provided under the Service Terms – Connections. See Service Terms.

Moving to Arrears Billing

Connection services move to arrears billing on 1 November 2026

From 1 November 2026, all Peering, VLL and Cloud Connect services are billed in arrears. You won't be billed twice for the same period: because your 1 October 2026 invoice already billed October in advance, your 1 November 2026 invoice won't include any connection service charges. Your 1 December 2026 invoice will then include your connection services for November, and from then on each monthly invoice will include your connection services for the month that has just ended.

Service Ports are not affected, and continue to be billed in advance.