Managing Overage
The IoT.live platform provides a range of tools to help you monitor usage, understand consumption trends and identify potential overages before they occur. By reviewing usage against tariff allowances, monitoring forecast consumption and configuring usage alerts, you can take proactive steps to manage your services throughout the billing cycle.
The FAQs below explain how to use the available features within IoT.live to monitor usage, understand forecasts, configure alerts and manage potential overage situations.
How do I know if I am approaching an overage?
Use the Tariff Summary page to review usage against your tariff allowances.
The Usage Against Allowances section shows current consumption for data, voice and SMS usage. Colour-coded progress bars help identify tariffs that are approaching or have exceeded their allowance:
- Grey: up to 80% of the allowance has been used.
- Amber: between 80% and 99% has been used.
- Red: 100% or more of the allowance has been used.
Use this view to identify tariffs that may require closer monitoring before the end of the current usage period.
Where can I view usage against my tariff allowances?
Open Products and select Tariff Summary.
The Tariff Summary page provides an overview of usage against the allowances available across your tariffs. Usage is shown for data, voice and SMS services and can be reviewed at tariff level.
Select a tariff row to view additional subscription and usage information for the selected tariff.
How can I monitor current usage throughout the billing cycle?
The Dashboard provides visibility of usage during the current billing cycle through the In-Cycle Usage chart.
The chart can be used to review:
- Data usage
- Voice usage
- SMS usage
Use the Usage-Type Selector to switch between traffic types and the Cumulative or Daily view to understand how usage is building throughout the billing cycle.
What is Forecast Usage?
Forecast Usage provides an estimated projection of usage to the end of the current billing cycle.
Forecast information is available within both the Dashboard and Tariff Summary pages and can be used to understand how current consumption may develop during the applicable usage period.
How is Forecast Usage calculated?
Forecast Usage is based on average daily usage from the beginning of the current billing cycle to the present day.
The forecast provides an estimate of end-of-cycle usage based on current consumption patterns.
How accurate is Forecast Usage?
Forecast Usage is intended to provide an indication of potential end-of-cycle consumption.
Forecasts are based on daily averages from the current cycle and do not account for:
- Significant day-to-day variations in usage
- Longer-term / seasonal usage trend variations
- Mid-cycle fleet changes
- New device deployments or deactivations
Forecast information should therefore be used as a planning tool rather than a guarantee of end-of-cycle usage.
How can I receive notifications before an overage occurs?
Configure Usage Alerts from the Tariff Summary page.
Usage Alerts help users proactively monitor tariff allowance consumption and identify potential overages before they occur.
Alerting can be enabled for one or more tariff pools and currently supports notifications at:
- 80% usage
- 100% usage
How do Usage Alerts work?
When a configured threshold is reached, IoT.live generates a daily alert notification.
Notifications are sent to the email address associated with your IoT.live user account and include details of the affected tariff pools and current allowance utilisation.
Notifications are only sent when alert conditions are met.
Can I manage Usage Alerts for multiple tariffs?
Yes. Users can:
- Enable alerting for one or more tariff pools
- Add tariff pools to an existing alert configuration
- Remove tariff pools from alerting
- Clear or reset alert selections
Usage Alerting is configured directly from the Tariff Summary page.
What should I do if Forecast Usage indicates that I may exceed my allowance?
Review your current usage and compare it with historical consumption patterns using the Historical Usage and In-Cycle Usage charts available on the Dashboard.
Where appropriate, enable Usage Alerts to receive notification when tariffs reach defined utilisation thresholds.
If you believe your current tariff no longer meets your operational requirements, please contact your Account Manager or CSL Customer Support to discuss the available options.
What are the best ways to avoid overage charges?
To help manage usage effectively:
- Review usage regularly using Tariff Summary
- Monitor Forecast Usage throughout the billing cycle
- Compare current consumption against Historical Usage
- Configure Usage Alerts at 80% and 100% thresholds
- Investigate unexpected increases in usage
- Speak to your Account Manager if your usage profile has changed
Regular monitoring and proactive alerting can help identify potential overages before they occur.