Don't be ad*ckhead.
The short version. The long one's below, in writing.
Most customers never read this page because they don't need to — using broadband for broadband things, mobile for mobile things, VoIP for actually talking to humans. The rules below exist for the small minority who try to use our network for spam, fraud, or things our upstream peers would yank our peering for.
Version 1.1. Last reviewed.
The AUP forms part of your contract with us (see /legal/terms section 7). Breaching it can lead to suspension or termination; the process for both is in section 04 below.
Nine things that get you suspended.
The list below isn't exhaustive — common sense fills the gaps. If a behaviour would land us in trouble with Ofcom, the Computer Misuse Act, the police, our upstream peers, or our payment processors, it's covered even if not listed.
Copyright infringement
Downloading or distributing material you don't have the right to share — films, TV, music, software, books. We act on rights-holder notices under the Digital Economy Act + DMCA equivalents.
Illegal content
CSAM, terrorism, hate speech meeting the legal definition, threats. We report to NCA / IWF / police as required and terminate accounts immediately.
Spam + unsolicited bulk
Mass-marketing emails to non-consenting recipients. Outbound spam triggers suspension; we operate under the Spamhaus + Cloudmark rules and respond to abuse complaints within 24 hours.
Hacking + malware
Probing, scanning, brute-forcing, or distributing malware. Includes botnet command nodes, phishing kits, credential stuffing. Permanent ban + law-enforcement referral.
Bypassing security
Circumventing our authentication, evading IP suspensions, account-sharing across organisations to dodge per-user pricing on business plans.
Toll fraud / call abuse
Auto-dialling premium-rate numbers, harvesting voicemail, robocalling. We monitor outbound call patterns; sudden spikes trigger automated suspension pending verification.
Hosting on residential
Residential connections aren't for public-facing servers (no SLA, dynamic IPs). Self-hosting personal stuff is fine; commercial hosting requires a business plan.
Network abuse
DDoS amplification, open relays, open proxies, source-routing attacks. We patrol our own network and disconnect on detection.
Mobile abuse
SIM-boxing, GSM gateway termination, A2P SMS without registration, premium-rate fraud. Triggers immediate suspension + Mobile UK / GSMA abuse reporting.
Per-product limits. Honest numbers.
We don't believe in marketing 'unlimited' and then throttling. The limits below are the actual triggers — almost no normal customer ever hits them. If we do think you're triggering one, we email first to talk, before any action.
| Product | Headline limit | What triggers a fair-use review |
|---|---|---|
Residential broadband Limit: Unlimited at advertised line rate. No throttling under normal use. Trigger: Sustained 24/7 saturation across the network's peak hours that affects neighbours — extremely rare in practice. | Unlimited at advertised line rate. No throttling under normal use. | Sustained 24/7 saturation across the network's peak hours that affects neighbours — extremely rare in practice. |
Business broadband Limit: Unlimited symmetric. SLA-backed. Trigger: Commercial server-farming on a single business broadband line — talk to us for a leased-line quote. | Unlimited symmetric. SLA-backed. | Commercial server-farming on a single business broadband line — talk to us for a leased-line quote. |
Mobile (V&D) Limit: Tariff-specific bundle, e.g. 30GB/mo. EU roaming included. Trigger: Permanent international use (>50% of usage outside the UK in a rolling 4-month window) is treated as relocation. | Tariff-specific bundle, e.g. 30GB/mo. EU roaming included. | Permanent international use (>50% of usage outside the UK in a rolling 4-month window) is treated as relocation. |
Mobile (unlimited) Limit: Fair-use cap at 1TB/mo for personal hotspot tethering. Trigger: Sustained heavy tethering well above typical personal use. | Fair-use cap at 1TB/mo for personal hotspot tethering. | Sustained heavy tethering well above typical personal use. |
VoiceCloud minutes Limit: Bundle-specific + UK + EU calling included. Trigger: Premium-rate, international non-EU, or call-centre patterns on a non-call-centre plan. | Bundle-specific + UK + EU calling included. | Premium-rate, international non-EU, or call-centre patterns on a non-call-centre plan. |
Outbound mail rules. For everyone running an SMTP server.
If you operate an SMTP server on a Giant business connection (we don't allow this on residential), these rules apply. Failing them gets your IP blacklisted by upstream peers, which affects everyone — so we enforce strictly.
- 1Outbound mail must come from a domain you control with valid SPF, DKIM + DMARC records.
- 2Recipients must have given consent (PECR + GDPR — opt-in, not implied).
- 3Maximum 1,000 emails / hour from any single Giant IP without prior arrangement. Volume sending needs a transactional partner (Postmark, SendGrid, etc).
- 4Open relays are banned. We scan our address space for them; detection = immediate firewall.
- 5Mailing-list operators must implement one-click unsubscribe (RFC 8058) and process within 10 working days as PECR requires.
- 6Spam complaint rate above 0.1% triggers manual review and likely suspension pending remediation.
Four steps.
Email first, always.
We don't kill connections without notice unless it's illegal content or an active attack. Every other case starts with an email + 48 hours to fix.
Detection
Automated monitoring (rate limits, anomaly detection) + manual review of abuse reports. Most violations are caught within hours.
Notice
Email to the account contact describing the issue + remediation required. 48 hours to respond for non-urgent issues; immediate suspension for illegal content / active attack.
Remediation or suspension
Fix the issue + reply, we close the case. No reply / repeat violation: temporary suspension. Service restored on remediation + acknowledgement.
Appeal or terminate
Right to appeal in writing to [email protected]. Independent review by a separate team. If upheld + repeat, contract terminated under the relevant T&Cs.
See something? Tell us.
If a Giant IP is sending you spam, scanning your network, or hosting something illegal, please tell us. We respond to abuse reports within 24 hours.
Urgent / active attack
0330 043 0056Phone our 24/7 NOC. Quote 'abuse — urgent'. Engineer on duty will assess + escalate.
Security vuln in our site
[email protected]Coordinated disclosure welcome. 90-day disclosure window. Hall of Fame for confirmed reports.
The list of things we don't do to you.
Throttle 'unlimited'
Marketing 'unlimited' then secretly throttling is fraud. We don't do it. Real saturation triggers are listed above.
Cut connections without notice
Unless content is illegal or an attack is in progress, we always notify first. 48-hour minimum to respond.
Snoop on your traffic
We do not log connection content or DPI traffic flows. Headers (port/IP/timestamp) are kept for fraud-detection only, retained 12 months.
The short version. Be reasonable.
Read it once, never need to read it again. Most customers don't. Questions to [email protected], contractual questions to [email protected].