COVID-19 Service Continuity & Sky Muster Bonus Data – An Open Letter from Activ8me’s CEO

17/03/2020 – An Open Letter from Activ8me’s CEO to all customers

In light of the uncertainty we all face in our daily lives with the outbreak of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), I wanted to write to you directly to keep you informed of the steps I’ve asked my team at Activ8me to take to ensure we are prepared, as well as tell you about some additional steps I’m taking for our Sky Muster^® customers in particular.

A Note on Activ8me’s Continuity-of-Service-Procedures

As an Australian owned and operated business, we’ve had the ability to quickly implement an extensive work-from-home policy, ensuring that all of our dedicated employees working in all facets of sales, support and technical capacities are in no way hampered in performing their vital daily duties. This policy has been implemented, and is already being utilised by some staff members, who have opted to continue their duties from home for the time being.

Whilst my number one priority is the safety of our staff, I also appreciate the vital importance your internet service is to you.

Our policy ensures the safety of our staff by providing them the flexibility to do their duties without leaving home while maintaining continuity of service to our customers.

With the prospect of our children remaining home from schools, and many considering their own working-from-home arrangements, the reliability and affordability of your home internet connection is of critical importance to continue to maintain some aspects of our normal lives, be it educating the kids or simply watching some Netflix over dinner.

Sky Muster^® Users: Your Free Bonus School Holiday Data is Coming Early

As you may be aware, every school holiday Activ8me runs a promotion where we give away weekly data, each week for the length of the holiday period, which is completely free of charge and allocated to each and every Sky Muster^® customer.

We had been planning to continue that promotion this coming school holidays, but in light of the current circumstances I have decided to bring forward that promotion to begin Monday 23 March, running for a four-week period through until Sunday 19 April.

What this means is that your Sky Muster^® service will receive a further free 5Gb of data per week, automatically added onto your data allowance weekly over the four-week period.

When will the data be added to my account?

You do not need to action anything to access the offer, as the data is automatically added to your account each week and is 100% free.

When will the data expire?

Once your new billing month begins, you will no longer have access to the data previously added to your account.

How do I add the bonus data?

You don’t have to do anything to add the bonus data to your account.

Activ8me will add it automatically during the period of the 23rd March 2020 through to the 19th of April 2020.

How much do I have to pay for the bonus data?

There is no charge for the bonus data. It is 100% free! If you have any questions or concerns about your account, please do not hesitate to contact us on 13 22 88.

Ongoing Advocacy on Behalf of Sky Muster^® Customer Base

On one final note, I wanted to make you aware of recent attempts I’ve made to the nbn^® on behalf of our Sky Muster^® customers.

I’ve reached out my counterparts at the nbn^® in recent days, as given the unprecedented situation have been pressing them to relax certain elements of their Fair Use Policy for Sky Muster^® satellite services.

You may be aware of the Fair Use Policy, which is the guidelines nbn^® stipulate all ISPs abide by in order to offer nbn^® services. They dictate many of the limiting features currently in place on Sky Muster^® services, including the fixed ceiling on the maximum data allowances we can offer and the requirement of a peak/off-peak split to Sky Muster^® plans.

Whilst I can’t guarantee these talks will come to anything substantial, I’m quietly hopeful they will be willing to ‘come to the table’ so to speak, to assist us in our efforts to support you. If I do have luck in my efforts to secure anything further, rest assured I will reach out once again to pass on the good news in my next communication.

I only hope our efforts can in some way lessen, even if only by the smallest of degrees, the additional strains during this difficult and trying time for all.

The Activ8me team thanks you for your ongoing partnership.

Yours Sincerely,

Martin Camilleri
CEO

UPDATED FRIDAY 20/03/20
Further Update from Activ8me’s CEO – Sky Muster^®
Additional Data Allocation

Following on from my previous email earlier in the week, I’m very happy to inform you that the nbn^® have agreed with our requests for data relief for Sky Muster^® customers during this time of uncertainty and ‘social distancing’ due to the ongoing outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What this means for you is that beginning from Monday, 23 March in addition to the 5GB per week bonus school holiday data you will be receiving, you will also be receiving a further allocation of 10GB per week to assist with handling the excess strains placed on home internet connections during the COVID-19 outbreak.

This 10GB per week additional data will be for a period of 3 months, with the nbn^® to review the situation towards the end of that period.

I have also made the decision to extend our 5GB per week school holiday bonus data promotion to run for the entirety of this 3month period.

That means as an Activ8me Sky Muster^® customer, you will be receiving an additional 15GB per week in total, for the coming three months, commencing this coming Monday.

The nbn^® have increased their backhaul capacity to ensure the additional strains on the service do not lead to reductions in service quality or connection speeds.

Once again, I thank you for your ongoing partnership with Activ8me and wish you the best in these unprecedented and trying times.

Yours Sincerely,

Martin Camilleri

UPDATED MONDAY 27/07/20
nbn^® Sky Muster Bonus Data Extension Announcement – From Activ8me’s CEO

A Further Two Months of 15GB per week COVID-19 Peak Data

Sky Muster Relief Data extended from 26/07/2020 – 19/09/2020

I’m pleased to announce after consultation with the nbn^®, given the ongoing COVID-19 situation across the country, that Activ8me will be continuing to offer the additional 10GB + 5GB Peak data per week for each Sky Muster service for a further almost two months, running until mid-September.
The bonus data had been planned to end on the 26th of this month, however in light of the continuing lockdowns and COVID-19 related effects across the country, this will be extended to run until the 19th September.

Details of the COVID-19 nbn^®/Activ8me Relief Bonus Data

We have been providing a total of 15GB additional peak data per week for every Activ8me Sky Muster service. This is made up of the 10GB from the nbn^®’s bonus data relief plus a further 5GB per week from Activ8me’s own CVC data reserves.
We allocate this bonus data to our customer’s services in daily allotments.

To Be Reviewed Again…

The nbn^® will review the situation again towards the end of this new bonus data period, however do appear to have that date fixed as a planned final end date for this bonus data offer.
Based on the situation around the country, this may still be reviewed and extended.
I have always stated Activ8me’s intention of offering our own 5GB per week relief data for the duration of the nbn^®’s relief data offer, and that will continue.
Activ8me will continue to advocate on behalf of our customers, and indeed all nbn^® Sky Muster customers, to push for continued greater data allocations for regional, rural and remote Australians.

Sky Muster Plans and Sky Muster Plus

The bonus data is allocated to all our Sky Muster plans. If you still find that your working or schooling from home is using up all your Peak data, I’d suggest looking into our Sky Muster Plus plans.
They use all the same equipment, but offer unmetered internet for all activities other than video streaming and VPN use. You can find more info on what’s metered and unmetered in our Sky Muster Plus FAQ’s blog post here.

The Activ8me team thanks you for your ongoing partnership and wishes you the best in these ongoing, trying times.

Yours Sincerely,

Martin Camilleri

CEO – Activ8me