> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.link11.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.link11.com/administration/support-and-billing/95-5-method.md).

# 95/5 Method

The 95th percentile of outgoing and incoming traffic is accounted as “clean traffic“. This allows for traffic bursts without additional costs.

<figure><img src="/files/CjHVOhXh4qCmAhAcz8uy" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## How is the 95/5-Method calculated? <a href="#id-95-5method-howisthe95-5-methodcalculated" id="id-95-5method-howisthe95-5-methodcalculated"></a>

Traffic billing according to bandwidth is always based on a previously defined bandwidth, the so-called Committed Data Rate (CDR).

With this method, the incoming and outgoing bandwidth is measured in intervals of 5 minutes. A measurement is taken every 5 minutes of the billing period, which is typically one month.

In other words, the total amount of bytes transferred in your instance is read out every 5 minutes. This amount of data is averaged over 300 seconds to determine the average transfer rate per second for that time period. These values are stored in a database as an average for the period.

From the total measured values, 5% of the highest peaks ​​of bandwidth within the month are determined. This top 5% will be disregarded in favor of the customer; the remaining 95% of the measured values ​​will be used for billing calculations.

At the end of the month, the data is ordered from top (largest) to bottom (smallest), with the top 5% of entries ignored/removed. The remaining data becomes the 95th percentile average. So the fastest 5% of your traffic has been ignored.

### Example Calculation <a href="#id-95-5method-examplecalculation" id="id-95-5method-examplecalculation"></a>

* A **30** day period has **8640** five-minute intervals. Under the 95% method, the **432** (top 5%) most costly intervals are disregarded.

## Advantage of the 95/5-Method <a href="#id-95-5method-advantageofthe95-5-method" id="id-95-5method-advantageofthe95-5-method"></a>

The bandwidth used varies greatly depending on the customer / product.

There may be individual days when the CDR is significantly exceeded, and the burst rate has to be fully used. The 95% method is ideal for this.

Since the measured maximum 5% bandwidth is not included in the calculation, such "outliers" have no financial impact for the customer.