Thank you for your continued business. In recent times, with the prevalence of high-capacity communication systems (such as Starlink), the usage of email on vessels has surged dramatically. It's not uncommon for some vessels to conduct over 1GB of email communication per month. Given this situation, we would like to draw your attention to the potential risk of incurring high communication costs during using backup lines. Typically, the backup lines such as FBB and Certus are configured to allow only email communication to pass through the firewall in the event of the main access is down, while blocking all other forms of communication. Thus, this setup has avoided excessive charges such as web and DNS traffic would not occur during the backup. However, with the increasing volume in email communication and the rising cost per MB in each communication plan, incidents have occured where backup communication costs reach thousands of dollars. For instance, if the main VSAT line is out of service for nearly a month, and all email communication is routed through the backup line, costs can escalate significantly. While in traditional cases, backup usage for a few days might result in only a few hundred dollars of charges. However, a month-long outage of the main line, with all email traffic up to 1GB being routed through the backup line could result in costs exceeding $10,000. Subscribing to low-volume plans for backup lines can result in cost escalation because low-volume plans tend to have higher per MB charges. Meanwhile, the increase in email volume combined with the rise in MB charges lead to risks of unexpected communication costs. In the below, we’ve categorized scenarios into two cases: Risk-Free and Risky, by pairing up the main and backup lines. For the Risky case, we suggest plans to be reassessed or warnings and suspensions to be implemented to prevent excessive usage. Risk-Free Scenarios (Case A): ・GX + FBB: Fixed price upon switching to FBB. ・VSAT + FBB Backup Plan: Fixed price upon switching to FBB. ・VSAT + Certus Backup Plan: Fixed price upon switching to Certus. ・Starlink + VSAT Fixed Plan: Fixed price upon switching to VSAT. ・Starlink + FX: Fixed price upon switching to FX. Risky Scenarios (Case B): ・VSAT + FBB: Usage-Based Pricing ・VSAT + Certus: Usage-Based Pricing ・Starlink + VSAT: Usage-Based Pricing ・Starlink + FBB: Usage-Based Pricing ・Starlink + Certus: Usage-Based Pricing Strategy Suggestions ・Select a pricing plan that aligns with expected backup usage. ・Alternatively, Implement warnings in case of excessive usage. ・Set up automatic suspension of communication in case of excessive usage. Kindly note that the availability of Warning/Suspend features may vary depending on the carriers, so please consult with us for further details. Thanks & best regards.