What Is Ethernet on Demand?
Lumen Ethernet on Demand (EoD) is a Network as a Service (NaaS) product that delivers flexible, on-demand Layer 2 Ethernet Virtual Connections (EVCs) between locations. Unlike Internet on Demand (IoD), which provides Layer 3 internet access, EoD creates private point-to-point Ethernet connections over the Lumen network.
EoD is billed hourly by bandwidth tier, just like IoD. You select a bandwidth between 10 Mbps and 100 Gbps, choose a Class of Service, and pay only for the hours you use at that tier. This makes it ideal for workloads with variable bandwidth needs — data replication, site-to-site backup, cloud bursting, and disaster recovery.
Why EoD Bandwidth Scheduling Matters
Most organizations running EoD circuits keep them at a fixed bandwidth tier around the clock. The circuit is provisioned at the tier needed for peak workloads — nightly backup windows, monthly data migrations, quarterly compliance uploads — and it stays there 24/7, even when the connection is idle.
This is the same inefficiency that IoD customers face, and the solution is the same: schedule bandwidth changes so you only pay for high-tier capacity when you actually need it.
A typical EoD scheduling pattern looks like this:
- • **Nightly backup window (10pm–6am):** Increase from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps for data replication between sites
- • **Business hours (8am–6pm):** Run at 100 Mbps for routine site-to-site traffic
- • **Weekend maintenance (Saturday 2am–8am):** Burst to 5 Gbps for large data migrations
Without scheduling, you would pay the 1 Gbps rate (or higher) for all 730 hours in a month. With scheduling, you pay the higher rate only during the hours you need it and drop to a lower tier the rest of the time. Depending on your usage pattern, this can reduce EoD costs by 30–50%.
EoD Connection Types and When to Use Them
Lumen offers two EVC types for Ethernet on Demand, and they have different bandwidth tiers and pricing:
Customer Premise — Metro and Long-haul connects two physical locations (offices, data centers, campuses) over metro or long-haul fiber. Bandwidth tiers range from 10 Mbps to 100 Gbps. This is the standard EoD product for site-to-site connectivity.
Datacenter Expansion / Cloud connects locations within a datacenter fabric or to cloud on-ramps. Bandwidth starts at 50 Mbps (no 10 or 20 Mbps tiers) and goes up to 100 Gbps. Hourly rates are lower than Customer Premise because the transport distances are shorter.
Choose Customer Premise when you are connecting two separate buildings or campuses. Choose Datacenter/Cloud when both endpoints are in the same data center facility or when connecting to a cloud provider via Lumen's network.
Class of Service: Basic, Enhanced, and Dedicated
Every EoD connection includes a Class of Service (CoS) selection that determines traffic handling priority:
Basic is the lowest-cost tier. Traffic is delivered on a best-effort basis with standard queuing. This works well for bulk data transfer, backup, and replication workloads that are not latency-sensitive.
Enhanced adds priority queuing and lower latency guarantees. Use this for real-time applications like VoIP trunking between sites, video conferencing backhaul, or database replication that requires consistent performance.
Dedicated provides the highest priority with guaranteed bandwidth allocation. This is appropriate for mission-critical applications where packet loss or jitter would cause failures — financial transaction processing, industrial control systems, or healthcare data streams.
The cost difference between tiers is meaningful. Basic might be the right choice for a nightly backup circuit, while the same organization might need Dedicated for a real-time database sync between production sites. With Apptifi, you can schedule different bandwidth tiers on the same circuit — there is no requirement to choose one CoS for all use cases.
How Apptifi Handles EoD Scheduling
Apptifi is the first bandwidth scheduler to support both IoD and Ethernet on Demand in a single interface. The scheduling workflow for EoD works the same way as IoD:
Step 1: Add your EoD circuit. Connect Apptifi to the Lumen NaaS API and import your EoD circuits. Apptifi reads your EVC configuration, current bandwidth tier, port details, and VLAN assignments.
Step 2: Create bandwidth events. Drag and drop on the visual calendar to create bandwidth change events. Select the target bandwidth tier for each time block. Apptifi shows both IoD and EoD circuits on the same calendar so you can coordinate changes across your entire Lumen portfolio.
Step 3: Set recurring schedules. For predictable workloads — nightly backups, weekend maintenance — create recurring events that repeat daily, weekly, or on custom schedules. Set it once and Apptifi handles every occurrence automatically.
Step 4: Apptifi fires the API calls. At the scheduled time, Apptifi submits the bandwidth change request to the Lumen API. The circuit transitions to the new tier, and Apptifi logs the result. If the API call fails, Apptifi retries and alerts you.
Real Savings Example: Nightly Replication Circuit
Consider an EoD Customer Premise circuit used for nightly data replication between two offices. The workload requires 1 Gbps for 8 hours per night (10pm–6am) but only needs 50 Mbps during the day.
Without scheduling (1 Gbps 24/7): 730 hours/month at the 1 Gbps Basic rate — a significant monthly cost for capacity that sits idle 22 hours on weekdays and all day on weekends.
With scheduling: 240 hours/month at 1 Gbps (8 hours × 30 nights) plus 490 hours/month at 50 Mbps. The 50 Mbps rate is substantially lower than the 1 Gbps rate, so the idle hours cost a fraction of what they would at the higher tier.
Use the [EoD pricing calculator](/features/ethernet-on-demand) on our Ethernet on Demand page to estimate your specific savings based on your bandwidth tiers, Class of Service, and usage hours.
EoD vs IoD: When Do You Need Both?
Many Lumen customers run both IoD and EoD circuits. The typical pattern is IoD for internet access (Layer 3) and EoD for private site-to-site traffic (Layer 2). These circuits serve fundamentally different purposes but share the same hourly billing model — which means both benefit from bandwidth scheduling.
If you are already scheduling IoD circuits with Apptifi, adding your EoD circuits takes no additional setup. The same API credentials, the same calendar, the same automation engine. You just see more circuits on your dashboard.
If you are evaluating bandwidth schedulers and you have both IoD and EoD circuits, Apptifi is currently the only option that handles both. Competing schedulers focus exclusively on IoD and have no support for Ethernet on Demand EVCs.
Getting Started
If you have Lumen Ethernet on Demand circuits and want to start scheduling bandwidth changes, you can get started with Apptifi today. The Core plan at $50/month supports both IoD and EoD circuits with unlimited bandwidth events.
Visit the [Ethernet on Demand feature page](/features/ethernet-on-demand) to explore the interactive EoD cost calculator, or check out the [Apptifi vs Flux comparison](/compare/iod-schedulers) to see how Apptifi's EoD support stacks up against the competition.