How Lumen IoD Pricing Actually Works
Lumen Internet-on-Demand (IoD) charges by the hour. Every hour, your circuit's current ordered bandwidth tier is recorded and billed at the published hourly rate for that tier. The billing is based on what you *ordered* — not what you actually used. A circuit sitting at 1 Gbps at 3am on a Sunday costs the same as that circuit running at capacity during peak business hours.
This is the key distinction between IoD and traditional committed bandwidth. IoD gives you the flexibility to change that ordered tier in minutes — which is exactly the lever you use to cut costs.
The 14 IoD Bandwidth Tiers
Lumen Internet-on-Demand offers 14 bandwidth tiers ranging from 1 Mbps to 100 Gbps. The full tier list is:
1 Mbps · 2 Mbps · 5 Mbps · 10 Mbps · 20 Mbps · 50 Mbps · 100 Mbps · 200 Mbps · 500 Mbps · 1 Gbps · 2 Gbps · 5 Gbps · 10 Gbps · 100 Gbps
Each tier has a published hourly rate. The rates vary by market (metro area) and contract term. As reference points from publicly available sources:
| Tier | Approximate Hourly Rate |
|---|---|
| 100 Mbps | ~$0.46/hr |
| 1 Gbps | ~$1.06–$1.08/hr |
For your specific circuit's current rates, check the Lumen Marketplace portal or use Apptifi's built-in pricing calculator, which reflects published NaaS pricing for all 14 tiers and includes UNI port cost breakdowns for 12, 24, 36, and 60-month contract terms.
What Drives Your Monthly Bill
Your monthly IoD bill is the sum of: hourly rate × number of hours at each tier, across all hours in the billing period.
A simple example: a circuit running at 1 Gbps for all 720 hours in a 30-day month at $1.07/hr (midpoint estimate) would cost approximately $770/month for that single circuit. At 1 Gbps 24/7, there is no flexibility. Every off-peak hour — nights, weekends, holidays — costs the same as peak hours.
The math changes dramatically when you schedule:
- • **Business hours (8am–6pm, weekdays):** ~220 hours/month at 1 Gbps
- • **Off-peak (remaining ~500 hours/month):** Dropped to 100 Mbps
At ~$0.46/hr for the 100 Mbps tier vs ~$1.07/hr for 1 Gbps, the off-peak difference is ~$0.61/hr. Across 500 off-peak hours, that is ~$305 in monthly savings — from a single circuit — for software that costs $50/month.
Why IoD Bills Surprise People
Three things consistently catch IoD customers off guard:
The UNI port cost is separate. Your circuit has a Unified Network Interface (UNI) port that carries a separate cost independent of your bandwidth tier. This is a fixed component of your monthly bill regardless of scheduling. The Apptifi pricing calculator includes UNI cost breakdowns so your TCV estimate reflects total cost, not just bandwidth.
Tier changes take effect on the next billing hour. An order submitted at 8:47am takes effect at 9:00am. A few minutes of imprecision per change adds up to real cost if you are scheduling across dozens of events per month. Apptifi accounts for this with a configurable pre-stage buffer — submitting orders 15–30 minutes early by default.
The highest tier you ordered, not the highest you needed. If you order 5 Gbps for a 2-hour maintenance window and forget to drop back down, you pay 5 Gbps rates for the rest of the month. Manual scheduling creates exactly this kind of exposure. Automated scheduling with defined end times prevents it.
Calculating Your Savings Before You Commit
Before setting up a bandwidth schedule, estimate your potential savings using this framework:
1. Identify your off-peak hours. How many hours per week does your circuit run below 20% utilization? For most B2B workloads, 55–65% of monthly hours are off-peak. 2. Find the target off-peak tier. What bandwidth do you actually need overnight and on weekends? Usually 10–25% of your peak tier. 3. Calculate the hourly savings. The rate difference between your peak tier and off-peak tier, multiplied by off-peak hours per month. 4. Subtract Apptifi's cost. Core plan is $50/month. The net savings are what you keep.
For most enterprise circuits at 500 Mbps or above, the first month's savings exceed the annual subscription cost.
Use the savings calculator on the [Apptifi homepage](/) to run this estimate in under 60 seconds. Enter your current monthly IoD spend and peak hours per day — the calculator handles the rest.
Getting Started
If you have a Lumen IoD circuit with NaaS API credentials, you can connect Apptifi and start scheduling in under 30 minutes. The pricing calculator is live immediately after you add your first circuit, showing you the financial impact of every schedule you build before a single order fires.
The Core plan covers unlimited circuits, unlimited bandwidth events, the pricing calculator, sandbox mode, and Defender Plus integration — all at $50/month flat.