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Pursuant to the Federal Communications Commission's newly enacted Open Internet Rules found in Part 8 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the policies of Consolidated Communications ("Consolidated") regarding network management practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms are provided in entirety so that our current customers, prospective customers, third-party content providers and other interested parties can make informed choices regarding the broadband Internet access services offered by Consolidated, and the extent our network management practices may affect those services.
In the interest of providing the best online experience possible for all of Consolidated's customers, we utilize reasonable network management practices tailored to achieve legitimate network management purposes. Because bandwidth is a limited resource for broadband Internet service providers, it is essential that we reasonably manage our network to promote the use and enjoyment of the Internet for all of our customers. By engaging in reasonable and responsible network management, we prevent our customers from being subjected to the negative effects of spam, viruses, security attacks, network congestion, and other risks that threaten to degrade service. The network management practices employed by Consolidated are consistent with industry standards.
Consolidated does not employ any congestion management tools, practices and/or software on network traffic.
Consolidated does not make use of any application-specific network management practices. We do not favor, modify, inhibit, rate control or block any specific protocols, protocol ports or fields, or any applications or classes of applications.
In order for a device to be approved for use on Consolidated's network, the device must conform to publicly available industry standards and be non-harmful to our network.
Consolidated offers our customers unrestricted access to all of the lawful content, services, and applications available on the Internet. We use industry standard tools and generally accepted best practices and policies to protect our customers from spam, phishing, and other unwanted or harmful online content and activities. In the instances where these tools and policies identify online content as harmful or unwanted, the content may be prevented from reaching customers, or customers may be permitted to identify or inspect content to determine if it is harmful or unwanted. For security purposes, we engage in routine network monitoring. As Consolidated becomes aware of harmful or infected client connections on our network through the network monitoring practices or other outside notifications of potentially harmful network activity, we may temporarily suspend Internet access to that client and contact them to work to resolve the problem, so as to protect the network and maintain secure access for the remaining Consolidated subscribers.
The security measures employed by Consolidated to prevent the spread of viruses, malware, spam, harmful and unwanted content or other threats to consumers do not prevent end-users from running any applications.
Consolidated offers broadband Internet access service via Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line ("ADSL") and Fiber-to-the-Home ("FTTH") technologies. ADSL is a type of DSL broadband communications technology used for connecting to the Internet. ADSL allows more data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines when compared to traditional modem lines. A special filter, called a microfilter, is installed on a subscriber's telephone line to allow both ADSL and regular voice (telephone) services to be used at the same time. FTTH utilizes fiber optic cable to deliver telephone, data and video services. With the capacity for an indefinite amount of data, FTTH technology allows subscribers to receive better quality voice, data and video services in their homes.
The technology utilized to provide broadband Internet access service to an individual customer will be dependent upon the customer's address as Consolidated does not offer all technologies to all locations in the network.
The advertised speed of Consolidated's Internet service is the maximum speed provisioned for a given customer. While the maximum advertised speed is attainable for most end users, several factors may affect the actual speed of our Internet service offerings, including, but not limited to: the distance of the consumer's home or office from Consolidated's central office (i.e., the further away the customer is from the central office, the potential exists for reduced broadband speed), the end user's computer, modem or router, activity during peak usage periods, and other Internet traffic.
Based on internal testing the mean upload and download speeds for all levels of service do not deviate greater than 20% greater or less than the contracted throughput rates, including during peak usage. Latency on our network falls within industry standards.
The speeds achieved with Consolidated's Internet service offerings make our Internet service suitable for real-time applications, such as Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP").
Consolidated does not offer any specialized services.
In order to meet the usage and budgetary needs of all of our customers, Consolidated offers a wide selection of broadband Internet access plan options, including promotional offerings, bundled service choices, and ala carte alternatives.
To see our current promotions and pricing on broadband Internet access service, please visit our website http://www.nebnet.net/internet.php or call 1-800-742-7464 to speak with a customer service representative.
Consolidated has Postini Email Services available for $1.29 per month.
If a customer previously entered into a service agreement with Consolidated for broadband Internet access service for a defined service term, and customer desires to terminate the service agreement prior to the expiration of that term, we may charge a reasonable early termination fee if such fee is clearly indicated in the service agreement.
Consolidated's Internet service is priced on a flat-fee basis (plus taxes). We do not charge end users a usage-based fee for Internet service.
The various network management tools and techniques utilized by Consolidated do not monitor, inspect or store the network activity and traffic of our Internet service users. Further, as part of our network management practices, we do not distribute information on network activity and/or traffic to any third party, or use network traffic information for any non-network management purpose.
Consolidated is required to comply with all relevant laws, regulations and governmental requests.
For troubleshooting and Internet support purposes, Consolidated may collect equipment information to identify the equipment customer is using on the network, including, but not limited to: equipment type, serial number, settings, configuration and software. We may also collect performance information to examine the operation of the equipment, services and applications the customer may use on the network, including, but not limited to: IP addresses, URLs, data transmission rates and latencies, location information, security characteristics, and information about the amount of bandwidth and other network resources customer is using in connections with uploading, downloading or streaming data to and from the Internet.
Consolidated's network management practices, as discussed herein, are intended solely to provide the best online experience possible for all of our customers by safeguarding our network and its users from spam, viruses, phishing, and other unwanted or harmful online content and activities. Our network management practices are not intended, nor implemented, to block consumers from accessing the content and applications of their choice, deprive consumers of their entitlement to competition, or discriminate against or in favor of certain network traffic. End users with questions, concerns or complaints regarding our network management practices are encouraged to contact Consolidated for issue resolution.
If you have any questions regarding Consolidated's Network Management Practices Policy or would like to file a complaint with us regarding our network management practices, please contact us at:
Consolidated Communications
6900 Van Dorn St.
P.O. Box 6147
Lincoln, NE 68506-0147
Business Office: 402-489-2728
Toll Free: 1-800-742-7464
Fax Number: 402-489-9034
www.consolidatedtelephone.com
Further, if you believe that we are in violation of the FCC's Open Internet Rules, you may file either an informal or formal complaint with the FCC.
http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
The Open Internet Rules, as adopted, and our Network Management Practices Policy are not intended to affect, alter or otherwise supersede the legal status of cooperative efforts by broadband Internet access service providers and other service providers that are designed to curtail infringement in response to information provided by rights holders in a manner that is timely, effective, and accommodates the legitimate interests of providers, rights holders, and end users.
Furthermore, the Open Internet Rules, as adopted, and our Network Management Practices Policy do not prohibit us from making reasonable efforts to address the transfer of unlawful content or unlawful transfers of content.
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