Ortelco.net

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
NETWORK MANAGEMENT POLICY

In this document, the terms “you” and “your" refer to customers of Oregon Telephone Corporation’s Internet Access Service. The terms “we” and “our” refer to Oregon Telephone Corporation (hereafter OTC) and Oregon Telephone Corporation’s Internet Access Service.

Definitions

Service – Internet access purchased from OTC. This includes connectivity from your equipment at your premises to the Internet equipment at OTC’s office, connection of OTC’s equipment to the Internet, and OTC’s equipment that is used to route and manage your traffic to and from the Internet and to provide you with services such as e-mail, web surfing, file transfer, Internet video, and others

Bandwidth – The amount of data per second. This may be thought of as the “pipe” that carries Internet traffic.

Bandwidth capacity is the amount of bandwidth that we or another network provider makes available for your use, such as the amount of data that can be sent over a wire or fiber optic system.

Bandwidth demand is the amount of bandwidth that a customer wants to use.

Congestion – A situation where the total bandwidth demand (in bits of information per second) on a component of the Internet, including on any part of our network, exceeds the bandwidth capacity of that component to such an extent that traffic flow and service experiences degradation. Congestion is usually of a transitory nature, however, in some cases, such as an extremely popular website, it may last for a significant period.

Degradation of Service - Less than optimal performance of Internet services. This may appear to you as slow response on web sites and e-mail or distorted or frozen video.

Nominal Bandwidth – The bandwidth of the service package you purchase. This is your maximum allowed bandwidth.

Terms of Service and Network Management Practices

The bandwidth you purchase (your service package or nominal bandwidth) is the MAXIMUM bandwidth available to you. It is not a guaranteed bandwidth. OTC will make its best effort to transmit your data in a timely fashion, however, OTC does not guarantee you that you will be able to use your entire nominal bandwidth at any given time. This is referred to as “best effort” service.

OTC strives to make your total nominal bandwidth available for you to use within our network. OTC cannot control bandwidth available, congestion, or service quality on those parts of the Internet beyond our network.

When other customers use our network, you may not be able to use your maximum nominal bandwidth because all customers share total bandwidth capacity at some points on our network and on the Internet. If the bandwidth demand of all customers at that network location exceeds the bandwidth capacity provided, you may not be able to use your entire nominal bandwidth. All services are “shared services” used by many customers.

We size our Internet services by the bandwidth of all our customers, including your service, based on best-of-breed engineering practices. Service is provided equally to all customers, and every customer's data has an equal chance to be served.

On a downstream basis (Internet to customer), service is provided equally to all customers, Internet services, protocols, and sources or destinations on the Internet such as websites, e-mail servers, etc.

Due to limited bandwidth capacity on an upstream basis (customer to Internet), service is provided equally to all customers, protocols, and sources or destinations on the Internet such as websites, e-mail servers, etc. except that service types are prioritized to provide the best service possible to all customers. We prioritize services with streaming video being the highest priority, then web browsing, then all other services. Service is not prioritized by customer or source or destination on the Internet. No services, protocols, or legal sources and destinations on the Internet are blocked under any circumstances. Any effects on service may only be noticeable in times of significant congestion.

OTC may block any service, protocol, source, or destination that OTC determines to be illegal or a threat to life, property, or national security, or if ordered to block or otherwise modify your data by law enforcement agencies.

At this time, OTC does not implement network management techniques when congestion occurs, however, in times of congestion on OTC’s network, OTC may, at its sole discretion, implement reasonable network management techniques to protect the services of all of OTC’s customers so that each customer has adequate service quality. OTC will not implement network management if degradation of service is caused by congestion on portions of the Internet outside of OTC’s network. OTC will notify our customers on this website of changes to our network management policy.

Devices & Software that may be Attached to OTC’s Internet Access Service

There are no restrictions on types of devices you may connect to OTC’s network other than that they must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for use in the US telecommunications network.  You may not connect any equipment to OTC’s network that is not approved by the FCC.  Most commercially available equipment such as modems, routers, and PCs are approved.  All equipment approved by the FCC will have a label stating that it is approved and what the type of the approval is.  This information is also found in the user’s manual or printed instructions that are provided with the equipment and may be found online at the manufacturer’s website.  You should read this label whenever you buy any equipment you wish to connect to OTC’s network.  If you have questions about any particular equipment, please call us at 541-932-4411.

OTC’s Internet access service is designed to function with accepted industry standard interface software such as provided by Microsoft, Apple, and others.  If you use a type of software not widely used in the worldwide Internet, you may experience some problems with compatibility between your software and OTC’s Internet access service.  If you have any questions, please call us on 541-932-4411, and we will try to help you resolve this problem.  It is the customer's responsibility to assure that their software and operating interfaces conform to industry accepted specifications.

Network Security

OTC uses the latest industry-best-practices to maintain integrity and security of its network. This may include security protections that interfere with some types of customer traffic. If you believe your services are being disrupted by our security systems, please contact us on 541-932-4411.

OTC provides a level of protection for your computers from spam, viruses, and other malicious or unwanted items.  While OTC strives to provide the best protection possible for your computer, we make no guarantees that we can prevent all malicious or unwanted items from accessing your computer.  It is the customer’s responsibility to protect their computers and other devices from unwanted or harmful items.  It is very strongly recommended that you provide your own virus and malware protection, spam filtering, and firewall software, solutions are available on the OTC website.

There are additional considerations regarding Internet security related to OTC’s Internet access service.  Call our office at 541-932-4411 for a copy of our Acceptable Use Policy.

Services OTC Offers

OTC offers the following Internet access services. Pricing may be found at http://www.ortelco.net. The bandwidths listed are the maximum bandwidth of the service. You will not be provided additional bandwidth above what you purchased, even for short periods of time. You are not permitted to “burst” traffic above your purchased bandwidth.

DSL/Broadband *Not all services available in all locations.

Use of OTC’s Services for Real-Time Applications such as Streaming Video

The Best Effort services above may be suitable for real-time applications if the customer has purchased adequate bandwidth for that service. Disruption during times of congestion, if any, which you experience will be minimized if you purchase adequate bandwidth for the services you wish to use. However, since there are occasionally conditions of extreme congestion at various points in the Internet, including OTC’s network, OTC does not guarantee that your service will never be degraded.

Note that bandwidth requirements will differ by real-time application. For example, video such as that offered by various services such as YouTube may require somewhat less total bandwidth than entertainment quality streaming video. Bandwidth requirements may also differ among providers.

Privacy of Customer Information

OTC inspects packets of data you send or receive over our network to allow us to route and, where applicable, prioritize data. We inspect only the packet headers which tell us where to send your data and the type of data it is, i.e.: web surf, video, file transfer, etc.

OTC does not examine the content of your data, i.e.: the data which you send or receive, such as the messages from and to e-mail addresses of your e-mail, which web sites you visit, the sources of your video, or the contents of files you send or receive.

OTC does not store your data, or sell or reveal it to any third parties.

OTC may provide any of your data, both on an active, real time basis and stored data such as your billing records, to law enforcement under appropriate legal orders if law enforcement requests your information in matters dealing with illegal acts or a threat to life, property, or national security.

Contact Us

If you have questions or comments regarding our network management policies or practices, please contact us at 541-932-4411 or support@ortelco.net.