Internet Policies

WEST CENTRAL WIRELESS MASS MARKET INTERNET SERVICE POLICIES AND CUSTOMER INFORMATION

General Policy Statement:

The following policies apply to mass market broadband Internet services offered by West Central Wireless, Five Star Wireless, Mid-Tex Cellular, and Right Wireless (“company”). The company also offers enterprise level services that can be individually tailored to customer needs. Information on enterprise services can be obtained by contacting us at 800-695-9016. It is the company’s policy to provide robust and reliable access to the Internet for all of its residential and commercial mass market end user customers. Because network resources are shared by all users, the company has implemented the following policies to govern mass market Internet service. These policies are designed to: (i) ensure that shared network resources are allocated fairly among all users; (ii) allow users and prospective users to understand service policies and any significant limitations on the service; and (iii) provide a foundation that assures customers that they can rely on consistently receiving the level and quality of service to which they subscribe. The company does not block access to, nor discriminate against, any lawful website or Internet application that is consistent with the company’s Acceptable Use Policy set forth below. Customers are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the following policies which are deemed part of their Service Agreement. By using the company’s Internet service, the customer accepts, agrees to be bound by and to strictly adhere to, these policies. The customer also agrees to be responsible for compliance with these policies by third parties, such as friends, family members or guests that make use of the customer’s service accounts or equipment to access the network for any purpose, with or without the permission of the customer.

I. ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY 

1. General Policy.   The company reserves the sole discretion to deny or restrict your service, or immediately to suspend or terminate your service, if the use of your service by you or anyone using it, in our sole discretion, violates the Service Agreement or other company policies, is objectionable or unlawful, interferes with the functioning or use of the Internet or the company’s network by the company or other users, or violates the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”).
   
   
2. Specific Examples of AUP Violations. The following are examples of conduct which may lead to termination of your Service. Without limiting the general policy in Section 1, it is a violation of the Agreement and this AUP to: (a) access without permission or right the accounts or computer systems of others, to spoof the URL, DNS or IP addresses of the company or any other entity, or to penetrate the security measures of the company or any other person's computer system, or to attempt any of the foregoing; (b) transmit uninvited communications, data or information, or engage in other similar activities, including without limitation, "spamming", "flaming" or denial of service attacks; (c) intercept, interfere with or redirect email or other transmissions sent by or to others; (d) introduce viruses, worms, harmful code or Trojan horses on the Internet; (e) post off-topic information on message boards, chat rooms or social networking sites; (f) engage in conduct that is defamatory, fraudulent, obscene or deceptive; (g) violate the company's or any third party's copyright, trademark, proprietary or other intellectual property rights; (h) engage in any conduct harmful to the company’s network, the Internet generally or other Internet users; (i) generate excessive amounts of email or other Internet traffic; (j) use the service to violate any rule, policy or guideline of the company: (k) use the service in any fashion for the transmission or dissemination of images containing child pornography or in a manner that is obscene, sexually explicit, cruel or racist in nature or which espouses, promotes or incites bigotry, hatred or racism; or (l) download or use the Service in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria or in destinations that are otherwise controlled or embargoed under U.S. law, as modified from time to time by the Departments of Treasury and Commerce.
   
   
3. Copyright Infringement/Repeat Infringer Policy. The company respects the intellectual property rights of third parties. Accordingly, the company does not allow the storage of any content on our servers. All materials passed through our system are the responsibility of the customer. However, In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable laws, it is the policy of the company to suspend or terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the service provided to any subscriber or account holder who is deemed to infringe third party intellectual property rights, including repeat infringers of copyrights. In addition, the company expressly reserves the right to suspend, terminate or take other interim action regarding the service of any user or account holder if the company, in its sole judgment, believes that circumstances relating to an infringement of third party intellectual property rights warrant such action. These policies are in addition to and do not affect or modify any other rights the company may have under law or contract. If you believe that copyrighted material has been used in violation of this policy or otherwise been made available on the service in a manner that is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law, you may contact our Designated Agent as follows:
   
   Caressa D. Bennet
   Bennett & Bennett, PLLC
   6124 MacArthur Blvd
   Bethesda, Maryland 20816
   Tel: (202) 371-1500
   Fax: (202) 371-1558
   cbennet@bennetlaw.com
   
   
4. The company may, but is not required to, monitor your compliance, or the compliance of other subscribers, with the terms, conditions or policies of the Service Agreement and AUP. You acknowledge that the company shall have the right, but not the obligation, to pre-screen, refuse, move or remove any content available on the service, including but not limited to content that violates the law or this Agreement.

 
II. SYSTEM PERFORMANCE 

The company provides residential and commercial mass market customers with a choice of data plans to meet their needs.   The company offers the following mass market services and typical speed ranges. These speeds were calculated based upon use of the Xtremelabs speedtest application, a third party resource. The speeds listed below were achieved using multiple cellular devices and at various locations.

Service                 Download (Range)                 Upload (Range)                      Latency (ms)

Edge ‘2G’       90 kbps (35-180kbps)             75 kbps (35-165kbps)             688

UTMS ‘3G’     2.2Mbps (1.6-3.7Mbps)          2.4Mbps (1.8-3.5Mbps)          200

While the company provisions its network and equipment to ensure that its customers can enjoy the speeds to which they subscribe, Internet speeds generally result from a “best effort” service and are dependent on a number of variables, many of which are outside the control of an Internet Service Provider. Such variables include: the age and processing capability of the user’s phone or device; the number of applications running simultaneously; the presence of viruses or malware; the distance the data packets must travel between the user and the website; the presence of congestion on and technical configuration of any intervening networks; any gating or congestion management schemes employed by websites to limit download or upload speeds in cases where multiple users are served simultaneously; the terrain in an area; weather conditions outside of the company’s control; the number of simultaneous connections to the network by other customers. The company does not guarantee that a customer will achieve the speeds set forth above at all times. Rather, the foregoing data speeds represent the best information available to the company of the typical speeds a customer can expect to experience under normal operating conditions.

Speed tests that allow customers to test the upload, download and latency performance of their broadband data services are available free of charge from a number sources. Generally, these tests are influenced by the same variables that affect Internet speed set forth above. Accordingly, the speed results would not be expected to match a test of the company’s network conducted under laboratory conditions. Please note, however, that all speed tests use different methodologies to calculate Internet connection speed so each of the tests would be expected to yield different results. Accordingly, each of these tests should be viewed as a helpful guide rather than as a definitive measurement of performance. The following are several sites, unaffiliated with the company, that provide speed testing:

http://www.speedtest.net

http://netalyzr.icsi.berkeley.edu

http://www.broadband.gov/qualitytest/about/

www.mobilespeedtest.com

III.  NETWORK MANAGEMENT

The company utilizes a network architecture that is designed to provide users with true speeds and reliability even during times of peak demand. The network has been constructed to meet projected traffic demands and is scalable to allow for capacity to be added to meet customer needs and to support newly developing and increasingly sophisticated applications well into the future. However, congestion can occur on any IP network, and, when it does, packets can be delayed or dropped, leading to service degradation and delays. Currently the company has not instituted a traffic management policy to ensure a standard speed for all customers. The company may institute traffic management procedures and software in the future at the company’s discretion.

As the company does not currently employ a traffic management policy, the company does not discriminate against particular applications. Users remain free to access the websites of their choice and run the applications of their choice consistent with the AUP.

The company does take measures to protect its network and ensure that its AUP is enforced. For example, the company has deployed measures to prevent spam, viruses, and other malware for customers receiving SMS (text) messages from an e-mail address. Other network elements such as MMS (picture) messages, e-mail messages, and websites are currently not monitored or blocked on the customer level. Additionally all network pieces are protected by the use of firewalls and other network protection practices to ensure the privacy and protection of our network and customer information. The company does not generally interfere with or manage the use of specific protocols or ports.

Mobile handsets are offered as part of the company’s mobile data service plans. Customers are provided with a variety of handset options and a choice of data plans tailored to their individual needs and circumstances. It may not be possible to use the handsets utilized by one mobile data provider with the services offered by another mobile data provider due to differences in spectrum, data platform and air interface. The company does currently allow customers to purchase phones from other vendors and/or use a phone from another carrier so long as it is compatible with our network. We currently have a GSM and UMTS network deployed that utilizes SIM cards. The company does not guarantee the service quality, speed of data services, or the availability of data services to be used on phones not purchased from the company. The company will make all attempts to work on the device to provide the same standard and quality of service that would be received from equipment purchased from the company however it may be impossible for the company to do so. The company does not discriminate against or limit access to lawful third party applications

All users are fully responsible for securing their equipment, including wireless routers, to prevent unauthorized access to the network by third parties and will be held fully responsible for the actions of such third parties that gain unauthorized access to the network through unsecured end user equipment, including the payment of any overage charges accessed for going over allowed data volume with customers plan.