Open Internet Policy
Solarus
Network Management Practices, Performance Characteristics, and
Commercial Terms and Conditions for Broadband Internet Access Services
(Broadband and Fixed Wireless Broadband)
Service Offerings
Solarus (“the Company”) offers internet access service, which provides customers the capability to transmit data to and receive data from the internet. The Company provides fixed broadband service in the Company’s local telephone service area (“Broadband Service”), and resells the service of other Internet Service Providers outside of its local telephone service area (“Resale Broadband”). The Company also provides wireless internet access service within and outside of its local telephone service area (“Fixed Wireless Broadband”). Please refer to https://www.solarus.net/check-availability for information on which services are available in your area.
This statement describes the network management practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms and conditions for the Company’s Broadband and Fixed Wireless Broadband services. For information on the network management practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms and conditions for Resale Broadband Service, please see http://www.att.com for Resale Broadband Service offered in the Stevens Point and Plover areas, and http://www.frontier.com for Resale Broadband Service offered in the Marshfield and Wausau areas.
The Company has adopted the following network management practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms and conditions for its Broadband and Fixed Wireless Broadband services in compliance with the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Framework requirements (GN Docket No. 09-191 and WC Docket No. 07-52).
These practices, characteristics, terms and conditions are intended to help preserve the internet as an open framework that promotes consumer choice, freedom of expression, end-user control, competition, innovation and investment, while permitting the Company to manage its network reasonably.
These practices, characteristics, terms and conditions are effective as of November 20, 2011. The Company may add, delete, or modify these practices, characteristics, terms and conditions from time to time at its sole discretion in accordance with applicable law. These practices, characteristics, terms and conditions will be maintained and updated on this website.
1. Network Management Practices
The Company manages its network with the goal of reducing or mitigating the effects of congestion on the network and ensuring network security and integrity. The Company does not guarantee or warrant that it can prevent or reduce the effects of spam, viruses, security attacks, network congestion, and other phenomena that can degrade the service of affected customers.
Use of the Company’s network is subject to the Company’s General Terms and Conditions for Internet Services, which may be viewed at https://www.solarus.net/terms, and the terms of the Company’s customer service agreements, the forms of which may be viewed at https://www.solarus.net/master-services-agreement.
A. Congestion Management Practices
Congestion is an internet access service problem that can slow web browsing, downloading, and other activities of customers during certain peak usage periods. The Company has experienced no recent problems with congestion. If congestion becomes a problem, the Company may implement reasonable network management practices tailored to reduce or mitigate the effects of congestion on the network, taking into account the particular network architecture and technology of the Company. Reasonable network management practices that the Company may adopt include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) a cap on data usage; (ii) modification of serving facility or service technology; and/or (iii) a modification of or a limitation on data throughput speed or data consumption.
B. Application-Specific Behavior Practices
The Company does not favor or inhibit lawful applications or classes of applications. Customers may use any lawful and commercially available application which they desire on the Company’s network.
The Company does not normally monitor the contents of the traffic or applications of its customers. It undertakes no obligation to monitor or investigate the lawfulness of the applications used by its customers. If any party contacts the Company with a substantial allegation that an application being used by a customer is unlawful, the Company will investigate the matter (including consultation, as it deems appropriate, with attorneys, consultants, federal or state regulators, and/or federal, state or local law enforcement agencies), and will take appropriate actions to deal with the use of applications that are demonstrated to be unlawful.
The Company blocks specific ports in relation to firewalls. Customers are required to use Company’s mail server as a means of controlling spam. If a customer prefers full access without this protection, the customer may subscribe to a public IP address.
C. Device Attachment Rules
The Company does not have any approval procedures that must be satisfied before a device can be connected to its network. Customers may use any lawful, compatible, type-accepted (if necessary) and commercially available device which they desire on the Company’s network, as long as such device does not harm or circumvent the network and is not intended to redistribute Company’s broadband internet access services, except as may be specifically permitted in a customer’s service agreement.
The Company does not normally monitor the devices used by its customers. It undertakes no obligation to monitor or investigate the lawfulness of the devices used by its customers. If any party contacts the Company with a substantial allegation that a device being used by a customer is unlawful, the Company will investigate the matter (including consultation, as it deems appropriate, with attorneys, consultants, federal or state regulators, and/or federal, state or local law enforcement agencies), and will take appropriate actions to deal with the use of a device that is demonstrated to be unlawful.
D. Security Practices
The Company does not normally monitor the traffic of its customers. It undertakes no obligation to monitor or protect customer traffic from spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks, or other malicious, unlawful or unwanted activities.
The Company makes available anti-spam services to its customers at no additional charge. The Company does not guarantee or warrant that its anti-spam service will prevent the undesirable effects of spam that can degrade the service of affected customers. The Company recommends that customers purchase (and keep up-dated) spam filtering and anti-virus software or services from commercial vendors to meet their needs, as long as such software or services do not disrupt or degrade the traffic of other customers of the Company or harm the Company’s network.
A customer that is subjected to a denial-of-service attack, or similar malicious, unlawful or unwanted activity, is urged to notify the Company as soon as possible. The Company will work with the customer, other service providers, federal and state regulators, and/or law enforcement to determine the source of such activity, and to take appropriate, and technically and economically reasonable efforts to address the matter.
The Company employs commercially appropriate security procedures to protect its network and its customer records from unauthorized access by third parties. The Company does not guarantee that it can protect customers from any and/or all security breaches.
E. Traffic Blocking
Subject to reasonable network management practices that may be implemented from time-to-time, the Company does not knowingly and intentionally block, impair, degrade or delay the traffic on its network so as to render effectively unusable certain content, applications, services and/or non-harmful devices. However, the Company notes that congestion may from time to time impair, degrade, or delay some traffic.
The Company does not charge edge service providers of content, applications, services and/or devices a fee simply for transporting traffic between the edge service provider and its customers.
II Performance Characteristics
The Company’s general terms and conditions for internet services are set out at https://www.solarus.net/terms.php, in the Company’s Privacy Policy, at https://www.solarus.net/privacy and the customer service agreement, forms of which may be viewed at https://www.solarus.net/master-services-agreement. The service and performance characteristics of the internet access service that the Company offers through resale outside of the Company’s local telephone service area are described at http://www.att.com for Resale Broadband Service offered in the Stevens Point and Plover areas, and http://www.frontier.com for Resale Broadband Service offered in the Marshfield and Wausau areas.
A. Service Speed and Latency
The Company’s service agreements generally describe the speed and performance of the Company’s internet access services. Actual access speeds and time delays (latency) are impacted by type of service provided, the length, capacity and congestion of the Company’s network, middle mile transport facilities (between the Company’s service area and Internet nodes) and the internet destination. The Company can assist customers in testing their own equipment and connection to determine the customer’s actual access speed and latency. The Company offers a speed test which its customers can access at https://www.solarus.net/speedtest. The Company does not guaranty any particular upload or download speed.
Solarus makes every effort to support advertised speeds and will dispatch repair technicians to customer sites to perform speed tests as needed to troubleshoot and resolve speed and application performance caused by Solarus’ network. Solarus measures availability, latency, and aggregate utilization on the network and strives to meet internal service level targets. Solarus is also required by the FCC to test a random set of customers for speed and latency periodically during the year. This transparency statement discloses that Solarus will perform these tests. If additional equipment is required for a selected customer for this testing, Solarus will contact the customer to schedule installation of the equipment.
Based on the best information available to the Company, in tests it has conducted during a typical weekday night between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm, average speed for Broadband services were as follows:
Broadband
1.0Mb/s X 1.0Mb/s Internet Service
Average Download: 1Mb/s
Average Upload: 989kb/s
Latency: 26ms
5.0Mb/s X 5.0Mb/s Internet Service
Average Download: 4.89 Mb/s
Average Upload: 4.76 Mb/s
Latency: 16ms
The Company’s service is generally suitable for real-time applications. The service a customer subscribes to will impact the efficiency of the real-time applications.
B. Impact of Specialized Services
The Company’s network is used to provide IP video services to end-users. This specialized service has not adversely affected the last-mile capacity available for the Company’s broadband internet access services, or the performance of such services. Significantly heavy use of specialized services (particularly IP video services) may impact the available capacity for and/or the performance of the Company’s broadband internet access services.
III. Commercial Terms and Conditions
The Company’s general terms and conditions for internet services are set out at https://www.solarus.net/terms.php, in the Company’s Privacy Policy (https://www.solarus.net/privacy) and the customer’s service agreements, the forms of which are located at https://www.solarus.net/master-services-agreement. The Company reserves the right to modify its service offerings at any time.
A. Pricing Terms and Conditions
The Company offers different tiers and levels of service at different prices, and changes the available tiers and levels of service as well as the prices from time to time. Currently available service tiers and levels, and the prices for each are detailed at https://www.solarus.net/master-services-agreement.
The Company does not impose usage-based fees upon certain tiers or levels of its service.
Fees for early termination (where applicable) and additional network services are contained in greater detail in the general terms and conditions for internet service section of this website and the customer’s service agreement.
B. No Unreasonable Discrimination
The Company does not unreasonably discriminate in its transmission of lawful traffic over the broadband internet access services of its customers.
The Company does not block, impair, degrade or delay VoIP applications or services that compete with its voice services and those of its affiliates.
The Company does not block, impair, degrade, delay or otherwise inhibit access by its customers to lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices.
The Company does not impair free expression by actions such as slowing traffic from particular websites or blogs.
The Company does not use or demand “pay-for-priority” or similar arrangements that directly or indirectly favor some traffic over other traffic.
The Company does not prioritize its own content, application, services, or devices, or those of its affiliates.
C. Privacy Policies
The Company’s network management practices do not generally entail inspection of network traffic.
The Company does not retain, store or provide customer traffic information, except as required by law under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (“CALEA”), the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) or other applicable national security or criminal statutes.
The Company’s Privacy Policy is set out at https://www.solarus.net/privacy.
D. Redress Options
Questions and complaints regarding the foregoing matters should be addressed to the Company at 715-421-81111 or info@solarus.net.
The Company strongly desires to resolve questions, complaints and other problems of its customers and edge service providers in an informal and direct manner that satisfies all interested parties to the greatest extent practicable. Customers and edge service providers that are not able to obtain satisfaction from the Company have the option of invoking the FCC’s informal and formal complaint procedures regarding Open Internet Framework disputes
