Updated: 11/18/2011

BPS Networks

Acceptable Use, Network Management and Conditions of Service Policy

Application of this Policy

This Agreement is between BPS Networks and Subscriber and constitutes the entire and only agreement with respect to the subject matter and Internet services herein.  This Agreement is applicable to Subscriber and all users of Subscriber's account. This Agreement supersedes all representations, agreements and other communications with respect to the subject matter except as expressly set forth in this document. This Agreement can be amended at the sole discretion of provider without notice to, or permission of subscriber. This Agreement shall be deemed acceptable to both parties by subscriber’s continued use of the service. If any term of this Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the Agreement shall be construed in such a way as to eliminate the offending term while giving as much effect as possible to the intentions of the parties. Provider may authorize or allow its contractors and other third parties to provide services necessary or related to performance under this Agreement and may collect payment on their behalf. Notice under this Agreement may be made by any reasonable means, including email, postal service or publication over the Service.

BPS Networks commits to the open and non-discriminatory use of the Internet by its customers and commits to use reasonable network management practices to ensure an open Internet.  BPS Networks will manage its network and provide access in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Open Internet Rules (adopted December 21, 2010 in 25 FCC Rcd 17905) and in compliance with any future rules adopted by the FCC.

Transparency

 BPS Networks shall make available public information on its website (http://www.bpsnetworks.com/node/2) regarding its network management practices, performance and commercial terms of its service sufficient for consumers to make an informed choice regarding their use of such services. The version located at that URL shall be considered the current and applicable version of this Agreement.

BPS Networks will not unjustly or unreasonably prevent or interfere with competition among content, applications, service, or device providers.

The Service
The Service consists of the transmission of data communications via the network infrastructure and access to content stored on servers owned or operated by BPS Networks or on BPS Networks behalf. This Agreement specifies the actions prohibited by BPS Networks to users of our network. This Agreement, also, outlines recourses and rights reserved by BPS Networks under this policy.

Fees and Payment

Subscriber shall pay all taxes, fees, charges and other amounts for the Service at the rates in effect for the current billing period. BPS Networks shall make available to Subscriber a statement for each billing cycle showing payments, credit purchases and other charges. Payment is due in full each month. If payment is not received before the due date shown on the statement Subscriber's access to the Service shall be restricted. Subscriber may be charged a late fee and may be subject to other fees and charges or termination of the account. Credit amounts shall not accrue interest. Subscriber shall pay the reasonable costs of any collection agency, attorney or court used by BPS Networks to collect past due amounts or to enforce this Agreement. A reactivation fee will be required before Service is reactivated after termination. BPS Networks may sell, assign or transfer Subscriber’s account to a third party without notice to Subscriber. In the absence of notice, Subscriber must continue to make all required payments in accordance with Subscriber’s billing statement.

Endorsement
BPS Networks does not endorse or in any way vouch for the accuracy or completeness of any content made available through the Service. BPS Networks does not recommend that such content be relied on by Subscriber without appropriate verification.

Network Security and Congestion Management

BPS Networks uses generally accepted technical measures to provide acceptable service levels to all customers, such as application-neutral bandwidth allocation, as well as measures to address service attacks, illegal content and other harmful activities to protect network integrity and reliability.

BPS Networks reserves the right to prioritize traffic based on real time and non-real time applications during heavy congestion periods based on generally accepted technical measures.  BPS Networks reserves the right to set speed thresholds on the amount of data you as a customer can upload and download within stated time periods.  If you exceed these thresholds, BPS Networks may temporarily limit the speed at which you can send and receive data over the BPS Networks access network.  BPS Networks may use other traffic management and prioritization tools to help ensure equitable access to the BPS Networks network for all customers. 

BPS Networks reserves the right to monitor customer usage to efficiently manage the performance of the network to ensure a sustainable quality broadband service is provided.  Peak network usage is between 4 pm and 11 pm Monday – Friday and 10 am – 11 pm Saturday and Sunday.  During peak usage times, priority is given to applications such as browsing, email, streaming, instant messaging, gaming and VoIP. 

Congestion due to malfunctioning hardware and/or software will be remedied as quickly as network engineers can diagnose and identify the offending hardware / software.

Congestion due to malice will be remedied using any technique available, including protocol-aware filtering and rate-limiting, to control and limit the offending source. BPS Networks may seek criminal charges against those who inflict network malice.  BPS Networks may also attempt to recover costs incurred from network malice.

Illegal Use

The BPS Networks’ network may be used only for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution or storage of any material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right used without proper authorization, and material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws.

Copyright Infringement/DMCA

Copyright Infringement: Some of the information available on the Internet is protected by copyright laws. Unless you have permission from the copyright holder, you are not allowed to copy or redistribute this information to others via any format, including use of this information on radio, television or printed media, such as newspapers, magazines or newsletters, and electronically. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), an agent has been designated to receive notification of a claimed copyright infringement for BPS Networks. Any claims of copyright infringement should be directed to:  

Robert Haas, Network Administrator:
BPS Networks
120 Stewart Street
PO Box 550
Bernie, MO 63822

Voice: 1-573-293-2638
Fax: 1-573-293-2299

System and Network Security

Violations of system or network security are prohibited, and may result in criminal and civil liability. BPS Networks will investigate incidents involving such violations and may involve and will cooperate with law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected. Examples of system or network security violations include, without limitation, the following:

·         Unauthorized access to or use of data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without express authorization of the owner of the system or network.

·         Unauthorized monitoring of data or traffic on any network or system without express authorization of the owner of the system or network.

·         Interference of service to any user, host or network including, without limitation, mail bombing, flooding, deliberate attempts to overload a system and broadcast attacks.

·         Forging of any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an email. Forging unique identifiers including mac-addresses.

·         Abuse of limited resources including but not limited to IP Addresses, Bandwidth or Disk Space.

Sharing of Service

Sharing of service is prohibited. Subscriber may not resell the Service to a third party. Subscriber may not allow a third party to utilize his/her connection. Subscriber is responsible to protect his/her password. Subscriber’s account is intended for the use of Subscriber and members of his/her IMMEDIATE HOUSEHOLD ONLY. Service may not be extended beyond the physical address of the demarcation point, regardless of ownership.

Email/SPAM
Sending Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE", "spam"). The sending of any form of Unsolicited Bulk Email through BPS Networks’ servers is prohibited and grounds for immediate account termination without notice. Likewise, the sending of UBE from another service provider advertising a web site, email address or utilizing any resource hosted on BPS Networks’ servers, is prohibited and grounds for immediate account termination without notice. BPS Networks accounts or services may not be used to solicit customers from, or collect replies to, messages sent from another Internet Service Provider where those messages violate this Policy or that of the other provider.

Running Unconfirmed Mailing Lists. Subscribing email addresses to any mailing list without the express and verifiable permission of the email address owner is prohibited. All mailing lists run by BPS Networks customers must be Closed-loop ("Confirmed Opt-in"). The subscription confirmation message received from each address owner must be kept on file for the duration of the existence of the mailing list. Purchasing lists of email addresses from 3rd parties for mailing to from any BPS Networks-hosted domain, or referencing any BPS Networks account, is prohibited and grounds for immediate account termination without notice.

Operating an account on behalf of, or in connection with, or reselling any service to, persons or firms listed in the Spamhaus Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) database at www.spamhaus.org, is prohibited and grounds for immediate account termination without notice.

Servers
Users are not permitted to establish servers on any BPS Networks connection without prior, written consent from BPS Networks. Types of servers specifically banned include, but are not limited to:

·         Sharing of files (ftp servers and peer-to-peer sharing software, such as Napster® or Gnutella® are examples)

·         Mail servers (SMTP or POP3/IMAP servers)

·         Web Servers

Blocking

BPS Networks shall not unjustly or unreasonably block access to lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices, subject to reasonable network management. 

Discrimination

BPS Networks shall not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic over a consumer’s broadband Internet access service, subject to reasonable network management practices. 

Rights Reserved by BPS Networks Under This Policy

BPS Networks reserves the right to monitor the connections of its Subscribers for the purpose of enforcing this policy. BPS Networks reserves the right to impose additional fees to cover the cost of such monitoring if, in the course of our investigation, Subscriber is found in violation of this policy. BPS Networks reserves the right to terminate, at our sole discretion, the account of any Subscriber for any reason, including, but not limited to violation of this policy. In the event that a subscriber’s account is terminated under this policy due to abuse, illegal activity or other violation of this policy, subscriber may be subject to termination fees as outlined in subscriber’s contract. BPS Networks reserves the right to perform network management as it deems fit, this includes but is not limited to QOS measures and bandwidth allocation.

Disclaimer of Warranties

ACCESS TO THE SERVICE IS NOT GUARANTEED. THE SERVICE IS DISTRIBUTED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR OTHERWISE.

Limitation of Liability

NEITHER PROVIDER NOR ANY OF ITS INFORMATION OR CONTENT PROVIDERS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, LICENSORS, EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF SUBSCRIBER’S USE OF THE SERVICE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE OR ANY BREACH OF ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY. IN ANY EVENT, NO SUCH LIABILITY SHALL EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT ACTUALLY PAID BY SUBSCRIBER FOR SERVICES PROVIDED UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE PRIOR TWO (2) MONTH PERIOD.

Subscriber Liability

INDIRECT OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS OF THIS POLICY AND ACTUAL OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS BY A THIRD PARTY ON BEHALF OF A BPS NETWORKS SUBSCRIBER SHALL BE CONSIDERED VIOLATIONS OF THE POLICY BY SUCH SUBSCRIBER OR END USER.

Indemnity
Subscriber assumes all risk and liability for any use of the Service. Subscriber agrees to indemnify BPS Networks against all claims, liability, damages, costs and expenses, including but not limited to reasonable attorneys fees, arising out of or related to the use of the Service

Commercial Pricing

Please click on the following website link for pricing information including monthly prices, usage-based fees, and fees for early termination or additional network services: http://www.bpsnetworks.com/node/8.  

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact BPS Networks customer service at: 800-785-8630, 573-293-2277 or http://bpstelephone.com/contact.