Terms & Conditions

Craw-Kan Terms of Service, Network Management Practices and Performance Standards

General Information

In this document, the terms “you” and “your” refer to customers of Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Internet Access Service. The terms “we” and “our” refer to CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. and Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Internet Access Service.

Definitions

Service

Internet access purchased from CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. This includes: (1) connectivity from your equipment at your premises to the Internet equipment at Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. office; (2) connection of Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. equipment to the Internet; and (3) Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 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

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

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. Unless you have purchased a Committed Bandwidth service that specifically guarantees a fixed bandwidth, such as a T-1 circuit, it is not a guaranteed bandwidth. CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. will make its best effort to transmit your data in a timely fashion; however, CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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.

CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. strives to make your total nominal bandwidth available for you to use within our network. CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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 other than Committed Bandwidth 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. 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.

CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. may block any service, protocol, source, or destination that CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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, or court order.

At this time, CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. does not implement network management techniques when congestion occurs; however, in times of congestion on Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. network, CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. may, at its sole discretion, implement reasonable network management techniques to protect the services of all of Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. customers so that each customer has adequate service quality. CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. will not implement network management if degradation of service is caused by congestion on portions of the Internet outside of Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. network. CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. will notify our customers on this website of changes to our network management policy.

Devices & Software that may be Attached to Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Internet Access Service

There are no restrictions on types of devices you may connect to Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. network other than that they must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for use in the United States telecommunications network. You may not connect any equipment to Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 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 Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. network. If you have questions about any particular equipment, please call us at 620-724-8235.

Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 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 Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Internet access service. If you have any questions, please call us on 620-724-8235, 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

CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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 620-724-8235.

CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. provides a level of protection for your computers from spam, viruses, and other malicious or unwanted items. While CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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 CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. website.

Use of Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 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 Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. network, unless you have purchased a Committed Bandwidth service that specifically guarantees a fixed bandwidth, such as a T-1 circuit, CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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

CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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. CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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.

CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. does not store your data, or sell or reveal it to any third parties.

CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. 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.

Performance Standards

Service Description - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) cooper service is utilized to deliver triple play services to all member territories.

Service Description - Fiber to the Home (FTTH) broadband service uses glass cables to deliver triple play services to some member and all non-member territories.

* Actual performance based internal testing.

Impact of Specialized Services - CRAW-KAN TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. offers IPTV and Voice over our existing residential copper infrastructure and residential fiber to the home infrastructure. These services are independent and do not disrupt each other as bandwidth is allotted to compensate for overhead.

Maintenance Window and Emergency Maintenance

We reserve the right to perform required systems and network maintenance, as needed and without prior notice, between 11:59PM and 4:00AM as needed. This maintenance could cause intermittent service outages. We also reserve the right to perform emergency maintenance and repairs outside of this window if required. We are not responsible for loss of income or other damages incurred while performing scheduled maintenance or unscheduled emergency maintenance. While we strive to achieve 100% network uptime with no outages, this is not guaranteed or promised.

Contact Us

If you have questions or comments regarding our network management policies or practices, please contact us at 620-724-8235 or www.ckt.net.

Craw-Kan Acceptable Use Policy

General Information

Craw-Kan Telephone (CKT) is committed to providing high-quality Internet services for its customers. This Acceptable Use Policy (the “Policy”) is designed to assist in protecting the Service, our Users, and the Internet community as a whole from improper and/or illegal activity over the Internet. By using the Service, you acknowledge that you and your Users are responsible for compliance with the Policy. You are responsible for violations of this Policy by any User that accesses the Services through your account. The Policy will be updated and revised occasionally and posted to the CKT website.

Illegal Activity

Use of CKT Services for any purpose that is unlawful or in connection with any criminal or civil violation is prohibited. Services shall, in all cases, be used in compliance with applicable law. The transmission, distribution, retrieval, or storage of any information, data, or other material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, without limitation, the use or transmission of any data or material protected by copyright (please see the CKT DMCA Policy), trademark, trade secret, patent, or other intellectual property right without proper authorization, and the transmission of any material that constitutes an illegal threat, violates export control laws, or is obscene (adult content), defamatory, or otherwise unlawful. CKT will investigate incidents involving such violations and may involve law enforcement if a criminal violation is suspected. Depending on the severity or illegality of the infraction, CKT may provide a 5-day grace period to correct the action, or services may be immediately suspended.

Network Security Requirements and Violations

Users are required to protect and secure their network against possible security vulnerabilities and breaches. Violations of system or network security are prohibited and may result in criminal and civil liability. The only exceptions to this section are when the Customer is performing Network Assessment or Network Penetration Testing of their own network and CKT has been notified in advance of these types of permitted activities. In the case of permitted Network Assessment or Network Penetration Testing, at no time will Customer perform such activities on other customers of CKT or any other network without explicit permission. Examples of system or network security violations include without limitation:

• Attempting to use or gain unauthorized access to data, accounts, hosts, servers, systems, or networks of this site, or to probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of a system or network of this site, any CKT Service, or those of any other party on this network
• Interference with service to any user, host, or network including – without limitation – mail-bombing, flooding, or attempting to overload the system
• Forging any TCP-IP packet header or any part of the header information in an e-mail or newsgroup posting
• Falsifying address information or otherwise modifying e-mail headers to conceal the sender’s or the recipient’s identity
• Using services to engage in activities that violate any terms or conditions of any other network access provider or Internet service provider

Email Relay - Any use of another party’s electronic mail server to relay e-mail without express permission from such other party is prohibited.

Email Fraud (Spoofing) - Users are prohibited from sending e-mail messages or transmitting any electronic communications using a name or address of someone other than the User for purposes of deception. Any attempt to impersonate someone else by altering a source IP address information or by using forged headers or other identifying information is prohibited. Any attempt to fraudulently conceal, forge, or otherwise falsify a User’s identity in connection with use of the Service is prohibited.

UCE/Spamming/Mail Bombing - Transmitting excessive volumes of unsolicited commercial e-mail messages or excessively large attachments to recipients constitutes Unsolicited Commercial E-mail “UCE” and is prohibited. In addition, “spamming” or “mail bombing” is prohibited. The use of the service of another provider to send UCE, SPAM, or Email Bombs to promote a site hosted on or connected to CKT is prohibited. You may not use the Service to collect responses from mass unsolicited e-mail messages. UCE/SPAM/Email Bomb violations will result in immediate censure and suspension of the user’s network access.

Destructive Activities - Distributing information regarding the creation of and/or sending Internet viruses, worms, Trojan Horses and other destructive activities are expressly prohibited. Engaging in activities—whether lawful or unlawful—that CKT determines to be harmful to its customer relations, operations, reputation, or goodwill is prohibited. These activities include:

• Denial of Service attacks
• Computer Hacking of any kind
• Defamatory or abusive language
• Illegal activities of any kind
• Copyright infringement
• Intellectual property infringement

No Adult Content Site Policy - CKT prohibits the use of our Internet Services for the purpose of hosting, transmitting, or distributing what it considers to be “adult content.” This restriction applies to all customers and all managed services. Adult content sites are often blocked or banned, and the affected or blocked IP ranges could impact other CKT customers. Violations of this policy will result in the immediate termination of customer Internet network access.

Rights of CKT

If Users engage in conduct while using the Service that is in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy or is otherwise illegal or improper, we reserve the right to suspend and possibly terminate the Service or the User’s access to the Service.

Any failure by CKT to insist upon User compliance, or enforce performance of any provision in this Policy will not be construed as a waiver of any provision or right. Neither the course of conduct between the parties or any procedure or practice will act to modify any provision in this Policy and Agreement. CKT may assign its rights and duties under these terms to any party at any time without notice to you. If any provision of this agreement is deemed unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision will be deemed severable from these terms and conditions so that it does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

CKT reserves the right to modify this Policy and Agreement at any time.

Craw-Kan DMCA Policy

Three Strikes Copyright “Repeat Infringer” Termination Policy

General Information

The Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative (“Craw-Kan”) Acceptable Use Policy prohibits subscribers from using Craw-Kan’s Internet access and other related services to infringe upon copyrights, patents, trademarks, and any other intellectual property rights.

Craw-Kan’s DMCA policy is to suspend and, if necessary, terminate Internet access service to “repeat copyright infringers” in “appropriate circumstances.”

Craw-Kan’s “Three-Strike” Policy for “Repeat Infringers”

Craw-Kan has established a clear “three-strike” policy to identify and take appropriate action when subscribers receive notices alleging repeated copyright infringement. Under this policy, any subscriber receiving three (3) strikes is considered a “repeat infringer” and Internet access is terminated unless the subscriber responds reasonably disputing the veracity of the notices or otherwise provides an appropriate explanation (e.g., fair use).

A “strike” is defined as any one or more proper notices from a copyright claimant in any one-week period, with, in the case of a subsequent strike, the notice of claim following at least ten (10) business days after the date of Craw-Kan’s prior notification to the subscriber. Craw-Kan will attempt to educate the subscriber, as appropriate (e.g. offering information on how to secure a wireless internet router).

The “three-strikes” policy will identify and address “repeat” offenders. The ten (10) business-day grace period is to follow the counter-notice period specified in the DMCA (with regard to hosted content) and give subscribers a fair chance to provide counter-notice.

Procedure

1. First Strike. Craw-Kan will send written notice to each subscriber for whom Craw-Kan has received any one or more notices of claimed copyright infringement. Craw-Kan will send written notice by electronic mail or U.S. Mail. Craw-Kan’s customer notice will include information about the alleged infringement.
2. Second Strike. Upon receiving one or more notices from a copyright claimant that would constitute a second “strike” as defined above (i.e., a copyright infringement notice more than ten (10) business days following the first notice to the subscriber), Craw-Kan will make a second contact by telephone or, if necessary, electronic or U.S Mail.
3. Third Strike. Upon receiving one or more notices from a copyright claimant that would constitute a third “strike” as defined above (i.e., a copyright complaint more than ten (10) business days following the second notice to the subscriber), Craw-Kan will immediately terminate internet service, attempt to contact the subscriber by telephone, and also mail a final disconnection notice to the subscriber’s billing address.

Reconnection

In the event of termination in accordance with the above escalation policy, the subscriber would not be eligible for reconnection for six-months unless approved by the General Manager. Reconnection charges may also apply.