COTC Open Internet Disclosures
The
policies that follow apply to the advertised broadband Internet services
offered by Central Oklahoma Telephone Co. (“COTC”). (COTC additionally offers business-level
services that may be customized to customer requirements. Information on customized business-level
services may be obtained by contacting COTC at 918-377-2241.) COTC desires to provide robust and reliable
broadband Internet service to its residential and business customers. COTC uses reasonable network management
practices consistent with industry standards to ensure the reliability of its
network is maintained and to minimize network issues. COTC does not block access to or discriminate
against any lawful website or Internet application and supports the ability of
users to select and attach the equipment of their choice behind their modem as
long as that equipment is used for a lawful purpose consistent with COTC’s Broadband Acceptable Use Policy (see below) and does
not detrimentally affect the network or degrade performance of the network for
other customers. COTC’s
broadband customers should familiarize themselves with the following policies, which
are considered part of their COTC service agreement. By using COTC’s broadband
Internet services, a customer accepts and agrees to adhere to the policies that
follow. The customer also agrees to be
responsible for compliance with these policies by third parties who use the
customer’s subscribed services or equipment to access the COTC broadband network.
Service Description
and Performance Characteristics
COTC
provides broadband Internet services to residential and business customers
using digital subscriber line (“DSL”), fiber-to-the-home (“FTTH”),
and fixed-wireless (“Wireless”) technologies.
COTC’s customer DSL modems, wireless modems, and
other proprietary network gateways (hereinafter collectively referred to as
“modems”) are configured to pass data between the modem and the COTC gateway
router at the speed of the plan for which the customer has subscribed. Customers can expect, on average, to receive
the quoted throughput for their subscribed plan on the COTC network; however COTC
does not guarantee that customers will achieve the speeds set forth below at
all times. The listed data speeds
represent the typical speeds a customer can expect to experience under normal
operating conditions. Throughput to
hosts on the public Internet can be affected by a number of factors outside of COTC’s control, which can include (but is not limited to)
external network conditions, the presence of computer viruses or malware on a
customer’s computer, the age and condition of a customer’s computer or
Internet-enabled device, the distance the data packets must travel between the
customer and the Internet server, or the bandwidth available to the server
itself.
In
an effort to allow customers to gauge the speed and latency of their subscribed
service, COTC has made a speed testing website available to its customers at http://bandwidth.cotcconnections.net. Please note that this testing site may not
reflect the exact speeds listed in the plan descriptions that follow. Factors including (but not limited to) the
presence of computer viruses or malware on a customer’s computer, the age and
condition of a customer’s computer, or unknown and/or unreported telephone line
trouble may cause reported speeds to be lower than the speeds listed in the
plan descriptions. Alternatively,
customers can verify speed using a variety of third-party websites, such as
www.broadband.gov/qualitytest/about/ (as of November 20, 2011), to measure the
provisional speeds of COTC’s broadband service. Such third-party websites are not affiliated
with COTC and the company does make any guarantees as to the accuracy of test
results obtained through those third-parties.
COTC’s DSL and FTTH
service plans are the following:
|
Bronze
--- DSL and FTTH (Application) |
|
|
Silver
--- DSL and FTTH (Application) |
|
|
Gold
--- DSL and FTTH (Application)
COTC’s Fixed-Wireless service plans
are the following: |
|
Basic
--- Wireless |
|
|
Advanced
--- Wireless |
|
|
Deluxe
--- Wireless |
Network Management Practices Congestion
Management COTC’s broadband network has been
designed to provide users with broadband speeds and reliability at all times,
including during periods of peak demand. The network has been designed to meet current
and projected traffic demands.
However, as with any data network, congestion can occur, which may
lead to packets being dropped or delayed, causing service delays and/or degradation. Network
resources are shared by all of COTC’s customers;
therefore COTC reserves the right to implement traffic management policies
that have been designed to allow all customers to utilize their fair share of
network resources during periods of higher-than-normal demand. (Some customized business-level accounts
are provisioned for dedicated bandwidth.
Those customers’ available bandwidth is not shared with other COTC
broadband customers.) In the event of
network congestion, all traffic is classified as best effort. In general, COTC’s
broadband plan provisioned data speeds are capable of supporting applications
such as real-time gaming, video streaming, and Voice over IP; but because
COTC does not prioritize such traffic, some applications that require
real-time communications may not always perform optimally. Application-Specific
Behavior COTC does not make use of any
application-specific network management practices. COTC does not favor, modify, inhibit,
rate control, or block any specific protocols, protocol ports or fields, or
any applications or classes of applications.
However, unless a customer subscribes to a customized business-level
service, it is COTC’s policy that a customer may
not operate a publicly accessible email, web, or FTP server on the COTC
broadband network. Security Measures COTC offers
its broadband Internet customers unrestricted access
to all of
the lawful content, services, and
applications available on
the Internet. However, COTC does use tools and policies
to protect its customers from spam and other unwanted or harmful Internet
content. When these tools and/or
policies classify Internet content as harmful or unwanted, that content may
be prevented from reaching customers (e.g.,
malware traffic may be blocked; see next paragraph), or customers may be able
to inspect the content to determine if it is harmful or unwanted (e.g., customers have the option of downloading
email messages that COTC servers have identified as spam). In the event of a Denial of
Service (DoS) or other malicious traffic on its
network, COTC will implement inbound and outbound traffic filtering and/or
blocking on specific source and destination IP addresses and/or ports to
ensure proper performance and reliability of the COTC broadband network. Such traffic blocking measures will not be used
for normal Internet traffic. In the
case of malicious network activity, notification and forensic information may
be made available to appropriate law enforcement agencies for investigation. See Privacy Policy at http://www.cotc.net/privacy.html
for more information on data collection. COTC reserves the right to limit
or block network traffic without prior notice to any customer who is
suspected to be in violation of the Broadband Acceptable Use Policy (see
below) and/or any customer whose computer, router, or other equipment is
either intentionally or unintentionally responding to DHCP
requests from other customers, performing port-scans, ping floods, or other
malicious activity. COTC will not be held
responsible for any breach or a user’s system security or losses of any kind
resulting from such security breaches. This includes any data intercepted in
transit on our network or the Internet. Device Attachment Rules DSL
modems, wireless modems, or other proprietary network gateways used on the
COTC broadband network must be provided by COTC. Customers may attach devices of their
choosing to their modems, including wired or wireless routers, laptops,
desktop computers, video game systems, televisions, or other network-enabled
electronics equipment. However, customers
are responsible for ensuring that their equipment does not harm COTC’s network or impair the service of other
customers. COTC is not responsible for
the functionality or compatibility of any equipment provided by its
customers. Customers are responsible
for securing their own equipment to prevent unauthorized access to COTC’s broadband network by third parties and will be
held responsible for the actions of such third parties who gain unauthorized
access through unsecured customer equipment.
Broadband Acceptable Use Policy COTC
Broadband Service user accounts are for individual users and the account
holder therefore agrees not to share the password of the account. The account holder acknowledges that COTC
may terminate the account after appropriate notification if the account
holder does not comply. Any use of COTC
resources that disrupts the normal use of the system for other users is
deemed to be unacceptable. Such
unacceptable uses include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Contact COTC
If
you have any questions about these disclosures or network management practices
or would like to make a complaint, please contact COTC at:
Central
Oklahoma Telephone Co.
P.O. Box 789
223 Broadway
Davenport, OK 74036
918-377-2241
info@cotc.net