Mainstay Communications
Network Management Practices Policy Disclosure
Pursuant to the Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC") "Open Internet" rules (Part 8 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations), the policies of Mainstay Communications ("Mainstay'') regarding reasonable network management practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms are provided in entirety so that Mainstay's current customers, prospective customers, third-party content Mainstays and other interested parties can make informed choices regarding the broadband Internet access services offered by Mainstay, and the extent Mainstay's network management practices may affect those services.
Network Management Practices
In the interest of providing the best online experience possible for all of Mainstay's customers, Mainstay utilizes reasonable network management practices tailored to achieve legitimate network management purposes. Because bandwidth is a limited resource for broadband Internet service Mainstays, it is essential that Mainstay reasonably manages its network to promote the use and enjoyment of the Internet by all of Mainstay's customers. By engaging in reasonable, nondiscriminatory, and responsible network management, Mainstay prevents its customers from being subjected to the negative effects of spam, viruses, security attacks, network congestion, and other risks that threaten to degrade service or are unwanted by customers. The network management practices employed by Mainstay are consistent with industry standards and the FCC's Open Internet rules.
Congestion Management
In case congestion should occur on the network or the Internet, Mainstay does not discriminate against any application, service, device, content, customer, or website to manage any such congestion.
Monitoring Usage and Traffic
Mainstay affords full access to all lawful content, services and applications available on the Internet and does not routinely monitor, inspect or store the network activity and traffic of its Internet service users. However, Mainstay reserves the right to monitor bandwidth, usage, transmissions and content from time-to-time for purposes of protecting the integrity of the network, other users on the network and Mainstay's Internet access service through reasonable network management practices.
Mainstay's network management practices are not intended, nor implemented, to block consumers from accessing the content and applications of their choice, deprive consumers of their entitlement to competition, or discriminate against or in favor of certain network traffic. End users with questions, concerns or complaints regarding Mainstay's network management practices are encouraged to contact Mainstay for issue resolution.
Application-Specific Behavior
Mainstay does not make use of any application-specific network management practices. Mainstay does not favor, modify, inhibit, rate control or block any specific protocols, protocol ports or fields, or any applications or classes of applications.
Device Attachment Rules
Mainstay provides, at no additional charge, necessary hardware for attaching user devices to Mainstay's network. Mainstay does not specifically limit device types for attachment within its network; however, Mainstay does not guarantee the functionality of devices other than those provided by Mainstay. In order for a device to be approved for use on Mainstay's network, the device must conform to publicly available industry standards and be non-harmful to Mainstay's network.
Security
Mainstay offers its customers unrestricted access to all of the lawful content, services, and applications available on the Internet. Mainstay uses industry standard tools and generally accepted best practices and policies to protect our customers from spam, phishing, and other unwanted, unlawful, or harmful online content and activities. In the instances where these tools and policies identify online content as harmful, unlawful, or unwanted, the content may be prevented from reaching customers, or customers may be permitted to identify or inspect content to determine if it is harmful or unwanted.
Performance Characteristics
The advertised speed of Mainstay's Internet service is the maximum speed achievable with the technology utilized by Mainstay. While the maximum advertised speed is attainable for end users, several factors may affect the actual speed of Mainstay's Internet service offerings, including, but not limited to: the end user's computer, modem or router, activity during peak usage periods, other Internet traffic, and—for wireless service only—the distance of the consumer's home or office from Mainstay's central office (i.e., the further away the customer is from our wireless base station, the slower the broadband speed).
Based on internal testing using platform-specific test protocols, and a consumer accessible speed tests available at www.mainstaycomm.net/speedtest, in addition to other standard publicly available speed tests found on the web, the mean upload and download speeds are typically the advertised speed plus or minus 10%.
Assuming the user's equipment and applications are sufficient, the actual speeds achieved with Mainstay's Internet service offering make Mainstay's Internet service suitable for real-time applications, such as Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP").
Mainstay does not offer any specialized services.
Mainstay offers broadband Internet access service via a Fiber to the Home ("FTH") network. Mainstay's internal testing established a mean round trip latency of 20 ms to local ports.
The advertised speed of Mainstay's wireless broadband Internet access service is the maximum speed achievable with the technology utilized by Mainstay. While the maximum advertised speed is attainable for end users, several factors may affect the actual speed of Mainstay's Internet service offerings, including, but not limited to: network coverage in the area, the amount of network traffic at any given time, weather conditions, and interference from other devices.
Mainstay's unlicensed wireless service mean upload and download speeds are typically the advertised speed plus or minus 10%. Mainstay's internal testing established a mean round trip latency of 50 ms.
Privacy Policy
Mainstay's full Privacy Policy can be found at www.mainstaycomm.net/privacy_policy-new.html. It contains some provisions relating to network management, in addition to these.
Contact Us
If you have any questions regarding Mainstay's Network Management Practices Policy or would like to file a complaint with Mainstay regarding its network management practices, please contact Mainstay at:
Company: Mainstay Communications
Attn: Internet Business Manager, Postal Address: PO Box 487, 1000 N. Main Street, Henderson, NE 68371
Phone Number: 402-723-4448
Fax Number: 402-723-4451
Email Address: mainstay@mainstaycomm.net Web URL: mainstaycomm.net
For additional information, please review Mainstay's Terms and Conditions of Use, at: http://www.mainstaycomm.net/terms_of_use.html.