In the interest of providing the best online experience possible for all of Mountain West Technologies (MWT) customers, we utilize reasonable network management practices tailored to achieve legitimate network management purposes. Because bandwidth is a limited resource for broadband internet service providers, it is essential that we reasonably manage our network to promote the use and enjoyment of the Internet by all of our customers. By engaging in reasonable and responsible network management, we prevent our customers from being subjected to the negative effects of spam, viruses, security attacks, network congestion and other risks that threaten to degrade service. The network management practices employed by MWT are consistent with industry standards taking into account the particular network architecture and technology of the broadband internet access service. The MWT network employs fiber optic cables, licensed and unlicensed broadband microwave for point-to-point and unlicensed microwave and fiber optic cable for customer premises connections.
MWT's general policy is not to block any lawful internet traffic. Reports of attacks on outside internet sites from customers equipment can result in temporary blocks to protect other systems while the problem is mitigated. We do at times block internet networks that come to our attention that are, or have attacked our systems, or our customers systems or have tried to subvert internal systems to amplify or instigate attacks or other systems on the Internet. We do have a permanent block on DNS queries from the internet trying to reach servers on our customers networks as this is a well known denial of service attack and an industry standard. Those customers that have the technical ability to protect DNS servers from amplification attacks can request being exempted from this block. There is no charge for this exemption.
It is possible that demand at peak times on specific network elements might exceed the capacity of such device or equipment. In those times we will use congestion management practices to ensure all of our customers retain access to a "fair share" of bandwidth resources. When the network nears a state of congestion, the congestion management tools, practices and/or software employed will identify segments of the network which have a predetermined, aggregated level of bandwidth usage and limit the throughput of that segment until the congestion abates. Affected customers will still be able to do anything they want online but those customers may experience slower downloads and uploads and Internet/website response times. The congestion management practices prefer COS tagged Voice traffic so that properly tagged phone calls will still work reliably. A phone call is a very small data stream that has negligible impact on overall data traffic. Other than Voice traffic the congestion management practices utilized by Mountain West are "protocol agnostic" meaning that the network does not manage congestion based on the online activities, protocols or application a customer uses. Mountain West Technologies monitors its network to identify segments where congestion is occurring or likely to occur and attempts to engineer solutions to eliminate that congestion in a reasonable frame of time.
The only limiting or throttling that is employed by Mountain West is to enforce the speed tier that the customer is subscribed to. This is enforced at our Network Operations Center and is strictly "protocol agnostic".
Mountain West Technologies is a CLEC offering voice phone in much of it's service area. This service is provisioned in a proprietary manner that is outside of the normal Internet offerings of Mountain West Technologies. Mountain West employs industry standard Quality of Service methods to protect this voice traffic from congestion. Voice calls are very small data streams that have a negligible impact on overall data traffic.
Mountain West Technologies does not provide any service or employ any practice that favors some traffic over other traffic in exchange for consideration, monetary or otherwise in our Internet offerings.
Mountain West does not make use of any application-specific network management practices other those noted above relative to proprietary voice services. Mountain West does not favor, modify, inhibit, rate control or block any specific protocols, protocol ports or fields, or any applications or classes of applications other those noted in the above Blocking section Mountain West Technologies Open Internet Disclosure Document.
Mountain West offers its customers unrestricted access to all of the lawful content, services and applications available on the Internet. We use industry standard tools and generally accepted best practices and policies to protect our customers from spam, phishing and other unwanted or harmful online content and activities. In the instances where these tools and policies identify online content as harmful or unwanted, the content may be prevented from reaching the customers, or the customers may be permitted to identify or inspect content to determine if it is harmful or unwanted. Mountain West currently utilizes a spam and virus filtering email application. The customer can set the level of protection they want or opt-out of it entirely. While Mountain West attempts to aid the customer in preventing spam, phishing, and other unwanted or harmful content. The final responsibility falls on the customer to protect their equipment from the outside and to do routine maintenance to ensure that they are not victims of Internet criminals.
In order for a device to be approved for use on our network, the device must conform to publicly available industry standards and be non-harmful to Mountain West's network. In some cases Mountain West will specify the device that makes the direct connection to the Mountain West network to provide configuration or management necessary for the proper operation of the network.
Service Description
Mountain West Technologies offers broadband Internet access service and a suite of services based on IP technologies. Including Fiber-To-The-Premise, Digital Subscriber Line ("DSL"), fixed Wireless, layer two private networks, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), hosted PBX, as well as managed network operations and support. Mountain West Technologies have Data Centers in Casper, Wyoming and Cheyenne, Wyoming with a physical presence in Seattle and Denver Internet Exchanges. The Mountain West network was designed to support low latency real time applications such as VoIP, video streaming and video gaming. The advertised speed of Mountain West Technologies service is the maximum speed achievable with the technology utilized limited to the speed tier the customer has chosen. While the maximum advertised speed is attainable for end users, several factors may affect the actual speed of Mountain West's Internet service offerings including, but not limited to: the distance of the consumer's home or business from Central Office; wireless interference; the end user's computer, modem or router; activity during peak usage periods; and other Internet traffic. The Internet is a collection of networks from around the world interconnected in a complex and dynamic way. Most of the Internet is outside the reach or control of Mountain West Technologies and may have congestion or routing issues which MWT is unaware of or unable to correct.
Impact of Non-Broadband Internet Access Service Data Services
Mountain West Technologies may sell layer two services to business or governmental entities. This traffic may traverse some of the same network elements as customer Internet traffic. This has the potential to impact customer's traffic. The links are monitored for capacity without regard to the type of traffic. All traffic is treated as best effort and no preference is given to the layer two services.
Pricing
In order to meet the usage and budgetary needs of all of our customers, Mountain West offers a wide selection of broadband Internet access plan options, including promotional offerings, bundled service choices and ala carte alternatives. To see our current promotions and pricing for broadband Internet access service, please visit our website at www.mwtn.net or call 307-233-8400 to speak with a customer service representative. Mountain West also provides specialized network services, the price is negotiated directly with the customer at the time of contract negotiation.
Usage-Based Fees
Mountain West's Internet service is priced on a flat-fee basis plus taxes. We do not charge end users a usage-based fee for Internet service.
Early Termination Fees
If a customer previously entered into a service agreement with Mountain West for broadband Internet access service for a defined service term, and the customer desires to terminate the service agreement prior to the expiration of that term, Mountain West may charge a reasonable early termination fee if such a fee is clearly indicated in the service agreement. Mountain West waiver of installation term agreement does contain an early termination fee. Mountain West Technologies Open Internet Disclosure Document
Equipment Return Charges
Mountain West routinely supplies radios, power supplies or other customer premises equipment. If a customer discontinues service and the customer does not return the equipment supplied by Mountain West. Mountain West may charge a reasonable amount to replace the missing equipment. Persons wishing to return equipment can arrange for return by calling 307 233-8400 and talking to a customer service representative.
The various network management tools and techniques utilized by Mountain West do not monitor, inspect or store the network activity and traffic of its Internet service users. Furthermore, as part of its network management practices, Mountain West does not distribute information on network activity and/or traffic to any third party, or use network traffic information for any non-network management purpose. Mountain West reserves the right to monitor bandwidth, usage, transmissions and content for purposes of protecting the integrity of the network and Mountain West's Internet access service through reasonable network management practices. Mountain West may collect equipment information to identify the equipment the customer is using on the network including, but not limited to, equipment type, serial number, settings, configuration and software. Mountain West may also collect performance information to examine the operation of the equipment, services and applications the customer may use on the network including, but not limited to, IP addresses, URLs, data transmission rates, latencies, location information, security characteristics, information about the amount of bandwidth, and other network resources the customer is using in connection with uploading, downloading or streaming data to and from the Internet. Network traffic, activity, performance information and equipment information monitored or collected by Mountain West is done so for the sole purpose of reasonable network management purposes. Mountain West is required to comply with relevant laws, regulations and judicial orders. Information covered under this Privacy Policy, as well as other categories of information, may be disclosed to third parties if Mountain West determines, in its sole discretion, that such a disclosure is necessary or required. Mountain West may also disclose this information if, in its sole discretion, such a disclosure is necessary or required to protect its interests or the interests of our customers. Mountain West may also disclose this information in connection with the sale of its business. Mountain West's network management practices as discussed herein are intended solely to provide the best online experience possible for all of Mountain West's customers by safeguarding our network and its users from span, viruses, phishing and other unwanted or harmful online content and activities. Mountain West's network management practices are not intended, nor implemented, to block consumers from accessing the content and application 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 Mountain West's network management practices are encouraged to contact a member of our Technical Support staff for issue resolution.
If you have any questions regarding Mountain West Technologies Practices or would like to file a complaint please contact Mountain West at:
Attn: Escalations
PO Box 2588
Casper, Wyoming 82602
escalations@mwtcorp.net
307 233-8400
The Open Internet Rules, as adopted, and Mountain West's network management practices are not intended to affect, alter or otherwise supersede the legal status of cooperative efforts by broadband Internet access service providers and other service providers that are designed to curtail infringement in response to information provided by rights holders in a manner that is timely, effective and accommodates the legitimate interests of providers, rights holders and end users. Furthermore Mountain West's Network Management Practices do not prohibit Mountain West from making reasonable efforts to address the transfer of unlawful content or unlawful transfers of content. For additional information, please review Mountain West's Acceptable Internet Use Policy and Subscriber Agreement.
Changes to this Policy
The Internet is a dynamic environment with ever changing threats and challenges. Mountain West Technologies at it's sole desecration, reserves the right to make changes to this document in response to changing regulation, threats, or conditions. Please return and review this document periodically.
