Open Internet Disclosure Statement of ACCESS

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) requires that we provide you with the following information regarding ACCESS’ broadband Internet access service to schools and libraries through the federal E-rate program, including information regarding any network management practices that ACCESS employs, the performance characteristics of our services, and the terms of our service offerings.    The disclosure is intended to provide current and prospective E-rate customers and providers of “edge” products (i.e., providers of content, applications, service and devices accessed over or connected to ACCESS broadband Internet access service) with sufficient information to make informed choices regarding the use of such services.

The information provided below applies solely to the portion of our network that provides broadband Internet access service, as defined by the FCC.  Other portions of our network may be used to provide other services, such as phone service, each of which are subject to their own terms and conditions of service.  Nothing herein is intended to address the network management practices, performance characteristics, or commercial terms that may be implemented by the schools and libraries which are the end users we serve, in connection with their provision of Internet service to others.

The information provided herein may be revised from time to time as ACCESS deems appropriate and should be read in conjunction with ACCESS’ Privacy Policy available at www.access-k12.org,  ACCESS’ Acceptable Use Policy and the Terms of Service for ACCESS' Internet service available at www.access-k12.org.

NETWORK PRACTICES

Congestion Management

ACCESS manages its network to supply its customers with high quality Internet service.  The FCC permits broadband Internet access service providers, such as ACCESS, to employ “reasonable network management practices” to manage network congestion, where needed.  Since schools and libraries purchase our service for primarily educational usage, ACCESS is particularly attuned to ensuring consistent service at requested speeds for those purposes.

ACCESS implements filtering and spam detection to manage reliable email sources and mitigate spam that could affect the network. ACCESS reserves the right to apply “reasonable network management practices” that are commonly used in our industry, as deemed necessary to protect our customers from activities, such as security attacks or extreme traffic spikes, that can negatively affect all or significant portions of the network and may cause service degradation or system overload.  

Usage Limits

ACCESS does not currently employ usage-based limits on the broadband service provided to its customers.  

Application Specific Behavior

ACCESS does not discriminate against or prevent users of its broadband Internet access service from accessing lawful content or services; running lawful applications and services of their choice; or connecting their choice of legal devices, so long as such applications, services and/or devices do not harm the network or the provision of broadband Internet access service, facilitate theft of service, or harm users of the service. Moreover, ACCESS does not impair or degrade specific content, applications, services or non-harmful devices so as to render them effectively unusable, subject to any reasonable network management practices described herein.  

ACCESS reserves the right to employ reasonable network management practices to prevent specific harmful or illegal activity, such as the dissemination of viruses or other malicious code or the transfer of child pornography or other unlawful content.

Device Attachment Rules

ACCESS' Internet access service utilizes router(s), switch(es) and other devices that are owned and managed by ACCESS, not the customer.   The customer is responsible for any customer-owned equipment connected to ACCESS' Internet access service.  ACCESS does not require use of any specific devices.

Security

ACCESS employs certain practices to ensure the security of our customers and our right to protect our network.  These include practices intended to protect ACCESS servers against Denial of Service attacks and to prevent harmful elements such as viruses, spam and identity theft. To that end, ACCESS utilizes equipment to monitor, detect and mitigate threats, including but not limited to Denial of Service attacks, Malware attacks, Botnets, etc., as much as possible to protect our network  

PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS

Service Description

ACCESS offers their customers Internet access service with speeds and features customized to the needs of the individual school or library.  In general, Internet access is available at speeds from 1MB to 1GB, upstream and downstream.  For information concerning the particular metrics associated with your service, please reference your Internet access service agreement or call ACCESS at  330-965-2829.

The FCC requires that we disclose information regarding the expected and actual speed, latency and packet loss for our Internet access service.  ACCESS utilizes the bandwidth monitoring service PRTG to receive real-time measurements of our service so that we can ensure that customers receive their requested level of service.  

ACCESS uses PRTG to monitor and report downstream and upstream speeds for our  1GB service to the point of presence in each school.

The actual speeds achieved by customers within the schools may vary based on a number of factors, including but not limited to: (a) the performance and capabilities of customer’s computer; (b) the connection between a customer’s computer and local area network devices ; (c) the distance a packet of information must travel from customer’s computer to its final destination on the Internet; (d) congestion or variable performance at a particular website or destination; or (f) performance characteristics of transmissions over the Internet that are outside of ACCESS' control.  

While there are a number of available tools online that are optimized for residential broadband service, these tools may not provide an accurate measurement of your commercial Internet access service.  Please take this into consideration when relying on these measurements and contact ACCESS directly with any questions regarding your system performance.  

The FCC also requires ACCESS to provide information regarding latency and packet loss.  Latency measures the average time it takes for a data packet to travel from one point on a network to another.  It is typically measured by round-trip time utilizing milliseconds.  While Latency generally does not have a significant impact on day-to-day Internet usage, certain applications may be particularly affected by latency, such as high-definition multiplayer online games.  ACCESS utilizes PRTG to monitor and measure latency.

Information sent or received from the Internet is transmitted in units known as packets.  Packet loss may occur as a result of network congestion.  ACCESS utilizes PRTG to measure and monitor packet loss.

Real-time PRTG information is available to each customer through the ACCESS Bandwidth Portal available on our website.  Each customer is provided login credentials to view real-time and historical information pertaining to bandwidth usage and packet and latency (PING) values.

Impact of Specialized Services

The FCC’s “Open Internet” rules distinguish between our broadband Internet access and “specialized services” that share capacity with our broadband Internet access services.  Examples of these “specialized services” may include ACCESS' business phone services which utilize voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”) technology.  Use of these services, which are not subject to the same rules as our broadband Internet access services, share bandwidth with our Internet access service and because of the nature of the service may sometimes receive priority on our network.  As a result, increased use of these services may affect our broadband Internet access service at certain times.  ACCESS monitors the impact of these services on our network to minimize their impact on our broadband Internet access service.

COMMERCIAL TERMS

Pricing

ACCESS provides its customers with broadband Internet access service pursuant to customer specific agreements.  Pricing is dependent on a number of factors, including location of the service, backbone transport pricing from third party vendors, and duration of the broadband Internet access service agreement. Current customers can locate pricing information on their service agreement or by contacting ACCESS directly.  Prospective customers can obtain pricing information by contacting ACCESS for information.  Current or prospective customers interested in obtaining E-rate funding for services are reminded to take note of the applicable competitive bidding rules to ensure compliance.

Privacy Policy

ACCESS values the privacy of our customers. The personal information that you provide to ACCESS is governed by our Privacy Policy available at www.access-k12.org/Page/255. , which is subject to change from time to time.  

Redress Options

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your service, please contact us at 330-702-7860l [email protected].

Written complaints may be sent via U.S. mail to:

ACCESS

493 Bev Road, Unit 1

Boardman, Ohio  44512

The FCC has established procedures for addressing informal and formal complaints relating to its “Open Internet” rules.  For information concerning these procedures, please refer to the FCC’s website at http://www.fcc.gov/guides/getting-broadband.