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Connecting families, communities and businesses since 1997 |
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Service Contract & Acceptable Use Policy Introduction Welcome to USFamily.Net. USFamily.Net provides personal and business Internet Access Services. For the Gigabit Minnesota Acceptable Use Contract go to https://gigabitmn.com/acceptableuse.html Acceptance of Acceptable Use Policies and this Contract By using USFamily.Net facilities, services or resources, Subscriber is indicating acceptance to the terms and conditions set forth in this document. Updates Updates to this contract may take place at any time and are effective 30 days thereafter. USFamily.Net is not Liable USFamily.Net is not liable, and you agree not to hold USFamily.Net liable, in any way for any actions of its subscribers or for services incurred by you or any subscriber either wittingly or unwittingly. USFamily.Net is not liable for any Long Distance fees incurred by its subscribers. USFamily.Net is not responsible for any damages or fees incurred by users due to viruses, Internet scams, fraud, or failure of a subscriber to properly understand operation of their computer or operational instructions or suggestions from USFamily.Net support. You agree to indemnify USFamily.Net, its affiliates, officers, agents, directors, shareholders and employees from and against any and all liabilities, expenses (including attorney's fees) and damages arising out of claims based upon use of USFamily.net, including any claim of libel, defamation, violation of rights of privacy or publicity, loss of service by other users and infringement of intellectual property or other rights. Privacy As a Subscriber, you are fully responsible for the privacy of, content of and liability of your own communications. The persons and organizations, including USFamily.Net Subscribers, who publish materials and information which are accessible through USFamily.Net are solely responsible for the content of such materials and information and are solely responsible to know and to comply with all laws applicable to the publication of such materials and information. USFamily.Net does not accept responsibility for the content of the materials and information published by others which are accessible through the USFamily.Net networks and does not accept responsibility for the violation of any laws resulting from such publication. With the exception of information specifically authored by or on behalf of USFamily.Net, USFamily.Net does not develop or publish, nor does USFamily.Net review, censor or edit the materials and information which are accessible through USFamily.Net, or the materials and information which are accessible through the other computer networks which may be connected to USFamily.Net. USFamily.Net does not censor, limit or control the information that comes in and out of our system, except in accordance with the provisions of this agreement and applicable law. We will rely on the complaints from any of the following: 1.) Other Users on the USFamily.Net
system. Legal Authorities USFamily.Net will cooperate promptly with lawful requests from properly identified law enforcement agencies. Immediate Action We will take immediate action against any USFamily.Net Subscriber who abuses any USFamily.Net facilities, services or resources. USFamily.Net will review all complaints or instances of inappropriate utilization of facilities, services or resources. USFamily.Net will decide at its sole discretion what action is to be taken, including the termination of account services. If you have any complaints about other Subscriber's utilization of USFamily.Net's services or facilities please contact us at once. At our discretion we reserve to right to warn a user once before termination of services. Termination for abuse does not qualify for refund. Legal Age All Subscribers must be of legal age and may be required to provide proof of age. Resale As a Subscriber, you may not resell this service or access to this service in any way unless prior written arrangement with USFamily.Net has been made. You may not "lend" use of your account outside immediate family members. Release of Information For your protection, USFamily.Net will never release information to other parties unless required to do so by the appropriate authorities. Prior to such disclosure, USFamily.Net will make a reasonable effort to notify the Subscriber or the Authorized Representative. Usage by others - family members only Your account may be used by yourself or members of your immediate family. Use of your account by someone other than yourself or immediate family members may cause your service to be terminated. Family members must be legal dependents and reside in the same household. Multiple Users - Dial-up Use Concurrent logins of the same account are not permitted. Multiple users connected via a single account using a LAN, router, router software, multi-port modem etc. is not permitted and must use a business access account or LAN access account. Multiple Users - DSL Use Concurrent logins on the same account at the same residential address from multiple computers is permitted. Sharing of a USFamily.Net Internet access account with anyone outside of the precise address responsible for the account is prohibited (including wirelessly). SPAM - prohibited Sending of unsolicited e-mail to many addresses (SPAM) or any illegal activity is strictly prohibited. Violation will result in immediate disconnection without refund. Civil Discourse Any individual unable to maintain a civil communication or demeanor when in contact with USFamily.Net is asked to please take their business elsewhere. Any uncivil or obnoxious behaviors towards USFamily.Net employees can and most likely will result in immediate disconnection. Our support department is happy to attempt to help solve any technical or billing issues however USFamily.Net employees are not paid or trained to deal with difficult people, are not responsible for your behavior, equipment, telephone system connections, or failure to read and understand this contract, the priority system or the differences in our plan offerings including Unlimited (inexpensive shared) versus Dedicated (expensive always on) services. Employees are authorized to disconnect or ignore support calls or e-mails containing profanity or other uncivil communications or behaviors. We reserve the right to tell your mother. Unsolicited profanity - prohibited Sending of unsolicited e-mail containing profanity, pornography, abusive language, threats, or illegal activity is strictly prohibited. Violation will result in immediate disconnection without refund. Tagline USFamily.Net appends its tagline to outgoing email as part of the "Regular" dialup plan. The tagline is optional for all other plans. Automated Electronic Messaging Customer agrees to allow USFamily.Net to automatically notify customer via automated electronic messaging (electronic mail and automated voice telephone messaging) regarding billing issues and other important account information. Unattended Use - prohibited Unattended use of your account (line camping) is strictly prohibited. Processes run by your account must be run interactively. Unattended processes will be terminated. Bots and spamming are not allowed. Automated Access - prohibited Automated e-mail probes or other automated access is strictly prohibited. Web Page Content All Accounts are allowed to have Web Pages as a separate cost option. USFamily.Net reserves the right to refuse services based on Web Page content or resource utilization. Available Use USFamily.Net services are provided on an as available basis and USFamily.Net makes no warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied in connection with the products or services provided hereunder. USFamily.Net INTERNET SERVICES SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Neither USFamily.Net nor USFamily.Net officers, employees, directors, agents or staff shall be responsible for any liability or damages you suffer or others may suffer, which arise out of or relate in any way to this Agreement or your use of other's use of the services provided hereunder. This includes, but is not limited to, any liability for lost profits, loss of opportunity, loss of data, or any other loss including that which may result from any use, misuse, delay, non-deliveries, mis-deliveries, service interruptions, negligence, errors or omissions. Use of any information obtained via USFamily.Net's' network is at your own risk. USFamily.Net specifically deny any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through our services. Unlimited Use Low cost dial up Internet service is a shared not dedicated service. Unlimited service means there are no extra fees regardless of the number of hours utilized. While other services may have busy signals to control total available resources USFamily.Net uses a priority system providing a fairer allocation of the total available resources. Dedicated service is also available but is many times more expensive than an unlimited shared account. Continuous connections are prohibited. National Pool Rules Premium Users and users in non-core cities (equipment not owned by
USFamily.Net) have access to our subcontracted national pool. This pool is not a priority
pool and has rules governing abuse set buy the national supplier which users must conform
to. The net-b.us pool has a hard 150 hour/mo limit along with other rules. Excessive Use USFamily.Net reserves the right to discontinue service to any user for any reason not prohibited by law. USFamily.Net will discontinue service of users whose usage is so excessive that it deteriorates the service quality and availability of resources for other users. System use policies It is the responsibility of all USFamily.Net Subscribers and their constituents who have access to USFamily.Net and to the networks of other providers, to comply with the USFamily.Net Service Agreement & Acceptable Use Policy and the acceptable use policies governing those networks. It is the responsibility of all Subscribers and others who have access to USFamily.Net to: Observe laws Use USFamily.Net facilities, services or resources in a manner which does not violate any applicable laws or regulations; Respect Privacy Respect the privacy of other users, and to not intentionally seek information on, obtain copies of or modify files, other data or passwords belonging to other users without permission; Respect copyrights Respect the legal protection provided by copyright, trademark, licenses and other laws to programs, data and documents. You may not upload to USFamily.Net any data or software that is subject to distribution or copyright limits. You have the sole liability for any data or software uploaded to USFamily.Net; Minimize anonymous material Minimize un-authenticated or anonymous access accounts and the transmission or distribution of messages or articles from those accounts; Be kind to others Use USFamily.Net facilities, services or resources in a manner which does not interfere with or disrupt other network users, services or equipment. Such interference or disruption includes, but is not limited to: 1.) Wide-scale distribution of
messages to inappropriate forums or mailing lists (Spamming) Use good judgement All users are expected to use good judgment. A flexible, friendly atmosphere can be maintained if every Subscriber uses the service with care. As the Subscriber, you are responsible for actions taken by your account and are required to follow all applicable laws and statutes. Account Suspension & Cancellation terms and conditions: Unless under contractual obligation, USFamily.Net Subscribers have the right to cancel their accounts at any time, for any reason. USFamily.Net reserves the right to suspend and/or cancel any USFamily.Net account in accordance with the provisions of this Service Agreement & Acceptable Use Policy or for any reason not prohibited by law. If your account is suspended or interrupted, you are not relieved of the obligation to pay the monthly account charges. Only a written notice to cancel this agreement relieves you of future charges. If you send us written notice via e-mail, we will contact you or your authorized representative by phone to confirm your decision to cancel this agreement. If you cancel this agreement, payments for pre-paid months beyond the current month shall be refunded unless under contractual obligation. Refunds must be requested, there is no automatic system for refunds 6 and 12 month (incentive priced) subscriptions: (Example: A 12 month subscription is prepaid at $107.88. The account is terminated after the 5th month. The account defaults to a monthly subscription account. The monthly service is $12.99 per month plus a $10.00 annual administration fee. $107.88 less 5 months at $12.99 each, less the $10.00 administration fee = $107.88-$64.95-$10.00 resulting in a credit of $32.93 at termination).* *The monthly rate increased from $11.99 to $12.99 as of 01/01/2009 All refunds are void after 90 days unless otherwise stated. Cancellation: Please always confirm your cancellation with a service rep by phone or e-mail response. Cancellations can never be accepted via voice mail. Tip: If you have not received a documented reply to a cancellation, changing your payment type from credit card to pay-by-check online will doubly ensure your credit card is not accidentally billed before the cancellation is processed. You can check that your account is cancelled online under "my account/view demo and stats". Your account should be listed as disabled. Billing All accounts will be billed by credit card, in six month increments, unless otherwise arranged. Billing is automatic and recurring each billing period until cancellation. Credit Cards Subscribers selecting credit card payments will have their payment automatically processed each billing period until the account is cancelled by the subscriber. Checks There is a $3 fee for a 6 month payment by check. There is no check fee for a 12 month payment. A monthly billing option by check or creditcard is available for $3/month. Chargebacks, NSF, and Returned Checks Subscribers are liable for a $25 fee for charge backs (telling your credit card company to return payment to you) or checks returned for reasons such as "not sufficient funds". Legal Action In the event USFamily.Net should commence any action or actions, or otherwise seek to enforce this agreement against Subscriber, Subscriber agrees to pay reasonable attorney(s) fees, court costs and other expenses incurred by USFamily.Net, whether or not suit is filed. USFamily.Net reserves the right to assess legal fees, including attorney and court fees, upon any Subscriber, who by their action or inaction directly or indirectly causes USFamily.Net to be a defendant, co-defendant or to have to testify in any civil or criminal legal action or arbitration. Not Transferable This agreement is strictly confidential and is not transferable or assignable without prior written consent of USFamily.Net. Subscriber agrees that any change in liability for any debts incurred to USFamily.Net due to a change in Subscriber's form of business, shall not be effective as to USFamily.Net, until USFamily.Net receives actual notice of the change by certified mail. Personal Websites Personal websites are strictly for personal, tasteful, non profit and noncommercial use. Personal websites may not be addressed by any other domain name without express written permission from USFamily.Net. Entrepreneurs are allowed to use personal websites to develop a commercial website but must upgrade to a business website within 6 months or if 1000 hits per month is exceeded. Personal websites or content may be restricted at anytime at our sole discretion without notice. Enforcement and Violations: Each USFamily.Net Subscriber shall be responsible to distribute, publicize and enforce the USFamily.Net Acceptable Use Policy at their sites. In addition, each USFamily.Net Subscriber shall provide this policy to appropriate administrative authorities at all sites connected to theirs via connections not directly supported by USFamily.Net. If USFamily.Net becomes aware that a USFamily.Net Subscriber is in violation of the law or this Service Agreement & Acceptable Use Policy, USFamily.Net reserves the right to impose disciplinary action up to and including, the expulsion of the Subscriber from USFamily.Net, termination of USFamily.Net services, and forfeiture of all fees paid to date. Evidence of illegal or prohibited activities may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities. Service Plans: Regular Includes unlimited Priority Access hours per month. This plans only include access from your home city. Standard +30 Includes unlimited Priority Access hours per month where 30 hours are added to your current priority to give a higher priority. This plan also allows 2 city access. (i.e. Winter and Summer Homes) Premium +60 Includes unlimited Priority Access hours per month where 60 hours are added to your current priority to give a higher priority. This plan allows traveling access to our entire network. Dedicated DSL 24 hour per day connection. Semi-Dedicated Dialup Option for Heaviest Users A semi-dedicated incoming line for the Heavies home users that cannot get DSL or cable. Telecommute +300 A semi-dedicated incoming line for the typical business hours of the customer without a priority timer. Typically a 10 hour window. Priority System A users current priority is the total time used in the last 1 month (i.e. previous 30 days) minus premium hours. It is recalculated each night and does not start over at 0 at any time. Priority Access is a copyrighted load management system which prevents the few heavy users from causing busy signals for normal users. In normal conditions, when access lines are open, you are free to use our system at any time 24 hours per day regardless of your access plan. If resources become tight during peak usage times the lowest priority user will temporarily lose access and be notified by e-mail. This system provides the best possible and fairest access for the least possible price without excess charges. Subscribe to the plan that provides your basic needs but never pay for extra time. Our national plans and pools use standard Internet technology, not our Priority system. Busy Signals Our priority system assures that lines are always available entering our equipment. We are not responsible for telephone company or other equipment failures that can also cause busy signals even when lines are available. These are generally recognizable as "fast busy" signals. Service outages are generally listed on our website under "Help". DSL Priority Low cost DSL is intended for interactive single family usage including web
surfing and email and not for multi-user server or file sharing operations. Business or
metered DSL is available for server or heavy usage needs. To avoid impact caused by
over-utilization by individual heavy users, heavy users (the top 1-5% heaviest users in
the past 30 days) are automatically grouped together where they can only affect the
performance of other similarly heavy users. Additionally, ports utilized by viruses and
servers may be disabled. DSL Metering DSL lines are capable of streaming up to $1000/mo of bandwidth per month each. Business or server applications are metered for usage. Metered accounts have a maximum monthly data usage in Gigabytes, after which additional charges are incurred. Contact your salesperson for the right sized dsl account to meet your needs. Metering starts the 1st day of each calendar month. A warning is issued at mid-month if usage is over 50% of the free allocation and email notices are issued daily once usage exceeds the free allocation on any account. Any overage is billed to the account on the last day of the month. Users can view their usage for the month at https://secure.usfamily.net/view.html by clicking the "show month" button. Unmetered accounts which are frequently categorized into the heavy user pools may be required to upgrade to a metered account or may be terminated as customers per the excessive use clause in the acceptable use contract. Open Internet Disclosure Please click here to read our Open Internet Disclosure document Modifications to this policy: Updates to this contract may take place at any time and are effective 30 days thereafter.
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