Modified:
Effective: 5/97 Phone: (509) 882-4009
Fax: (509) 882-4101
This policy represents guidelines to the acceptable use of
QuickTel for data communications. It is
intended to be applicable only to the use of QuickTel’s networks. Customers of QuickTel agree to accept the sole
responsibility for abiding by the policies of any network or political or
administrative domain their messages traverse.
Customers also agree that QuickTel has no responsibility to inform the
Customer of the policies or regulations of those domains.
Usage of QuickTel’s network constitutes an agreement to
abide by these guidelines. Subscriber or
any person using the Subscriber’s login identification ordered by the
Subscriber has accepted the terms and conditions contained in QuickTel
Membership Policies Access Agreement.
Statement
of Purpose:
quicktel.com the network owned and
operated by QuickTel, Inc. has been established to:
·
Provide high quality networking services to the
business community and private users.
·
Promote and enhance network connectivity in the
regions served by QuickTel and are as follows:
Member/Subscriber
Definition:
Member/subscriber as used herein means an individual,
business, corporation or legal entity that incurs usage charges for the service
for its own use or who incurs charges on behalf of a third party.
User
Definition:
User as used herein means a Subscriber who uses the service
or an individual, corporation, or legal entity whose service usage charges are
incurred by a third party, i.e. Subscriber.
Service:
QuickTel will provide to the subscriber and it’s users access to the Internet based on the service plan
selected and further subject to conditions beyond the control of QuickTel,
including but not limited to the type and condition of the equipment of the
subscriber and/or its users.
Requirements
of Usage:
·
To respect the privacy of users of quicktel.com, and
all networks accessible via QuickTel.
·
To respect the legal protection provided by
copyright, license, and other applicable legal devices to programs,
communications, and data.
·
To respect the integrity of computing systems, and to
not use QuickTel to compromise the same.
·
To respect common usage of Usenet and E-mail
services.
Specifically
Acceptable Uses:
·
Usage for private personal or business communications.
·
Usage for public communications as suggested by the
charters of USENET newsgroups, and the known guidelines generally accepted by
the users and news administrators of the same.
·
Usage for research or educational purposes.
·
Usage for data communications in accordance with
applicable laws.
Unacceptable
Uses:
·
It is not acceptable to use QuickTel for purposes,
which violate international, federal, state, or any local law or regulation.
·
It is not acceptable to use QuickTel to transmit
threatening, obscene, or harassing materials.
·
It is not acceptable to use QuickTel to interfere
with or disrupt network users, services or equipment. Disruptions include, but are not limited to,
distribution of unsolicited advertisement, inappropriate filing of Usenet
Articles, and using the network to make unauthorized entry to any other
machines accessible via QuickTel’s Internet connection.
·
It is not acceptable to use QuickTel for purposes of
transmitting “Chain Letters”, “broadcasting”, messages to mailing lists or
non-consenting individuals, nor any other type of use which will result in
congestion of the Internet, QuickTel’s connecting networks or which would
significantly interfere with the connectivity of others.
·
It is not acceptable to use QuickTel for any malicious
purpose.
Site
Policy:
·
ONE ACCOUNT, ONE COMPUTER.
QuickTel Personal and Business
accounts may not be loaned out, shared or otherwise used by more than one
individual, in any respect including the use of the network connection, mail or
DNS service.ONE MODEM AT ONE TIME PER ACCOUNT. You may not use two phone lines for access by
one account at the same time.
·
YOU MAY NOT
MAINTAIN DIAL-UP CONNECTIONS WHILE NOT ACTIVELY USING THE SYSTEM. Leaving an idle connection up deprives other
users of access to the system.
·
Resale of Internet access in any form by any of our
subscribers is forbidden. QuickTel
provides its service to private and business end users only, unless a specific
agreement exists otherwise.
·
Unmetered service is reserved to a maximum connect time of FOUR HOURS
at one time, to ensure that every on-line user has the same connectivity
time. QuickTel reserves the right to
disconnect any user that has been on-line for more than four hours. The term "unmetered access" is
defined to mean that QuickTel does not bill you by the minute or by the hour
but instead we bill on a fixed monthly basis. There is a difference however,
between "unmetered access" versus
"dedicated access". With
unmetered access you are free to use the internet as a normal user, getting
your E-Mail, browsing the Web, etc. When
you are finished with your use however, we expect you to hang up your telephone
connection to us so that other members of QuickTel can access the Network.
"Dedicated access" means that your line to QuickTel is completely
dedicated to you. QuickTel reserves the right to terminate any account if in
their opinion their services are being abused.
·
Electronic or
mechanical means to avoid disconnect and maintain a constant connection may not
be used and is not limited to “Pinging” the mail server, electronic
or software auto-dialer features to maintain an active connection or repeatedly
checking for e-mail by auto login to the mail server.
·
QuickTel reserves the right to monitor and log all
connections to insure that the above policies are not being violated.
·
QuickTel is not responsible for any telephone charges
associated with the use of our software or Internet access in general. It is
the member/subscribers responsibility to insure that the telephone numbers they
dial are local.
Personal
World Wide Web Page Policy:
·
Personal web page is for non-commercial use by our
subscribers. You may not sell,
advertise, or promote any commercial product or service through a personal web
page. Solicitations for money, invitations
to contact the subscriber for products or services are commercial
applications. The subscriber must
purchase a commercial web site or the home page will be removed and the
subscriber will be charged the current commercial and/or VAR rate depending on
the wed service advertising starting from the date the web page was first
posted. There are no exceptions.
·
QuickTel reserves the right to remove a user’s
personal web page from the system if it produces an undue amount of traffic or
creates an excessive burden on QuickTel’s facilities.
·
Customers seeking commercial pages may purchase space
on our server separately from the personal account.
·
Subscribers wishing to offer the same products and
services as QuickTel, must first be approved and become a Value Added Reseller
(VAR) to establish such services.
Commercial World Wide Web Page Policy:
·
Commercial web pages & storage facilities are
designed to meet the needs of business owners who wish to have a business home
on the Internet. The purpose of a commercial Web page is to display information
about your company, products and services so that people from all over the
world who are interested in your particular business may find this public
information.
·
You may not sell advertising to other individuals
from your site. You also may not share or sell any left over hosting space you
may have.
·
You may promote third-party links such as pay-per-use
search engines or any affiliate programs that may relate to your business
interest.
·
We actively invite you to build your own personal
homepage because it’s easier than you might think. Basically, if you can type a
letter with your computer you can build a Web page. If you decide that you
would rather have someone build you a web page you can get assistance a number
of ways including hiring QuickTel to build you a state-of-the-art database
driven web site or static html pages. We also allow outside Web designers to
build and modify pages for customers. If you choose to have an outside Web
designer to build your site they must follow our rules. QuickTel.com is a
privately held company for which we have 100% control of all accounts. We do
not allow outside web designers to make any representation about their company
from your site including but not limited to telephone numbers, addresses, web
link, etc. Any designer found to be advertising for business from our private
network no matter the site will be billed $25.00 per month for advertising. If
we find that your designer fails to pay this the company who hired the designer
will be billed the amount for breaking the terms of our web hosting contract or
their site will be removed.
Minimum
Age:
The subscriber certifies that he or she is at least 18 years
of age. Any and all acts of minors shall
be the legal responsibility of subscriber, whether or not known or reasonably
known to the subscriber.
Violation of Policy:
QuickTel will review alleged violations of Acceptable Use
Policy on a case-by-case basis.
Violations of policy may result in termination of quicktel.com
membership and network services to members.
Usage of QuickTel’s network constitutes an agreement to abide by these
guidelines. In most circumstances we
will notify the individual involved by email, if further violations occur,
termination will follow. In result of
termination the individual involved will no longer be able to connect to our
network, and will not receive refund for their access plan. Individuals that have been
terminated and wish to re-connect will be required to pay a mandatory $10.00
reconnection fee.
No Warranties:
QuickTel and the operators of any other networks which are
used as a result of a QuickTel connection do not make any express or implied
warranty of any kind. Specifically,
there is no expressed or implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose. Neither QuickTel nor
the operators of attached networks will be responsible for any loss from
delays, non-deliveries, incorrect deliveries, service interruptions, including
those caused by negligence, errors, omissions or other losses or damages. Use of information obtained via the services
provided by QuickTel is at the individuals or organization’s own risk. The individual or organization is solely
responsible for (1) the accuracy and/or quality of information obtained or data
transmitted and (2) assuring that each message sent has been received.
Neither QuickTel nor the operators of any attached networks
shall be liable for any damage arising from any event that is out of its
control. Neither QuickTel or the
operators of any attached networks shall be liable for indirect, special,
incidental, exemplary, consequential, or any other form of money damages,
including, but not limited to lost profits, or for the loss of data or
information of any kind, however caused, and arising out of or in connection
with the performance or the provision of service by QuickTel or by the
operators of any other attached networks, whether based in contract, tort, or
any other legal theory, and whether or not QuickTel or the operators of any
attached networks has been made aware of the possibility of such damages.
Neither QuickTel nor the operators of any attached network
shall be liable for any software downloaded from the web. Or to any damages that may result from using
the web or from downloading software to any component on your personal or
networking system.
QuickTel will not be responsible for any hardware or
software damage caused by the installation of any software which it distributes
or any technical advice provided by our company.
Payment
Terms:
This is a legal binding contract in conjunction with the
sign-up sheet. All QuickTel Internet
access and services are pre-paid. I also agree to pay my account plan whether it’s monthly,
quarterly, or annually promptly within 20 days of the
billing date. Bills are delinquent if not paid within 20
days from the billing date. If payment
is not received on time, I also understand this is a breech of my contract and
may result in suspension or termination or of my account if not paid within 30
days of the due date. All quarterly accounts if not paid within 30 days will be converted to
the monthly rate.
Termination of your account does not eliminate your
responsibility under this agreement to pay in full all fees incurred up to the
date the account was terminated, including late payment charges and any
collection charges and any collection fees incurred by QuickTel. All accounts past 30 days are
subject to a late payment fee of $5.00. A
service fee of $25.00 will be charged for all returned checks. Payment will be deemed made when received by
QuickTel.
If payment option is “Credit Card” QuickTel reserves the
right to continue charging for service on the credit card unless and until
subscriber notifies QuickTel in writing of a different payment option.
Cancellation:
You may cancel your account by written notice only.
Indemnity:
The subscriber and user shall indemnify and hold harmless
QuickTel from any loss, claim, cost liability, damage or expense including
reasonable attorney’s fees to third parties, relating to or arising from the
use of the service by subscriber, user, or any of their personnel, whether or
not the subscriber or user has knowledge of or has authorized such access or
use, including, without limitation, claims for libel, slander, invasion of
privacy, infringement of copyright, patent infringement (subscriber or user has
used, connected or combined the service with the products or services of
others), negligence, or tortuous behavior.
Subscriber agrees to indemnify QuickTel along with any parties from whom
QuickTel obtains network services, and to hold them harmless from any claims
resulting from the use of service by subscriber or its users that damage
another party or that violate the law.
Offensive
Information:
The Internet has some material hosted that is deemed unfit
for viewing and reading by minors under the age of 18. Some sites have information that contain both
in text and graphical formats that QuickTel, subscribers and users may consider
obscene, lewd, offensive or harmful.
Subscribers and users agree not to hold QuickTel responsible for sites
and postings that could be considered obscene, lewd, offensive or harmful. Subscribers are responsible for their own
monitoring and viewing habits and their users, including minors. Software is available for Parent Control at: http://www.neosoft.com/parental-control. The site provides information and
recommendations for Cyber Patrol, Cybersitter, Net nanny and Surf Watch.
Reserved
Rights:
QuickTel also reserves the right to change or add to the
member-policies. New additions will be
added to QuickTel’s member policy pages from time to time. Check regularly to see if any changes apply
to you. QuickTel also reserves the right
to end access to any individuals who do not abide by the rules set forth. QuickTel also reserves the right to change
prices on member accounts with a 30 day notice.
Notifications will be sent out by e-mail, and also displayed on http://www.quicktel.com start up page. Special rate pricing is only for the duration
of time. For example: if QuickTel offers a 3 month special, the
prices are only good for three months.
The account goes back to the original price.
QuickTel reserves the right to refuse service to anyone and
further reserves the right to disconnect, cancel or suspend any account for any
reason.
QuickTel will not release any information about you or your
account unless required by law, a subpoena, or a court order.
QuickTel Member and Access Agreement Policy shown above
shall be effective as of May 27, 2003. The Policy will apply to all users of
the QuickTel network including existing QuickTel customers and their end users.
If you have any questions concerning the Policy please contact QuickTel at
509.882.4009.
Use of QuickTel Internet Services constitutes acceptance of
the terms and conditions posted above.
Do not use our services if you are unwilling to abide by the terms and
conditions specified in this document.
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I have read and agree to the member-policies set
forth. I also understand that if I do
not follow these policies it may result in the termination of my account.
Date: _______________________________ Username: ___________________________ (6-8 characters in lower case)
Signature: __________________________ Password: ___________________________ (6-8 characters in lower case)
·
Getting
disconnected while you are using the Internet can be very frustrating. There
are several possibilities they may cause this. Generally, one of the modems on
either end of the connection loses 'contact' with the other and hangs up. Noise
on the phone lines (caused by many sources) is often the culprit. Usually this
noise is not loud enough for us to hear when we use the phone. Modems, however,
are very sensitive and can 'hear' noises that we cannot.
Disconnection’s are usually caused by
interference noise on the phone system and a modem that can't tolerate that
noise. If you had copper wire directly from your modem to ours
that bypass the phone system, your modem would operate at peak speed with no
interruptions.
The noise on the phone lines can be caused by a number of different things
along the path of your phone call. Your phone call starts at your modem. From
there it takes the following path to get from your modem to ours:
·
Interference
noise caused by oxidized or poor connection).
·
Phone box on
outside of house (possible noise from oxidized or poor connection).
·
Green phone
boxes where your neighborhood is wired together (possible noise from oxidized
or poor connection).
·
More green
phone boxes.
·
Into the
electronic switching equipment at the downtown Central Office that directs your
phone call to the proper destination (possible noise from the electronic
switching equipment). At this point your phone call has made it halfway to its
destination, from your computer to the Central Office of the Phone Company. Now
the phone call has to go from the Central Office to the final destination to
our modems.
·
Out through
more green boxes.
·
The connection
points where the phone lines come into our building
·
Your phone
call has finally arrived at our modems.
As you can see, there are a number of different places along the path that
interference can cause problems. Each connection point can add just a little
more noise to your phone call. The more interference on the phone line, the
harder it is for your modem to connect at a fast speed and stay connected to
the Internet. If your modem is
frequently disconnected while you're on the Internet or you get slow connect
speeds, it's most likely because there is interference on the line and your
modem cannot deal with it.
Many people have moved from one house to another and have noticed dramatic
improvements or sometimes-dismal results. It's the same computer and modem, so
what's the difference? The difference is the path that the phone call takes
through the phone system.
Think of it as similar to the streets you drive to go from your house to Fred
Meyer. Currently you may drive over smooth, paved streets. It may be a quick
and pleasant drive. Suppose you move out of town. Now to get to Fred Meyer you
have to drive down a dirt driveway and then a gravel road...it's no longer a
smooth pleasant ride. What's the difference? The path you take to get to your
destination.
There is one other thing to keep in mind...modem quality.
Modems are not created equal. Modems vary in quality just like cars. Remember the analogy of driving to Fred
Meyer? If you drove over the same gravel roads in a Yugo and then again in a
Cadillac, you would surely feel the difference. One car is of much superior
quality and handles the rough ride (interference) much smoother. Good quality modems do a much better job of
dealing with phone line noise than poor quality modems.
Some other common causes of disconnection’s:
Call Waiting - If you have 'call waiting'
on your phone line and somebody calls you while you're using the Internet, most
likely your modem will disconnect you from the Internet. This is because of the
'call waiting' tones that alert you to a waiting call. Those call waiting tones temporarily
interrupt the carrier tones the modems use to verify each other. Even though the tones last for only a
fraction of a second, that is enough to make a modem think that the other modem
has hung up, so the connection is terminated. If you have call waiting, you can
temporarily shut it off by adding *70 to the beginning of your phone number
(i.e. you might dial *70 882-4009)
Phone Accessories - Some electronic
telephones and phone accessories have rechargeable batteries. In order to keep
the batteries charged, the equipment periodically 'steals' voltage from the
phone line. Normally this isn't much of a problem. However, modems are very,
very sensitive to noise. Every time the equipment recharges itself, it causes a
faint noise on the phone line that can disrupt a modem enough to cause it to
hang up. If you suspect this is a problem, temporarily disconnect phone
accessories before you get on the Internet.
Poor quality modems - You would think that
a modem would either work or not work. This is not the case at all. Some modems
can tolerate phone noise very well, while others are almost useless. We have
found that RPI and WinModems
often work very poorly. This is because they are not able to correct
miscommunications (caused by noise on phone lines). Most modems have special
electronic components that do 'error correction'. Somebody got the bright idea
that they could make modems cheaper if they did away with these electronics
components and replaced them with computer software. In theory this sounds
good. In reality it doesn't work well at all! You can spot these modems by
looking on the box for a phrase similar to 'software error correction'. Many
companies are discontinuing these modems because of their poor working quality.
In the end, almost all connection problems are a result of a phone line
interference and modem quality. One thing that we have found to be helpful in
these situations is to reduce the modem's communication speed to 19200. This
forces the modem to communicate at a slower speed which often allows it to
overcome some of the noise barriers on the phone system.
You can find more modem information at Curt's High Speed Modem page
- http://www.net-boy.com