Network Management Policy

Wes-Tex Telecommunications, Ltd. and Wes-Tex Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (“Wes-Tex” or “Company”) provides this Policy in order to disclose its network management practices in accordance with the FCC’s Open Internet Rules. Information about Wes-Tex’s other policies and practices concerning broadband are available at www.westex.coop (“Wes-Tex Website”).

Wes-Tex manages its network to ensure that all of its customers experience a safe and secure broadband Internet environment that is fast, reliable, and affordable. Wes-Tex wants its customers to indulge in all that the Internet has to offer, whether it is social networking, streaming videos, and music, or communicating through email and video conferencing.

Wes-Tex manages its network for a number of reasons, including optimization, as well as congestion and security protocol management. Wes-Tex’s customers generally will not be impacted by the protocols and practices that Wes-Tex uses to manage its network.

Wes-Tex Network Management Practices

Wes-Tex uses various tools and industry-standard techniques to manage its network and to deliver fast, secure, and reliable Internet service. Such management tools and practices include the following:

Managing Congestion

Wes-Tex provides high speed Internet access using a number of different technology platforms, including fiber, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and fixed wireless technology. These different platforms have different capacities and characteristics and may be managed in different ways. In general, Wes-Tex periodically monitors the connections on its network in the aggregate to determine the rate of utilization. Network monitoring tools notify us if congestion or near-congestion occurs. In general, we believe service-affecting congestion on Wes-Tex’s fiber and DSL networks is unlikely. However, if congestion emerges on the network, Wes-Tex will take appropriate measures to relieve congestion by augmenting available bandwidth or adding transport capacity back to the core routers.

Due to inherent capacity limitations of wireless systems, congestion may occur on the Wes-Tex fixed wireless network. Wireless spectrum is a limited resource, which all users must share.  Accordingly, Wes-Tex manages all wireless network traffic to provide an acceptable experience to all customers. Internet traffic on the wireless network is managed as follows:

Users are provided data allotments based on the plan they choose. Up to the limits of this allotment, users are allowed speeds up to the maximum specified for their plan and within the current resource demands of the wireless network. Beyond this allotment, users may be rate limited to a slower speed dependent on the plan of their choosing.

During periods of network congestion on Wes-Tex’s fixed wireless Internet network, the network may temporarily limit speeds or the amount of data that users can transfer based on industry standard protocols, such as proportional fairness schedulers, inherent in the air interface between the customer device and the network. This management is designed to ensure that no 1 user is denied access to the network.

It is our intent that all customers have access to all legally allowable services, applications, and content online. In the event of congestion, most Internet activities will be unaffected. Some customers, however, may experience longer download or upload times, or slower surf speeds on the web if instances of congestion do occur on Wes-Tex’s network.

Any customer usage that abuses or threatens the Wes-Tex network or which violates the company’s Acceptable Use Policy, Internet Service Terms and Conditions, or the Internet Service Agreement will be asked to stop any such use immediately. A failure to respond or to cease any such conduct could result in service suspension or termination.

Wes-Tex’s network and congestion management practices on Wes-Tex’s fiber and DSL networks are ”application-agnostic”, based on current network conditions, and are not implemented on the basis of customers’ online activities, protocols, or applications. Wes-Tex’s network management practices do not relate to any particular customer’s aggregate monthly data usage.

Network Security

Wes-Tex knows the importance of securing its network and customers from network threats and annoyances. The company promotes the security of its network and patrons by providing resources to its customers for identifying and reporting such threats as spam, viruses, firewall issues, and phishing schemes. Wes-Tex also deploys spam filters in order to divert spam from an online customer’s email inbox into a quarantine file while allowing the customer to control which emails are identified as spam. Customers may access the spam files through the email. Spam files are automatically deleted if not accessed within 30 days.

As its normal practice, Wes-Tex does not block any protocols, content, or traffic for purposes of network management except that the company may block or limit such traffic as spam, viruses, malware, or denial of service attacks to protect network integrity and the security of our customers. Wes-Tex also has a port filtering policy aimed at reducing the spread of computer-related viruses and protecting your computer from intruder access.

Device Attachment Rules/Application Specific Behaviors

Except as may be provided elsewhere herein, Wes-Tex does not currently engage in any application-specific behaviors, nor does it employ device attachment rules for its network. Customers may use any lawful applications or devices with Wes-Tex that are compatible with Wes-Tex’s networks.

Monitoring Schedule

Wes-Tex checks its usage logs on a weekly basis to determine utilization on its network. When utilization reaches 80%, Wes-Tex adds capacity where possible or reroutes traffic on its fiber and DSL networks to relieve congestion. Wes-Tex also checks for abnormal traffic flows, network security breaches, malware, loss, and damage to the network. If a breach is detected or high-volume users are brought to light by complaint, Wes-Tex provides notification to the customer via mailed letter or phone. If a violation of Wes-Tex’s policies has occurred and such violation is not remedied, Wes-Tex will seek to suspend or terminate that customer’s service.

Network Management Technology

Wes-Tex employs a variety of industry-standard tools, applications, and devices to monitor, secure, and maintain its network, including the following:

• Deep packet inspection technology
• IT infrastructure management/monitoring tools

Service Description

Wes-Tex offers broadband over DSL and fiber technologies. You can find available Internet services, depending on your location.

Network Performance

Wes-Tex makes every effort to support advertised speeds and will dispatch repair technicians to customer sites to perform speed tests as needed to troubleshoot and resolve speed and application performance caused by Wes-Tex’s network. Wes-Tex measures availability, latency, and aggregate utilization on the network and strives to meet internal service level targets. However, a customer’s service performance may also be affected by 1 or more of the following:

• The particular websites being accessed
• Capacity in the public Internet beyond Wes-Tex’s network
• Customer’s computer and equipment (including wireless router)
• Inside wiring at customer’s premise
• Other users’ use of Wes-Tex’s wireless networks

Specialized Services

Wes-Tex does not provide any specialized services.

For questions, complaints, or requests for additional information, please contact us.