Qnect.net Terms of Service

1127 Bargeway
The Dalles, OR.. 97058
Phone (541) 296-3525 Fax (541) 397-0540

Wireless Internet Access Agreement

This online agreement is entered into by and between you the subscriber (Subscriber) and Qnect.net (Provider) with offices at 1127 Bargeway, The Dalles, Oregon 97058, for the purpose of establishing the terms and conditions under which Provider will furnish Wireless Internet Access Service.

Service to be provided

Provider, under the terms of this agreement, will furnish to Subscriber the selected package of Wireless Internet Access Service agreed upon at time of installation.

Term of the agreement

This Agreement shall be in effect for an initial term commencing with service inception and continuing for a period of one (1) year. At the end of the initial term or any renewal, this agreement will renew for an additional one (1) year term at the current rate then in effect, unless thirty (30) days prior to the end of any one (1) year term either party notifies the other, in writing, of their intent to terminate the agreement. Qnect.net owns all equipment, antennas, cables, and select software and upon any termination all equipment must be returned to Qnect.net. Any unreturned equipment will be billed to the Subscriber in the amount of $500.00 for equipment fees.

Early termination

If Subscriber cancels or terminates service for any reason prior to the end of any term, Subscriber will be subject to an early termination charge equal to Monthly Recurring Costs (MRC) times the months remaining in the contract term. If equipment was originally leased, Subscriber will also be responsible for the full remaining equipment lease value through the end of the original term obligation.

Seasonal subscriber

The Subscriber must pay a $19.95 a month minimum service fee to keep the Qnect.net service installed during seasonal use.

Changes to service

During the term of this agreement, Subscriber may choose to change their Wireless Internet Access package/speed without violating the terms of this agreement. A change fee may be required to implement the change. A move of service will incur a minimum fee of $150.00. Excess cabling and multiple workstation moves will incur normal hourly labor rates beyond the basic $150.00 equipment move fee. Early termination charges will not apply during the timeframe in which a move of equipment occurs and service is reestablished.

Payment schedule

Subscriber will be billed installation charges, as well as the appropriate MRC's for the Wireless Internet Access Service speed selected at the time of the first bill. Provider reserves the right to request payment for any and all equipment associated with the initial installation for wireless Internet access in advance.

Wireless Internet Access Service charges are due and payable monthly in advance. Failure to pay monthly service charges by the 10th day of the month, shall give Provider the right, without liability, to temporarily disconnect Wireless Internet Access Service. The Provider is not liable for any loss of business, loss of phone service, or any style of Internet services from a deactivated Internet account. A returned check will be considered non-payment of the account. Restoration of service will require payment of any unpaid balance and a reconnect charge of $50 may be applied. If service is not reconnected within seven (7) calendar days, the Wireless Internet Access Service will be permanently disconnected. To restore service after a permanent disconnect, payment of the full unpaid balance, early termination charge, and pre-payment of new installation charges may apply.

Late Payment Fees - A late payment fee of 1.5% per month may be added on accounts not paid within thirty (30) days of billing (18% annum). Returned Check Charge - A $25.00 processing fee will be charged on all returned checks.

Customer provided equipment

Any equipment not purchased from Provider is customer provided equipment. Provider is not responsible for support of customer provided equipment and Subscriber may become liable for the expense of a service call if such equipment adversely affects Wireless Internet Access Service.

Customer Installation

The installation date and time will be determined by Provider and communicated to Subscriber as early as possible. Prior to or during installation, Subscriber and Provider will determine if Subscribers' computer(s) are configured appropriately for the Wireless Internet Access Service connection. If not, Subscriber will be required to purchase or provide the appropriate hardware for the service to work. Installation of said equipment can be installed by Provider for a fee.

In the event a Subscriber installs a network utilizing the provided Wireless Internet Access Service modem, it is with the clear understanding that Provider is not responsible for any problems that may occur. Provider will not dispatch a technician to Subscriber's location to resolve any computer and/or network-related problems without an associated fee. Provider will not perform work on any of Subscriber's computers without an associated fee.

Service calls

If Provider is called to Subscriber's site and it is determined that the problem is other than the Wireless Internet Access Service and/or the Wireless Internet Access interface, a minimum service fee of $45.00 will be charged for the first hour and in half hour increments thereafter. The stated rates apply during regular business hours. Overtime, weekend, and holiday rates will be higher. Travel and related charges may also apply.

The provided Wireless Internet Access Service hardware is warranted by its manufacturer for a period of one (1) year. During the one (1) year manufacturer's warranty period Provider will support the hardware for problems covered by the manufacturer's warranty. Before the one (1) year warranty period has expired, Subscriber may purchase an extended warranty from Provider. Service calls determined to be the result of an out of warranty Wireless Internet Access Service modem will be charged to Subscriber.

Service delivery

Wireless Internet Access connection speed (84 kbps to 20 Mbps, depending on package chosen) is measured between Subscriber's location and the Provider access point. Connection speeds may be lower under conditions of high Internet usage. Actual data transmission or throughput may be lower than the connection speed due to Internet congestion, server or router speeds, protocol overheads, and other factors which cannot be controlled by Provider.

Delay

Provider will not be liable for any delay in the delivery or installation of Wireless Internet Access Service or for any damages suffered by Subscriber by reason of such delay regardless of whether such delay is directly or indirectly caused by Provider.

Consequential damages

Provider is not responsible for any incidental or consequential damages resulting from failure of, or suspension of, Wireless Internet Access services.

Voice over IP (VOIP)

Provider does support, but does not guarantee Voice Over IP Protocol. Any number of factors can take down a Voice Over IP telephone line. We suggest either a backup land line or a cellular phone if you use the Voice Over IP services.

Additional terms

If either party commences an action against the other party to enforce the provisions of this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the non-prevailing party. If any provisions of this Agreement are held to be illegal, invalid, or unenforceable, such shall not invalidate the remaining provisions hereof. This contract supercedes any previous agreements, verbal or written. In the event of legal action arising out of or related to this Agreement, including claims for non-payment of amounts owed hereunder, Wasco County, OR. shall be the exclusive jurisdiction and legal venue for said action and this Agreement shall be construed according to the laws for the State of Montana.

Commitment of Service

Qnect.net continually strives to be the premier Wireless Internet Access Service Provider in Oregon, Washington, and beyond. As part of this commitment, our Network Operations Center (NOC) Engineers proactively monitor performance on our network backbone to ensure Qnect.net has adequate backbone bandwidth to accommodate high-speed service for our entire customer base. Qnect.net offers products that range from dedicated backbone bandwidth (more expensive) to products that are shared backbone bandwidth (less expensive). You should work with your Qnect.net Sales department to determine which product offering best fits the needs of your business or residence.

It is important to Qnect.net that our customers clearly understand the difference between purchased bandwidth and throughput. First, some background about the Internet. The Internet is a mesh network comprised of multiple independent Internet Service Providers, Enterprise Level Customers and Residential Customers located throughout the world. As such, there are various WAN routing protocols that make up the Internet including, but not limited to, Frame Relay, ATM, IP over Ethernet and IP over SONET. With these WAN routing protocols come various overhead requirements that reduce the amount of throughput possible for all Internet customers. In addition, TCP is the primary transport layer protocol utilized throughout the Internet. HTTP (www sites), HTTPS, FTP, TELNET and many other applications utilize the TCP protocol suite as their transport layer protocol. TCP is a connection-oriented protocol thus also has overhead requirements. Most in-depth testing and research shows that the average customer will only get optimal throughput of 85% to 87% of their purchased bandwidth. This (85% to 87%) is considered the best possible throughput results and can even degrade beyond that should there be congestion on the Internet (whether the congestion be with the source ISP, destination ISP or Internet backbone, including access points or peering points).

Keeping the network overhead described above in mind, an example of optimal "throughput speed" versus "purchased bandwidth" would look like this: You purchase 256 kbps download by 256 kbps upload ("purchased bandwidth") you should expect to get throughput speeds of no greater than 217 kbps to 222 kbps. Remember that other congestion factors could come in play that reduce this speed but this would be your optimal (best possible) throughput speed.

Finally, Qnect.net takes great pride in our high-speed network. We also recognize that unexpected traffic on our network and/or the Internet can at times impact our customers reducing their throughput speeds. Many factors are involved in this potential problem and our commitment is that Qnect.net will do everything possible to proactively monitor, evaluate and control the factors within our direct control. Through our high Tier 3 Network Engineer on-call for escalation purposes and backbone performance monitoring with predefined augment thresholds to ensure adequate bandwidth. In addition, we continually evaluate new technologies to ensure we evolve our network as technologies change thus allowing us to deliver state-of-the-art products to our customers.