Open Network Policy
Our Service and Performance
We use a variety of technologies to deliver broadbandInternet access service to government, residential and business customers in our service areas. Our networks are fiber based, and we provide up to 10 GigEthernet and FTTX GPON and XGSPON service to customers in Sylvester, Georgia.
Based on internal testing or consumer speed data, a user’s expected and actual access speed and latency will vary based on network conditions, congestion, other users on the network, the number of devices attached to an access point and other factors. Maximum speeds will be limited by these factors and in accordance with our congestion management practices as described below.
We publish a link to a bandwidth test system,
http://myslytel.speedtestcustom.com/ which provides not only speed but information about latency and jitter. For more information check out the Speedtst.net FAQ at https://www.speedtest.net/about/knowledge/faq#ping
For our FTTX customers, local congestion could affect the end user’s experience due to the shared portions of the network but is highly unlikely. Under normal operations, average latency within our network is less than 3 milliseconds, and if our monitor determines latency in excess of 10milliseconds, we examine the connection to determine if there are problems. Once you access services outside of our network and thus out of our control your latency will increase due to distance and route performance. We keep latency to a minimum within our network and also monitor latency to our gateway connections. Under normal circumstances, our service is suitable for all real-time applications.
We offer end users VoIP telephone service as a specialized service, and we add quality of service protections. While such services may affect the amount of last-mile capacity available for and the performance of broadband Internet access service, in practice this impact is very limited because of the high capacity available on our networks.
Congestion Management Practices
Providing quality broadband service requires that we take steps to provide reasonable management of our networks. Subject to reasonable network management, we do not degrade, impair access to, block or otherwise prevent end user access to lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices. We also have no practices that directly or indirectly favor some traffic over other traffic, whether to benefit an affiliate or in exchange for monetary or nonmonetary consideration.
Reasonable network management requires us to monitor and prevent malicious content, spam, viruses, and botnets as well as to handle congestion on our networks, as described below.
At present, we have no practices designed to reduce or eliminate congestion on our networks by artificially or automatically limiting our users’ bandwidth consumption. Multiple users share upstream and downstream bandwidth on our networks. We regularly monitor our networks for bandwidth usage. We frequently and automatically reconfigure and upgrade equipment to mitigate any bottlenecks. Any anomalies are reported to our Network OperationsCenter (” NOC”) by monitoring servers which constantly monitor the network. As needed, we create filters, traps, or other means to prevent virus and malware propagation.
In the ordinary course, a customer should experience congestion only when there’s a problem with the network, not through normal usage. Accordingly, our customers are not usage-limited at this time. We do not implement monthly bandwidth usage caps like most other providers. Our congestion management techniques are triggered on a portion of our networks when we monitor our users’ aggregate bandwidth usage, and we identify those users who are in the top 2 percent based on our usage statistics. By using various network monitor facilities, we inspect this traffic to help determine if the user’s connection is compromised by botnets, malware, or other malicious means.We will contact users as a courtesy if they fall into this high-usage category and we see a high level of peer-to-peer usage. We make these calls to customers1) to confirm that the user is aware of the activity, and 2) to notify them of the effect this has on their internet experience with respect to botnet or potentially malicious data. In some instances, customers may experience degraded internet access, uploads, downloads, or slower response in real-time applications. In general, a customer should only experience congestion infrequently (i.e., when there’s a problem with the network), not in the ordinary course.
We address application-specific behavior in our network practices. In all other respects related to application-specific behavior, we do not modify protocol fields in ways not prescribed by the protocol standard, and we do not otherwise inhibit or favor certain applications or classes of applications.
We have placed limited restrictions on the types of devices that may access our networks and have adopted limited approval procedures for such devices. The reason is that our network is optimized to take advantage of features in ADTRAN ONTs, and the associated features are not available in all off-the-shelf ONTs. Also, our OSS/BSS and provisioning systems are only compatible with the ADTRAN ONT’s we provide. Since we do not charge a monthly fee for providing the ONT there is really no reason for a customer to substitute anything else. Also, the ONT we provide is a transparent bridge and thus can be connected to any router. Firewall, switch, or network device the customer chooses. In addition, we supply a WIFI Gateway to the customer at no monthly fee. The customer may elect to use their own WIFI gateway/router.
We take seriously our commitment to the security of our network and of service to end users. To advance this goal, we engage in practices used to facilitate such security. For example, we assign dynamic IP addresses to all of our FTTX customers.
We also use monitoring to gather network statistics to aggregate and identify outlier parameters that may suggest content that is malicious or may cause unacceptable congestion in our networks. As needed, we create filters, traps, or other means to prevent virus and malware propagation.All of our servers are behind firewalls, and we follow industry best practices to minimize applications that are running, ports open and types of traffic allowed. We use two-factor authentications for access, and all server logs are gathered, housed offsite and regularly monitored. In addition, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate a customer’s access to our service for violations of our Internet Service Agreement or our Acceptable Use Policy.
Our service involves the inspection of network traffic to a limited extent. While we don’t examine the content of user’s traffic (e.g., the content of emails or of websites visited), we review aggregated traffic data to help us manage the network and to identify trouble issues. We store data related to IP addresses for one year, and any traffic information used for network management is provided to third parties only as required by law.Requests for such information must be accompanied by a signed and properly executed subpoena or other valid legal process. Information regarding customer privacy, including the protection of customer proprietary information is addressed in our privacy policy.
Commercial Terms
Information about our pricing terms is available here.
We have no usage-based fees, and we charge no fees for early termination because our service is provided on a month-to-month basis.
If you have questions or complaints about our service, you can contact our help desk. Our help desk number is 229-773-7700 or email info@myslytel.com.Help requests for residential and small business customers get Level 1 helpdesk service. These technicians also have access to Level 2 Network OperationsEngineers. Customers with Metro Ethernet connections receive a Level 2 direct telephone number as part of their service package. Third parties can contact us through either means. Our goal is to resolve complaints effectively and expeditiously.
We reserve the right to make changes to our Open Internet policies. These changes will take effect when posted on our website.
Last modified: May 18 2023