LMPC Network Management Policies and Practices  

This Network Management Policy and Practices Disclosure is provided pursuant to the Federal Communications Commission's "Open Internet Rules" found at Part 8 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.  The policies and practices of Laurens Municipal Power & Communications (LMPC) regarding network management practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms are provided here so that current customers, prospective customers, third-party content providers and other interested parties can make informed choices regarding the broadband Internet access services offered by LMPC and the extent to which its network management practices may affect those services.

A. Network Management Practices

In the interest of providing the best online experience possible for all of our Internet access customers, LMPC utilizes reasonable network management practices tailored to achieve legitimate network management purposes. Because bandwidth is a limited resource for broadband Internet service providers, it is essential that LMPC reasonably manages its network to promote the use and enjoyment of the Internet by all of its customers. By engaging in reasonable and responsible network management, LMPC prevents its customers from being subjected to the negative effects of spam, viruses, security attacks, network congestion, and other risks that threaten to degrade the internet service experience.  LMPC network management practices, as set forth below, are consistent with industry standards.

LMPC will not unjustly or unreasonably prevent or interfere with competition among content, applications, service, or device providers.  We use various tools and industry-standard techniques to manage our communications network and deliver fast, secure, and reliable internet access services.  We believe in complete transparency and provide the following disclosures about our network management policies and practices:

• BLOCKING:  LMPC does not block or discriminate against lawful content.
• THROTTLING:  LMPC does not throttle, impair, or degrade lawful internet traffic based on content, application, service, user, or use of non-harmful device.
• AFFILIATED PRIORITIZATION:  LMPC does not favor any internet traffic applications over others and has no plans to do so.
• PAID PRIORITIZATION:  LMPC does not favor or prioritize any internet traffic applications in exchange for paid or in-kind consideration intended to benefit content, applications, services or access devices.
• CONGESTION MANAGEMENT:  Congestion of the LMPC network is rare but does occur.  When it occurs, our internet subscribers may experience decreased speeds or performance, but bandwidth is allocated fairly and in an "application agnostic" way (without regard to protocol, application, or the service the subscriber chooses to access through their internet access service).
• APPLICATION SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR:  LMPC does not make use of any application-specific network management practices.  We do not favor, modify, inhibit, rate control or block any specific protocols, protocol ports or fields, or any applications or classes of applications, while reserving the right to block ports as necessary to protect the network and its users.
• DEVICE ATTACHMENT RULES:  Customers must use PPPoeE to authenticate point-to-point connections between devices on the network.  LMPC does not specifically limit device types for attachment to its network, but will not guarantee the functionality of third-party devices for such access.  For a device to be approved for use on the LMPC network, the device must conform to publicly available industry standards and not be harmful to LMPC's network.
• NETWORK SECURITY:  LMPC offers its customers unrestricted access to lawful content, services and applications available on the internet.  We take various industry-standard measures to safeguard our network and the broader internet from harm or disruption, including protection against Distributed Denial of Service (DDos) attacks, phishing, spoofing, and other forms of unwanted or harmful online content and activities.  In those instances where through our network management practices, we identify online content as harmful or unwanted, the content may be prevented from reaching customers, or customers may be given an option to identify or inspect flagged content first to determine if it is harmful or unwanted.  Our goal is to ensure the network's reliability and availability by countering any malicious traffic that could compromise it.  LMPC reserves the right to take any action deemed necessary, including suspending or terminating service to subscribers who engage in activities that violate our Internet Acceptable Use Policy which can be found at Acceptable Use Policy (lmpc-ia.com).

 

B. Network Performance

LMPC offers its broadband internet access service via Fiber-to-the-Home ("FTTH") utilizing fiber optic cable to deliver telephone and data services.  Fiber optic cables have the capacity for an indefinite amount of data and will allow subscribers to receive better quality voice and data transmission services at their residential and/or business locations.  The advertised speed of internet service is the maximum speed achievable with the technology utilized for the broadband service offering subscribed to.  LMPC 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 that may be caused by its network.

We measure availability, latency, and aggregate utilization on the network and strive to meet our internal service level targets.  Based on internal testing using platform specific test protocols, the mean upload and download speeds are typically the advertised speed plus or minus 5 percent.  This internal testing also indicated a mean round trip latency of 15 milliseconds (ms) to local ports.  It is important to note, however, that the bandwidth speed at which a particular distant website or other internet resources may be downloaded, or the speed at which your customer information may be uploaded to a distant website or internet location is affected by some factors beyond LMPC control, including for example:  the speed of the connection from a distant web server to the internet; congestion on intermediate transport networks, the limitations of your computer or other electronic devices, fixed or wireless accessing the internet; or your wireless router/Wi-Fi equipment.  In addition, your internet service performance may be adversely impacted by the inside wiring at your premises.  Accordingly, you, the customer, must consider the capabilities of your own equipment when choosing and using our broadband internet service.  The computers, wireless devices, or other networks in your homes or offices may need an upgrade to take full advantage of your chosen LMPC broadband plan.  LMPC does test each service for actual and expected access speeds at the time of network installation to demonstrate that the service can support the advertised speed.

C. Commercial Terms Pricing

To meet the usage and budgetary needs of all our customers, LMPC offers a good selection of broadband internet access plan options.  To see the company's current promotions and pricing on broadband Internet access service, please visit our website at www.lmpc-ia.com which includes Broadband Labels for each of our broadband internet access offerings or call (712)841-4610 to speak with a customer service representative.  LMPC internet service is priced on a flat-fee basis (plus taxes).  LMPC does not charge end users a usage-based fee for such services.  The information on our current Broadband Labels is also available in a "machine readable" spreadsheet form at (URL).

 

Laurens Municipal Power & Communications Contact Information:

For questions, requests for additional information, any complaints, Laurens Municipal Power & Communications may be contacted by phone, email or mail at:

Office Phone Number: (712)841-4610

Email Address:  info@laurens-ia.org

Mailing Address:  272 N. Third Street, Laurens, Iowa 50554