Business Broadband

Fair Usage Policy

Read our business broadband fair usage policy

1. Introduction

1.1 This Fair Use Policy (FUP) sets out to define two things:
(a) the standards of conduct required of Heart Telecom users when using any of the Heart Telecom Internet Access Services; and

(b) technical and capacity usage guidelines set by Heart Telecom to ensure that all users have access to a quality service.

1.2 We may change this FUP from time to time and without further notice to you. To make the most of the guidance contained in the FUP please keep up to date with changes and look at them on a regular basis.

1.3 This policy is in addition to the Heart Telecom Limited Terms and Conditions. To the extent that there is any inconsistency between any of the term(s) of this FUP and any term(s) of the Heart Telecom Limited Terms and Conditions the applicable term(s) of the Heart Telecom Limited Terms and Conditions shall prevail.

2. Unlawful Activities

2.1 In using any of the Heart Telecom Internet Access Services, you must abide by the law applicable to your part of the United Kingdom and not commit or contribute to any offence being carried out.

2.2 This includes not:
(a) publishing, distributing, circulating or otherwise propagating any material which may be deemed illegal, abusive, offensive, anti-social, racist, distressing, harmful or threatening;

(b) infringing the rights of others including privacy and copyright; or

(c) intentionally causing a reduction in performance or functionality of any computer or network facilities.

3. Email

3.1 You must not:
(a) send emails that cause distress, anxiety or harm to another person or that constitute a criminal offence;

(b) send/knowingly receive emails that contain abusive, offensive or illegal content;

(c) send emails that deliberately affect the performance or functionality of any computer or network facilities;

(d) send unsolicited bulk mail or 'spam';

(e) subscribe anyone else to a mailing list without their authorisation; or

(f) attempt to conceal your identity or impersonate any individual or organisation.

3.2 Your email account should not be in excess of 100MB. Emails may be deleted should your email account exceed 100MB.

3.3 Any emails that you have received, and that you have not downloaded, may be deleted from the Heart Telecom servers 90 days after they have been received.

3.4 If you do not access your email account for a period of 90 days any incoming mail may be bounced with a message that states that your account is inactive. Your mailbox will be locked and will be unable to receive mail until the next time it is accessed by you. If the account remains locked for 90 days it will be classed as unused and all contents will be deleted without notice from Heart Telecom.

3.5 If an email account remains unused for 90 days it will be terminated and the account name may be released.

4. Web space

4.1 Your web space must not contain:
(a) content that is illegal, defamatory of, abusive or harmful to others;

(b) content that infringes third party intellectual property rights; and

(c) software to distribute spam, viruses, or programmes that cause harm to computers and networks.

4.2 Your web space must not be capable of permitting you to
(a) impersonate;

(b) pass yourself off as connected with; or

(c) utilise in any domain name a trademark belonging to another individual or organisation.

4.3 You may not run, or link to, a website where access is subject to a premium rate telephone charge.

4.4 If your website generates abnormally high traffic, Heart Telecom may investigate and where any other term of this FUP appears to be being breached, take appropriate action (including, in Heart Telecom's ultimate discretion, throttling access to your website and/or blocking access to your website).

4.5 You are responsible for retaining copies of your own data - Heart Telecom will not be responsible for the loss of any files or data.

4.6 Heart Telecom may require that content and/or links be removed from your site should we consider them to be in breach of this FUP or the Terms and Conditions

4.7 You must maintain an index page called "index. htm" or "index. html" in the root directory of your web space.

4.8 If your space does not include an index file or you do not use it within a three month period, we may deactivate your account and remove any files.

4.9 If you exceed your 50Mb of space, you will be asked to remove excess files. Failure to so this will result in your site being removed.

4.10 You can only run CGI scripts provided by Heart Telecom.

4.11 On termination of your account with Heart Telecom for any reason, Heart Telecom will delete your site.

5. Chat, Newsgroups and Forums

5.1 When using chat, newsgroups and forums:
(a) You must not:
(i) send messages that cause distress, anxiety or harm to another person or constitute a criminal offence;

(ii) send messages that contain abusive, offensive or illegal content;

(iii) send messages that are inappropriate to the room topic;

(iv) send mass messages or mass invites;

(v) post messages that infringe third party intellectual property rights or otherwise violate or infringe the rights of any third party;

(vi) attempt to conceal your identity or impersonate any individual or organisation;

(vii) connect to any Heart Telecom chat server more than three times simultaneously using one connection; or

(viii) make an identical posting to more than two forums (multi-posting).

(b) You must not engage in unsolicited advertising in chat rooms.

(c) General Chat Room Guidelines:
(i) do not type personal information into public channels; and

(ii) do not give your password to anyone.

(d) General Newsgroup and Forum Guidelines:
(i) do not hijack a thread by repeatedly adding postings designed to draw the readers' attention to separate forum, thread, site or issue;

(ii) do not post unsolicited bulk postings or 'spam'; and

(iii) do not continue a thread which has previously been deleted by the moderator of the relevant group or forum or Heart Telecom staff.

(e) Heart Telecom reserves the right to terminate your connection to a Heart Telecom chat service or a Heart Telecom owned newsgroup or forum.

6. Use of services

6.1 All Internet Access Services: (a) Do not disclose your username or password to anyone. You are responsible for the security of these;

(b) Heart Telecom may request that you change your username and/or email address;

(c) The Internet Access Services may be used for business purposes; and

(d) You must be at least 18 years old to be a Heart Telecom member. Sub-Users under this age must have permission from the account holder to access a Heart Telecom service. Before using any Internet Access Service, you must obtain permission from the person who pays the phone bill.

6.2 For Broadband Services
(a) Heart Telecom does not operate any formal limits on the amount of data that you can download or upload by means of the Broadband Services. However in the interests of ensuring that all of its users are able to receive the best possible service and to maximise the efficient use of network resources, Heart Telecom reserves the right to take steps to regulate the use of the Broadband Service made by heavy users including, for example, prioritising traffic from light users over that from such heavy users during peak periods. Depending on the bundle you have ordered, you may be charged for data usage over a specified allowance.

7. Excessive downloads

7.1 At Heart Telecom, we want our broadband service to be fast and available for you at all times. This clause is designed with that goal in mind.

7.2 Certain software is used by a small number of customers to send and receive files containing very large amounts of data. That activity demands significant bandwidth and can negatively impact the speed for all users during peak periods. In our view, the vast majority of customers should not suffer from a slower service because of a very small number of high bandwidth users.

7.3 The systems that are used to provide our broadband service can identify very high bandwidth users and we seek to manage their usage.

7.4 Our aim is to maximise the quality and speed of our service for the vast majority of our customers during periods of high demand. At the same time, we want to allow extremely high users to continue their activities without restriction outside of peak hours.

What restrictions do we impose on heavy users?
7.5 It is unlikely that you will be affected by this policy unless you use Peer to Peer or file sharing software or download high volumes of data.

7.6 Our systems monitor the level of usage by each customer and we may throttle back persistently very high users.

7.7 Peer to Peer traffic and other file sharing of large volumes of data will be given lower priority than other traffic..

How can I manage my usage?
7.8 Simply ensure that any file sharing, sending and receiving of large files is done outside of peak hours and is reasonably limited.

8. Security

8.1 You are responsible for the set-up and security of your computer and any servers that may run on your PC.

8.2 Heart Telecom suggests that you protect your PC with anti-virus software.

9. General Abuse

9.1 You must not run port-scanning software on any Heart Telecom Internet Access Service.

9.2 You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any computer system.

9.3 You must not undertake any activity that has an adverse effect on the Heart Telecom service or its users.

10. FUP Enforcement

10.1 Heart Telecom reserve the right to suspend or terminate an account that has not adhered to the guidelines set out in this policy or to the Heart Telecom Limited Terms and Conditions. In some cases, accounts may be suspended or terminated without prior warning.

Broadband & Connectivity