INTRODUCTION

• Any terms in capitals not defined in this broadband fair and acceptable usage policy (“Policy“) will have the same meaning as in the terms and conditions of your contract with us. This Policy applies to you and anybody you allow to use the Broadband Services. Any reference to “you” shall be interpreted to mean you and anybody you allow to use the Broadband Services. Any reference to “we”, “us” or “ours” refers to Lothian Broadband Networks Limited.
• You are responsible for the use of the Broadband Services by any person you allow to use it including anyone who accesses the Broadband Services because you have removed the wireless encryption security on your Wireless Router or anyone to whom you have provided your wireless encryption key.

UPDATES TO THIS POLICY

• The way our customers use the Broadband Services is changing all the time so we may need to change our Fair Usage Policy to adapt to our customer’s needs. Our latest Fair Usage Policy will always be posted on our website at https://lothianbroadband.com/acceptable-usage-policy so please keep checking for updates.

PURPOSE OF THIS POLICY

• All of our tariffs are subject to a Fair Usage Policy. The purpose of the Policy is to ensure we are providing a fair and sustainable broadband service for all our customers.
• Under the Policy, available network bandwidth is shared equally amongst all our customers who are online at the same time. This means that speeds may be slower at peak times when more customers are online compared to at other times when fewer people are online, in particular for customers using applications that require a lot of bandwidth such as downloading films (particularly in HD) and other large files, or streaming video via services like You Tube or Netflix.
• Our network is busiest between 5pm and midnight on weekdays and all day at the weekend, but can be busy at other times too.

USAGE CAPS / UNLIMITED

• If you subscribe to a product that has a cap on the amount of data that you download or upload via Lothian Broadband Network Limited’s internet access each month (“Usage Cap“), your usage should not go over that usage cap each month if possible. If you are on an unlimited tariff then there is no cap on the amount of data you can download or upload.
• The first time you go over your Usage Cap we will send you an email alert to your preferred email address you have given us for this purpose (or alternatively your primary broadband email address if you have not given us an alternative). This alert will let you know what will happen if you go over your Usage Cap again.
• If in any subsequent month, we see you are approaching your Usage Cap, we will send you another email to let you know that you have reached 85% of your Usage Cap.
• If you go over your Usage Cap three months in a row, then we will contact you by phone or email to discuss which of our tariffs would be most suitable for your needs – this may mean changing to a higher tariff or one of our unlimited tariffs.
• Should you choose not to upgrade and continue to go over your Usage Cap each month then you would be charged the difference between your existing tariff and the appropriate unlimited tariff that is more suitable for your data usage.
• To ensure you get your email alerts you should make sure we have an email address that is up-to-date and that you check for emails regularly. If we receive a failed delivery notice after sending an alert we may not send your alert by post.

ACCEPTABLE USE

• We permit you to use Lothian Broadband’s services only for the purposes agreed at the time of your order, which depends on whether you are a Domestic Customer or a Business Customer i.e. tariff. Use of Lothian Broadband’s services in any other way, including in contravention of any restriction on use set out in this Policy, is not permitted. If you do not agree with the terms of this Policy, you may not use Lothian Broadband’s services.
• The Broadband Services may only be used for lawful purposes in accordance with all laws, statutes and regulations in force from time to time in the United Kingdom.
• We recommend that you consider installing additional software on your computer to prevent access to inappropriate websites or content on the internet. It is your responsibility to do this to help protect your devices and information.

RESTRICTIONS ON USE

• Our Broadband Services may only be used for lawful purposes in accordance with all laws, statutes and regulations in force from time to time in the United Kingdom (“Laws“).
• You may not use our Broadband Services to send, receive, store, distribute, transmit, post, upload or download any materials or data which:
  1. violates any Law;
  2. is defamatory, offensive, abusive, indecent, obscene, or constitutes harassment;
  3. is or may be harmful to minors;
  4. promotes or encourages illegal or socially unacceptable or irresponsible behaviour;
  5. is in breach of any third party rights (including any third party intellectual property rights);
  6. has any fraudulent purpose or effect or involves you impersonating another person or otherwise misrepresenting yourself as the source of any communication; or
  7. damages or may damage our name and/or reputation or the name and/or reputation of our sub-contractors or agents
• You must not use our Broadband Services to violate any third party’s system or network security by any method including:
  1. unauthorised access to or use of data, systems or networks, including any attempt to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network;
  2. unauthorised monitoring of data or traffic on any network or system without the express authorisation of the owner of the system or network; or
  3. unauthorised interference with any user, host, system or network without the express authorisation of the owner of the system or network.
• You must not send, receive, store, distribute, transmit, post, upload or download any materials that are designed to violate our network’s security or any third party’s system or network security. Examples of such prohibited material may include (but are not limited to):
  1. programs containing viruses, worms, corrupted files, hoaxes, trojan horses or any other items of a destructive or deceptive nature;
  2. tools designed to compromise the security of other sites;
  3. programs or services designed to send or facilitate the sending of unsolicited advertisements; or
  4. programs or services designed to encourage or facilitate a breach of this Policy or any acceptable use policy of another internet services provider.
• You must not connect our network to insecure machines or services able to be exploited by others to carry out actions which constitute a breach of this Policy.
• You must not adapt, modify, decompile or reverse engineer any part of Lothian Broadband Networks Limited.

OTHER PROVISIONS

• You are responsible for all materials and/or data originating from the machines and/or networks that you have connected to our network. You must immediately disconnect (and subsequently secure prior to reconnection) machines generating materials and/or data which contravene this Policy once notified of such activity by us.
• We will use your personal data and other account information in connection with any investigation carried out by us in accordance with this Policy, including by disclosing it to any third party authority that we considers has a legitimate interest in any such investigation or its outcome.  For more information about how your personal data is processed, please see our Privacy Policy https://lothianbroadband.com/privacy-policy/.