SkyLine Membership Corporation/SkyBest Communications, Inc. Internet Service Network Management Policy

SkyLine Membership Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary SkyBest Communications, Inc. (“SkyLine/SkyBest”) provide this Policy in order to disclose its network management practices in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Open Internet Rules. Information about SkyLine/SkyBest’s other policies and practices are available at www.skybest.com (“SkyLine/SkyBest website”).

SkyLine/SkyBest manages its network to ensure that all of its customers experience a safe and secure broadband Internet environment that is fast, reliable and affordable. SkyLine/SkyBest wants its customers to utilize all that the Internet has to offer, whether it is social networking, streaming videos and music, to communicating through email and videoconferencing.

SkyLine/SkyBest manages its network for a number of reasons, including optimization, as well as congestion and security-protocol-management. But, very few of SkyLine/SkyBest’s customers are impacted by the protocols and practices that SkyLine/SkyBest uses to manage its network.

In addition to this Network Management Policy, patrons may also find links to the following on SkyLine/SkyBest’s websites:
      Network Management Frequently Asked Questions
      Acceptable Use Policy

SkyLine/SkyBest’s Network Management Practices

SkyLine/SkyBest uses various tools and industry standard techniques to manage its network and deliver fast, secure and reliable Internet service. Such management tools and practices include the following:

     I. Managing Congestion

SkyLine/SkyBest periodically monitors the connections on its network in the aggregate to determine the rate of utilization. If congestion emerges on the network, SkyLine/SkyBest will engage in the re-routing of Internet traffic to relieve congestion. In order to reduce instances of congestion, SkyLine/SkyBest adds capacity to its network when utilization has reached a level of at least 70 percent. On our core and access networks, SkyLine/SkyBest may increase capacity by adding FTTH nodes, transport, Internet aggregation routers and bandwidth, as needed.

On SkyLine/SkyBest’s network, all customers have access to all legal services, applications and content online and, in the event of congestion, most Internet activities will be unaffected. Some customers, however, may experience longer download or upload times, or slower surf speeds on the Web when instances of congestion do occur on SkyLine/SkyBest’s network.

Customers whose conduct abuses or threatens SkyLine/SkyBest’s network or which violates the Company’s Acceptable Use Policy or Internet service Terms and Conditions will be asked to stop any such use immediately. A failure to respond or to cease any such conduct could result in service suspension or termination.

SkyLine/SkyBest’s network and congestion management practices are ‘application-agnostic,’ based on current network conditions, and are not implemented on the basis of customers’ online activities, protocols or applications. SkyLine/SkyBest’s network management does not relate to any particular customer’s aggregate monthly data usage. SkyLine/SkyBest uses various software applications to monitor the network.

     II. Network Security

SkyLine/SkyBest knows the importance of securing its network and customers from network threats and annoyances. The company promotes the security of its network and patrons by providing resources to its customers for identifying and reporting such threats as spam, viruses, firewall issues and phishing schemes. SkyLine/SkyBest also deploys spam filters in order to divert spam from an online customer’s email inbox while allowing the customer to control which emails are identified as spam.

As its normal practice, SkyLine/SkyBest does not block any protocols, content or traffic for purposes of network management; however, the company may block or limit such traffic as spam, viruses, malware, or denial of service attacks to protect network integrity and the security of our customers. SkyLine/SkyBest also has a port filtering policy for reducing the spread of computer-related viruses and protecting your computer from intruder access.

Except as may be provided elsewhere herein, SkyLine/SkyBest does not currently engage in any application-specific behaviors nor does it employ any device attachment rules for its network.

     III. Technology

SkyLine/SkyBest’s network management employs a variety of industry-standard tools, applications and devices to monitor, secure and maintain its network.

     IV. Monitoring Schedule

SkyLine/SkyBest uses network management software to conduct periodic monitoring of the network in order to detect abnormal traffic flows, congestion, network security breaches, malware, loss and damage to the network.

     V. Network

Performance SkyLine/SkyBest takes measurements of various components for network performance, analysis of the measurements to determine normal levels, and determination of appropriate threshold values to ensure required levels of performance for its network. SkyLine/SkyBest measures such components as mean upload/download speeds, latency, internal testing and consumer speed tests to gauge network performance. The Company monitors the values of these components to determine the overall performance of the network.

SkyLine/SkyBest makes every effort to support advertised speeds and will dispatch repair technicians to customer sites to perform speed tests or take other steps as needed to troubleshoot and resolve speed and application performance caused by SkyLine/SkyBest’s network. SkyLine/SkyBest measures availability, latency and aggregate utilization on the network and strives to meet internal service level targets. However, a customer’s service performance may also be affected by one or more of the following: (1) the particular websites being accessed; (2) capacity in the public Internet beyond SkyLine/SkyBest’s network; (3) a customer’s computer and equipment (including wireless router); and (4) inside wiring at the customer’s premise.

SkyLine/SkyBest provides a speed check server to customers to monitor their specific download and upload speeds.

SkyLine/SkyBest receives an alert if its latency speed from the core network exceeds 60 milliseconds. SkyLine/SkyBest’s average round trip latency speed is 40 milliseconds.

     VI. Specialized Services

Company provides IPTV, a Specialized Service. IPTV is a real-time service that commands optimal bandwidth. SkyLine/SkyBest separates the IPTV service from customers’ general broadband traffic. Accordingly, SkyLine/SkyBest’s IPTV service does not have an impact on other customers’ broadband experience.

VII. Commercial Terms

A description of SkyLine/SkyBest’s service offerings and rates may be found on SkyLine/SkyBest’s websites at www.skybest.com. SkyLine/SkyBest’s Privacy Policy may be found on SkyLine/SkyBest’s website at www.skybest.com.

For questions, complaints or requests for additional information, please contact SkyLine/SkyBest at 118 for calls from one of SkyLine/SkyBest’s exchanges or 1-800-759-2226 from outside of SkyLine/SkyBest’s service area.