Subscriber Policy

Carolina Internet Services' Policies and Subscriber Agreement

Carolina Internet Services, Inc. (hereafter referred to as "CIS") is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction. The following policies and usage guidelines are in place in order to provide our customers ("subscribers") with high-quality services.

CIS services are offered to you conditioned on your acceptance without modification of the terms, conditions, and notices contained in this Subscription Agreement.  If you do not agree to this Subscription Agreement do not subscribe or use CIS.

As used in this Subscription Agreement, "you," "your,"  "subscriber," or "user" means you, anyone who has access to use your CIS Account. You are responsible for the actions of any person allowed access to the your account whether by permission or implied by non secure access (e.g., computer left unattended).

Your subscription to CIS requires you to open an account, provide us with current, complete and accurate sign-up information, and choose a password and a user name.   You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account.  Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account.  CIS is not responsible for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your password or account, either with or without your knowledge. However, you could be responsible for losses incurred by CIS or another party due to someone else using your account or password. CIS will use its best efforts to provide a requested username and password to you, but may deny the same based upon considerations including but not limited to security, confusion with other user names or passwords, offensiveness or infringement upon proprietary and legal rights of others. CIS reserves the right to change an existing username or password.

CIS reserves the right to enforce these policies, including refusal, suspension, and/or termination of service in instances where CIS deems that a violation or abuse of its policies, guidelines, and/or services has occurred.

Usage Policies

CIS's services are for use for legal means only. You agree to abide by all applicable local, state, national, and international laws and regulations.  Any illegal activity is strictly prohibited, including but not limited to copyrighted material, material judged to be obscene or threatening, and trade secret information. CIS reserves the right to cooperate with any and all law enforcement agencies. Any suspicious activity, such as the hacking or attempted intrusion of computers on the Internet could lead to account termination and will be reported to the appropriate authorities.

You understand that CIS has no control over the content of the information passing through to you. The information available through CIS and its networks is not guaranteed to be valid or accurate. The use of any information gathered from the Internet is done at the risk of the subscriber. CIS accepts no responsibility for any and all downloaded or accessed materials. You are responsible for your own viewing choices.

You understand that the e-mail services provided by CIS may not be used to send unsolicited advertisements or obscene and/or threatening messages. CIS mail servers are not to be used to deliver bulk or mass e-mail messages. The forging of message headers and other source of origin information is also prohibited. In addition, you are responsible for regularly checking your e-mail, as CIS correspondence may be sent to the customer via e-mail.

Newsgroup posting exists for both business and personal use. However, excessive cross posting and off-topic posting will not be tolerated. Violation of this may lead to temporary account suspension.

In order to provide fair access to all subscribers, you understand that CIS's unlimited access accounts are not intended to be full-time dedicated connections, and are therefore subject to an inactivity timeout and 4-hour session lengths. An inactivity timeout means that if a person is not actively using their connection (i.e., not surfing, downloading, reading/sending e-mail, etc.), their session will be logged out after some set period of time due to inactivity (the timer is currently set to 15 minutes of inactivity). This keeps our dial-in phone lines and modems available to all subscribers. You may not circumvent this inactivity timeout in order to keep a connection established indefinitely.

Internet accounts are meant for the use and enjoyment of a single person or family from a particular machine. You may access our service from any number of machines (for instance, work and home), but you are limited to one concurrent logon. Similarly, CIS provides technical support for the registered subscriber on only one machine.

Use of Web space with our dial-up accounts for any commercial purpose is prohibited. This includes e-mail advertisements, commercial distributions, advertisement newsgroup postings, and use of web space for commercial web pages or other means. Any usage for commercial use will subject the account to classification and pricing as a "web hosting" account. Excessive traffic on a personal or corporate web site may result in additional fees being charged according to the server load. CIS is not responsible for loss or other alteration of a user's personal data or files residing on its servers.

Installations

You acknowledge and agree that CIS or its designated service provider may be required to access your premises and/or computer in order to install or repair the components necessary for you to access certain CIS services.  This may include opening your computer to install, repair or replace equipment and/or installing software on your computer or in your location.  By accepting the Agreement, scheduling a service visit and permitting CIS or its designated service provider to enter your home, you are hereby authorizing CIS or its designated service provider to access your computer for the purpose of installing, repairing or replacing components needed to access such services and to work with your telephone provider, if necessary, to make such service available through you designated telephone number.

You are solely responsible for ensuring that all information and software embodied on your computer is stored or backed up appropriately as necessary before CIS or its designated service providers service or repair your computer, or you contact CIS for technical support.

CIS and its designated service providers shall have no liability whatsoever for any losses resulting from installation, repair or support services, including, without limitation, damage to your premises, loss of software, data, or other information from your computer or for any modifications or deletion of files.

Payment Policy

CIS sends statements by U.S. Mail and by e-mail. We accept payment by credit card and by cash or check. Credit card customers are not issued statements, since they are electronically billed. 

You must provide current, complete and accurate information for your billing account in order to receive the any products/services from CIS.  You must promptly update all information to keep your billing account current, complete and accurate (such as change in billing address, credit card number, or credit card expiration date), and you must promptly notify CIS if your payment method is canceled (for example, for loss or theft) or if you become aware of a potential breach of security, such as the unauthorized disclosure or use of your user name and password.  If you fail to provide CIS any foregoing information, you agree that CIS may continue charging you for any product/service provided under your billing account, unless you have terminated your subscription for such product/service (confirmed in writing upon request).

Prices for all products/services exclude all applicable taxes and telecommunications charges, unless expressly stated otherwise.

Your continued use of the products/services on your billing account reaffirms that CIS is authorized to charge your payment method.  CIS may submit those charges for payment and you will be responsible for such charges.  Those submissions will not waive CIS's right to seek payment directly from you.  Your charges for CIS services are monthly in advance, and the charges for any other product/service may be payable in advance, in arrears, per usage, or as otherwise described when you initially ordered the applicable product/service..

If your payment method is by credit card, it is your responsibility to inform CIS of any changes or problems with the card. Because it costs us money to process a credit card transaction that is declined (similar to a bounced check), we reserve the right to charge any account 10% of the amount due not being less than $2.00 as a Late Fee, per declined response we receive. Credit card customers are subject to suspension if not paid in full ten days after the due date. Suspended accounts continue to accrue charges until reinstated or canceled, even if the account is not used by the subscriber. Credit card customers who develop a history of "declines" will be switched to US Mail or e-mail statement methods.

If your statement method is U.S. Mail or e-mail, all accounts that are not paid in full by the initial due date will be accessed 10% of the amount due not being less than $2.00 as a Late Fee. All accounts are subject to suspension if not paid in full ten days after the initial due date. Past due notices are sent only to aid customers in complying with the above policy. Suspended accounts continue to accrue charges until reinstated or canceled, even if the account is not used by the subscriber. A $25.00 service charge will be applied to any check that is returned to us for insufficient funds.

You understand that all charges associated with your account are your responsibility. Long distance access charges, charges incurred while online, or any other fee associated with the account is your sole responsibility. You are solely responsible for determining whether the access number you use is subject to any additional charges.  It is your responsibility  to contact your telephone company to determine whether the access number is subject to additional charges.  CIS will not reimburse you for any charges incurred by you as a result an access number that is subject to additional and/or long distance charges.

Refund Policy

Our refund policy is for unused portions of service and in the event of setup problems. Unused portions of service are designated in months. For instance, if a subscriber pays for three months and then two weeks later decides that he/she no longer wishes to maintain the account, a refund can be given for the final two months since they have not been used. Since the subscriber did not fully use the 3 months, the subscriber's refund would be calculated as the 3 month rate less the rate or rates that could be used fully, such as our monthly rate.  In other words, the 3 month rate of $55 less the 1 month rate of $19.95 would amount to a refund of $35.05.  In the case of 6 months of service originally purchased, and the subscriber no longer wants to maintain service after 5 months of service, the refund would be calculated as 6 months of service ($105) less the 3 month rate and 2 one month rates ($55 + $19.95 + $19.95) for a total refund of $10.10.  The same method used above would apply for our yearly account.   In the event of setup problems, a subscriber should contact CIS within one week of sign-up. If CIS is unable to provide sufficient help, a full refund will be made.

Subscriber Termination

If an account holder wishes to terminate their CIS account, CIS must receive notice no fewer than five working days before the account's next billing date. Notice must be given in writing or e-mail by the primary account holder to billing@carolinainter.net. Any accounts terminated in the middle of a billing period will not be partially refunded, and the account will be considered active until the next billing date for that account.  CIS reserves the right to terminate your access to CIS at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever.

Liability

CIS will not be held liable for any conduct, usage, or actions by one of its subscribers. Inappropriate, unethical, and/or illegal conduct or behavior while connected to CIS is in violation of our guidelines and may result in termination or suspension of service. By utilizing CIS's services, you agree to accept full responsibility for your actions while connected.

Internet access through CIS is provided without warranty. CIS shall not be liable for any loss or interruption of business, loss of profits, loss of time, loss of data or use, or any other damages.