RICKNET RULES (TERMS OF SERVICE)

::Service Plans and Rates::
[Dialup]
RickNet's standard rate is $19.95 per month for a single user account with un-metered access, two eMail accounts, and a five-megabyte personal web page – not to be used for commercial purposes. New customers have the option of a 15-minute no-charge service call to set up a computer to use our service. See also Discounted Rates below.

[EMail accounts]
Additional eMail accounts are $3.00 each per month.

[Site Hosting]
Our website registration fee is $49.00. If you host your site with us for a minimum of one year, the registration fee will be waived. The charge for hosting a commercial website is $300.00 per year. Hosting charges start the day files are placed on the site. Renewals are made on an annual basis. There will be no credit if you quit or move your site before the end of the year without 30 days prior written notice to RickNet. Moving sites before files are posted will be charged a $49.00 service fee. Moving sites after a complete setup with stat-servers before one year will be charged a $149.00 service fee. To move a site we need written notice from the site-administration contact as listed with the ICANN registrar and at least 30 days in advance. Charges for hosting accounts must be paid in full before sites will be released.

[Antivirus/Anti-junk-mail]
RickNet offers virus and junk mail filtering services for eMail accounts hosted on our machines. The cost of each service is $10.00 per year, plus a $3.00 one-time setup fee, per eMail account protected. Note: Spam and Virus filters are not foolproof and are only intended to minimize the threat of virus attack and the amount of spam arriving at one’s eMail box.

[Discounted Rates]
Annual billing for dialup connections (with a 15% rate reduction) or semiannual (with a 7.5% reduction) are also available upon request. Annual or semiannual billing must be prepaid in order for discount to apply. These plans are for six to 12 consecutive months and cannot be altered.

Website hosting discounts exist for tax-exempt organizations; please call the office to inquire.

From time to time other discounts may apply to qualified accounts. However, if service is disconnected as a result of non-payment, discounts no longer apply. Accounts in arrears are no longer eligible for discounted rates and will revert back to the standard monthly rate.

RickNet reserves the right to change rates or modify terms and conditions of service as deemed necessary. New terms and conditions will supercede all prior agreements. Rates are subject to change without notice.

::Billing::
Since early 2002 RickNet has been sending customer bills and statements via eMail. Therefore, for the purpose of billing or statement of account, we require at least one eMail address from you that you check regularly even if this email address is not hosted by RickNet.

RickNet bills in advance of a period of service by approximately three weeks. Charges are due by the beginning of the service period. Accounts approximately two months in arrears are subject to suspension for non-payment – see "subscriber responsibility". Most service plans have billing dates set to fall on the 1st of the month.

RickNet can set up customer accounts to pay automatically by credit card or by direct debit. Please call the office for details.

Plans billed monthly are prorated for the starting month, and thereafter are billed for full months only. There is no partial month's credit for closing or suspending a monthly plan before the end of a month.

Annual and semiannual payment plans are not prorated. Credits for annual or semiannual plans closed before the end of the service period are calculated as if the customer were subscribed to a monthly service plan and paying a monthly rate.

Customers cannot convert to annual or semiannual while in arrears on a monthly plan.

For the convenience of customers with multiple plans, we can coordinate those plans' billing anniversaries to fall on the same date.

:: Cancellation and Seasonal or Temporary Disconnect ::
If you wish to cancel your service permanently, you must contact RickNet in writing via US Mail or eMail us at dcoffice@dcwis.com 30 days prior to your cancellation date. Subscriptions may not be cancelled via telephone.

RickNet accepts requests for seasonal or temporary suspension via telephone, eMail or US Mail. No advance notice is necessary for these requests, but suspensions are not retroactive - the earliest we will suspend an account is the date of notice. It is your responsibility to verify that RickNet has received your request for suspension. There are no fees for disconnecting or reconnecting service; however, there will be a $10.00 reconnect fee for seasonal or temporary disconnects of less than two months' time or if your account is on hold more than once in the year. Note: Seasonal customer’s eMail accounts will remain active at all times until the account is cancelled. Plans remaining on seasonal disconnect for 12 months are subject to cancellation without notice.

See "Billing" for reimbursement on plan cancellation or suspension.

::Minimum System Requirements For Dialup::
RickNet is constantly updating and evolving to keep abreast of changing technology and customer needs. These changes may sometimes require modifications to your equipment or software, or may otherwise affect its performance. RickNet is not responsible if changes to our system render your system obsolete.

We recommend a 56k modem for customers on any platform. Recommended software for a viable connection for a PC is Windows 95 or higher and Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher. Ideally, to run this software, your computer should have a Pentium II processor or higher, at least 500 megabytes of free hard drive space, and at least 64 megabytes of RAM. MAC users should have at least a Power PC (603/604 CPU) system with Mac-OS 8.0 or higher, and 64 megabytes of RAM. For PC systems running a version of Internet Explorer prior to 5.0 or Mac Internet Explorer prior to 5.1, service will not be reliable and any service calls are billable at our regular on-site service rate of $100.00 per hour.

::Subscriber Responsibility::
[Use and Abuse]
Un-metered (also referred to as Unlimited) Access to the Internet means that you can get on and off the Internet as many times as you wish as long as you maintain an active and attended connection. Automated processes such as using a BOT, stay-alive program, “pinging” or stock-translation programs, violates the spirit of an un-metered connection. Such use is stealing time and resources from other users and will not be tolerated. Violators will be warned; continued violations will be cause to terminate connection and accounts without notification and at its discretion for the above abuse. Service interruption does not relieve you from your obligation to pay your regular account charges. Please call the office for service plan options if should you need to maintain a continuous connection.

Mass eMails, or other nuisance eMails and eMail abuses will result in account suspension or cancellation. RickNet does not authorize the sale of dcwis.com email addresses to anyone for any purpose; theft or unauthorized use of dcwis.com emails are subject to prosecution.

[Timely Payment]
It is your responsibility to know the billing schedule for your service, and to keep your account paid in a timely manner, or to notify our office if you will not be able to do so. RickNet makes every reasonable effort to communicate balances and statements in a timely way, but we have no way of knowing if you have not received your latest bill. A claim that you never received any billing is no excuse for not keeping your account up to date.

After seven days on non-payment suspension, a $10.00 service fee will be assessed on reconnect. Once disconnected for non-payment, service will not be restored until the account balance is paid in full, including any service fees. Past due balances will be assessed a finance charge of 1.5% per month and email accounts will be disabled.

You are still liable for service during the time accrued while on suspension for non-payment. Suspension of service for non-payment does not relieve you of your obligation to pay your regular account charges.

[Problems Connecting] RickNet has no way of knowing if you are having trouble connecting or maintaining a connection. It is your responsibility to notify our office in a timely fashion if you are experiencing problems, and to work with us until resolution of the problem is complete. There will be no credit given for downtime caused by operator error, failure of your equipment or phone lines, power outages, or other Internet problems outside the scope of RickNet.

It is your responsibility to know how to operate your equipment and software. Take the time to learn. Depending on demand, RickNet may offer on-site or classroom Internet & Windows training. Please contact our office for details. Classes also should be available through your local Technical College.

All versions of Windows have recorded histories of losing passwords and changing configurations without the user’s knowledge. These software bugs are not the responsibility of RickNet and are the most common reason for connection problems. Always reboot your computer from a power-off state at least once and completely re-enter your configuration’s user name and password at least once before calling the help line. The help line is available for Internet connection problems only 24 hours a day. All other queries will be addressed between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday thru Friday.

Service interruption stemming from problems outside of RickNet's control does not relieve you of your obligation to pay your regular account charges.

[Phone Charges From Dial-up Internet Plans]
Every time you dial a connection to RickNet or to any other ISP, your computer is making a telephone call; in other words, you are using your telephone service, and are subject to charges from your phone company according to your agreed-upon phone plan.

RickNet does not reimburse for telephone dialing charges incurred by your computer under ANY circumstances. It is your sole and complete responsibility to be aware of all details of your telephone service plan, including long-distance billing rates, and to be aware of your computer's use of your phone. RickNet at no time has any knowledge of and takes no responsibility for how your computer uses your phone, or any changes to your computer's setup (such as moving to a different location, or using a different phone line) which may result in increased phone charges from your phone company when you connect to RickNet.

Service calls for purposes of corrections made to your computer's dialing configuration, removal of Trojan dialer programs or viruses or data-mining software, acquired through any method, are billable at regular hourly rates