info@oawl.net | 847.587.1040

Open Internet Statement

Open Air Wireless Open Internet Statement

Open Air Wireless is a wireless internet service provider that services northern illinois and southern Wisconsin. This disclosure is provided to comply with FCC rules FR Doc No: 2011-24259 Which can be found at this Link : http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-23/html/2011-24259.htm

These rules ask us to be Transparent with these points
• Network Practices
• Congestion Management
• Application-specific Behavior
• Device Attachment rules
• Security Practices
• Performance Characteristics
• Privacy Policies

Open Air Wireless Service Description
We are a Terrestrial Fixed Wireless Provider. Terrestrial means we use towers, typically on wtaer towers or other high access points near the service area.  Fixed means the service is designed to be permanently attached to homes and businesses. We use the towers to beam wireless internet to our customer’s location where we mount an antenna on the customer’s structure and run an ethernet cable into the building to provide internet to them.  At no time do we beam any information to space or use any sort of Satellite technology in our network or services. Open Air Wireless does not do any metering, we also don’t charge for Network usage.

Network Practices
Open Air Wireless believes in the open internet.  We do not prioritize or degrade any lawful content, applications or services.  All lawful internet use is handled identically. Open Air Wireless does reserve the right to block or degrade traffic that is harmful to the network such as uncontrolled UDP transfer that can be harmful to the performance of the network and degrade other customers’ service.

Congestion Management
Open Air Wireless does not employ any automated congestion management. We try to stay ahead of network growth to provide the best customer experience. As a rule Open Air Wireless does its best to balance costs and network saturation to provide premium services.  

Application-specific Behavior
Open Air Wireless does not block or rate-control specific protocols or ports with the following exceptions:TCP or UDP ports 23, 25, 53, 123, 137, 138, 139, 161, 445, 2000, 2010, 2020, 2222, 4443, 8291, 8728,8729, 10001. These ports are blocked to protect the security of Customers’ and Open Air Wireless’s equipment from common attacks.  Customers may request those ports to be opened if they agree to use proper fire-walling techniques and anti-Spam practices. Incoming port 53 or DNS is blocked for security reasons if you want to operate an authoritative DNS server please contact below email.
Other ports and services may be blocked as requested by the customer or to comply with operational or legal requirements restricting malicious activities. Customers must specifically request this service by contacting Open Air Wireless.

Device Attachment rules
The Connection from Open Air Wireless is handed off with a standard 10/100Mb or 10/100/1000Mb Ethernet connection. This may be connected to a customer’s computer or router. Devices connected to the network MUST NOT send Spanning Tree (STP), or other types of Layer 2 network management protocols.
Devices connected to the network MUST NOT send Layer 3 routing information such as OSPF, RIP, or BGP traffic to Open Air Wireless equipment. Customers may not face a DHCP server toward Open Air Wireless equipment. Open Air Wireless will take steps to block DHCP responses coming from unauthorized servers, which may include disabling the customer’s connection.

Security Practices
Open Air Wireless uses a number of tools and techniques to protect its network and subscribers from malicious and unwanted Internet traffic such as preventing the distribution of viruses or other harmful code and preventing the delivery of spam to subscriber email accounts. Because the nature of external threats to the network is constantly evolving, Open Air Wireless network security practices necessarily are dynamic and regularly changing. In general, these security practices should not have any effect on our subscribers’ use of their network connections.

Performance Characteristics
Open Air Wireless offers a range of download speeds to residential subscribers varying from 1 Mbps to 20 Mbps (megabits per second). The network is designed to support these speeds to help ensure that every subscriber receives the speeds to which they have subscribed. Open Air Wireless however cannot guarantee speeds at all times, as there are many factors and conditions beyond Open Air Wireless’s control that can affect Internet performance. Some of these external factors and conditions are:
a. Performance of subscriber computer and/or router.
b. Type of connection to Open Air Wireless Customer Premise Equipment (e.g. WIFI).
c. Congestion of web sites and services on Internet.
d. Web site or service limiting speeds on the Internet.
e. Internet performance outside of the Open Air Wireless Network.
Open Air Wireless service plans are advertised as “up to” certain speeds reflecting performance under ideal conditions. Consumer grade connections can not guarantee speeds or availability at all times.

Customer Expectations
Not all Plans available in all areas * * * * If your speeds are not up to minimum expectation for your plan please call us so we can look at your connection. We are unable to fix an issue that we do not know about. Tech support is available M-F from 8:30am to 5pm at (847)587-1040. During all other times, please use our online support form.

Privacy Policies
Network management practices do not routinely entail inspection of network traffic. Network traffic may be inspected as needed by Open Air Wireless personnel in the ordinary course of diagnosing and correcting network issues. Network Traffic is not routinely stored or provided to outside parties. Network traffic may be captured, stored, or shared with equipment vendors for the purpose of diagnosing and repairing issues with network equipment or performance or to comply with law enforcement requests.

Redress Options
Open Air Wireless prides itself on providing great, local customer service. Open Air Wireless uses a full-time technical support staff and Customer Relationship Management system to resolve any and all disputes. Open Air Wireless works hard to have a live, local person available to answer all phone calls between 8:30am-5pm. In the event that all phone lines are in use, customers are encouraged to leave voice mails.