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Last modified: March 17, 2024
Black Hills Broadband is committed to providing an excellent user experience that supports any lawful product, service, or application that its customers choose to access through their Black Hills Broadband Internet service.
To do so, Black Hills Broadband engages in reasonable network management practices. Descriptions of these practices are provided below for informational purposes only and may be subject to change at any time.
Use of Black Hills Broadband’s Internet services is governed by various service terms and conditions that are available here. The information provided below does not change the rights or obligations under those terms and conditions of either Black Hills Broadband or the customers to Black Hills Broadband’s services.
The Black Hills Broadband Privacy Policy explains the collection, use, and sharing of information from Fiber users.
Congestion Management
In the unlikely event that users' aggregate demand exceeds the available capacity of the network and creates acute congestion, Black Hills Broadband will employ various techniques to ensure that customers continue to have a positive experience. In times of acute congestion, Black Hills Broadband Internet service bandwidth will be fairly allocated among customers without regard to the customers’ online activities or the protocols or applications that the customers are using. While acute congestion is occurring, customers will still be able to use the lawful content, services, and applications of their choice, but this fair sharing of bandwidth may result in slower download and upload speeds and slower response times from websites and Internet-based applications and services. Black Hills Broadband will not engage in deep packet inspection (where the content of the data packet is inspected beyond its IP, TCP, and UDP headers) or drop specific types of end-user Internet traffic except as described herein to preserve the integrity of the network and protect against negative effects of Internet threats.
Black Hills Broadband does not prevent or impede the use of any other product or service that its customers choose to access over their Black Hills Broadband Internet service as long as the use of that product or service does not violate the service terms and conditions. Black Hills Broadband also does not favor or inhibit any applications or classes of applications except as described herein.
Service Offering Characteristics
Black Hills Broadband offers a selection of Internet access service offerings to meet customers’ budgetary and usage needs. Details about Google’s service offerings are available here.
The advertised speed of the customer’s chosen Black Hills Broadband internet offering is the maximum speed expected to be achievable for that service offering. Several factors may affect the actual speed of Black Hills Broadband’s service offerings at any particular point in time. These factors include, but are not limited to: the capability of the customer's device used to access Black Hills Broadband; the capability of the business network between the customer's device and Black Hills Broadband; the capability of websites or other internet services accessed by the customer; the connectivity and capacity of Content Delivery Networks (CDNs); and network congestion/other internet traffic.
Detailed summaries of Black Hills Broadband’s Internet service performance, including information about speed and latency and optimizing your wireless network, can be found in the Help Center. Black Hills Broadband also provides a speed test page for customers to test their connections themselves.
Black Hills Broadband’s Internet services are priced on a flat-fee basis (plus taxes and government fees). Black Hills Broadband does not charge customers a usage-based fee for Internet access service and does not employ volume-based data caps. More information about other fees is available in the Black Hills Broadband Terms of Service and Fee Schedule.
Bandwidth is provided on a per-customer basis. The customer's bandwidth is shared by all connected devices within the customer's premises.
Network Security
Black Hills Broadband engages in network management practices intended to address threats to its network and customers. Black Hills Broadband reserves the right at any time to take action necessary to protect the integrity of its network and other parts of the Internet. This may include terminating or suspending service to customers who engage in activity that violates the Black Hills Broadband Terms of Service, including but not limited to activity that threatens to undermine the integrity of Black Hills Broadband’s network or services.
Black Hills Broadband uses industry standard tools and generally accepted best practices and policies to prevent customers and other Internet users from experiencing the negative effects of Internet threats such as viruses, spam, denial of service attacks, and other unwanted or harmful online content and activities.
Please notify Black Hills Broadband of any perceived network security or other Internet threats.
Attachment of Devices
Black Hills Broadband’s customers may attach any device of their choice to the Black Hills Broadband Internet service that is compatible with the Black Hills Broadband network (i.e., supports IPv4 and/or IPv6 via Ethernet or Wi-Fi technologies), does not violate the Black Hills Broadband Terms of Service, and does not cause harm to the network, other users, or the provision of Internet access service. The performance a user experiences may vary depending on the capability and configuration of devices being used on the service.
Special Information Regarding Wi-Fi Routers
Black Hills Broadband may provide each of its customers a wireless router. Black Hills Broadband highly recommends the use of encryption with Wi-Fi. Encryption will help prevent unauthorized users from accessing a customer's business network.
Black Hills Broadband customers are responsible for activity that occurs over their connections, including unlawful use by third parties. While Wi-Fi encryption does not encrypt traffic that a customer sends over the internet, it does provide encryption for the Wi-Fi portion of the communications path between the customer’s wireless device and the customer’s wireless router. In the Help Center, Black Hills Broadband provides step-by-step instructions for activating the encryption setting.
For information on accessing and configuring features in Black Hills Broadband Wi-Fi enabled device(s), please visit the Help Center.
Information About Black Hills Broadband Phone Service
Black Hills Broadband’s internet and Phone service offerings share capacity on the connections to customers’ premises. To provide customers with a consistently high-quality service, we may use certain network management practices related to the Phone Services, including:
Limiting or suspending heavy, continuous usage that adversely impacts our network’s performance or hinders access to our network. For example, we may automatically terminate any call that exceeds two hours in duration.
Limiting or suspending usage that we reasonably suspect is unlawful, fraudulent, or does not comply with the Acceptable Use Policy.
Restricting access to any telephone number and/or certain categories of telephone numbers (e.g., 9XX numbers other than 911).
Not providing calling capability, including connections to certain geographic locations and special services numbers.
FCC Disclosures
The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) requires ISPs to publicly disclose certain information. Though we have information in our other posted materials, we have compiled information here that is specifically required by the FCC.
Network Management Practices
Blocking
Black Hills Broadband does not prevent, other than for reasonable network management, end user access to lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices.
Throttling
Black Hills Broadband does not, other than for reasonable network management, degrade or impair access to lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, application, service, user or use of a non-harmful device.
Affiliated Prioritization
Black Hills Broadband does not prioritize or favor any traffic over other traffic, nor does it reserve bandwidth for any traffic. Black HIlls Broadband utilizes industry standard peering and CDN practices which optimize connectivity for its customers to provide the best network experience. All Internet traffic is treated equally across our network.
Paid Prioritization
Black Hills Broadband is not paid to prioritize or favor any traffic over other traffic, nor does it reserve bandwidth for any traffic in exchange for any type of consideration. Black Hills Broadband utilizes industry standard peering and CDN practices which optimize connectivity for its customers to provide the best network experience. All Internet traffic is treated equally across our network.
Congestion Management
Black Hills Broadband uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards to manage congestion in its network.
Specific Behavior
Carrier-Grade NAT (“CGN”) customers have their traffic modified using standard NAT practices for IP address conservation. This may cause some applications (e.g., certain types of VPNs) to fail. Black Hills Broadband also rate limits the Internet Control Message Protocol (“ICMP”) to protect its infrastructure.
Device Attachment Rules
Black Hills Broadband requires devices to be compatible with IPv4, IPv6, and its Wi-Fi. Black Hills Broadband limits the number of devices that can be attached but, generally, not the type of device.
Security Management
Black Hills Broadband employs a number of practices to help prevent unwanted communications, such as spam, and protects the security of Black Hills Broadband’s customers and network. Traffic volume and flows are monitored to manage capacity, detect malicious activity (i.e., DDoS or malware), and maintain regulatory compliance. Devices may be blocked if they are found to be participating in a DDoS attack or contain malware.
Performance Characteristics
Service Description
Black Hills Broadband provides a summary of its Internet service performance, containing information about speed as well as other related topics. Black Hills Broadband provides Internet speeds of up to 1000 Mbps (1 GIG) depending on availability and the price and package you desire.
Commercial Terms
Pricing and Other Fees
Black Hills Broadband charges an installation fee for its internet products. Black Hills Broadband’s Internet service may be subject to promotional rates. Additional fees, such as for non-standard installation and equipment charges, may apply. For information about pricing and fees for Black Hills Broadband’s various tiers of service, please visit BlackHillsBroadband.com.
Privacy Policies
Black Hills Broadband’s privacy policies regarding our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information are explained in our Privacy Policy.
Redress Options
If you have any questions about these disclosures, cannot find what you are looking for, or have any other concerns about Black Hills Broadband internet services, please contact Black Hills Broadband at [email protected]. Black Hills Broadband will review and promptly respond to all submissions.