Last edited on Nov 13, 2023

Mediacom Communications Corporation Residential Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

This Residential Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) is part of your Agreement for Mediacom Internet access service (the “Service”) and supplements the Mediacom Residential Customer and User Agreement. Your use of the Service can affect other users and Mediacom’s network; the following policies (“Policies”) provide guidance on how you are expected to use the Service so that Mediacom can provide high-quality Internet access service and ensure the integrity, security and reliability of Mediacom’s network.

These Policies are not meant to be exhaustive. If any example is given (through the use of the words “such as,” “for example,” “e.g.,” or otherwise) of the meaning, intent or operation of such provision, such example is intended to be illustrative only and not exclusive or limiting. Unless the context otherwise unambiguously requires, the word “or” means “and/or.” The term “person” is to be broadly construed and includes any natural person or any corporation, trust, association, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture or other entity. The headings used in these Policies shall not affect in any way their meaning or interpretation.

VIOLATION OF THESE POLICIES BY YOU MAY RESULT IN SUSPENSION OR TERMINATION OF YOUR ACCESS TO THE SERVICES OR YOUR SERVICE ACCOUNT AND OTHER CONSEQUENCES, AS DETAILED UNDER “CONSEQUENCES IF YOU VIOLATE THESE POLICIES” BELOW. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS, YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY STOP USE OF THE SERVICE.

1. Acceptable Use; Customer and User Obligation

In using the Service, in addition to this AUP, you must comply with all applicable federal, state, local and international laws, regulations and other governmental requirements as well as all terms of use and policies of any websites you may visit or online services that you may use or access.

You Will Use The Service Only For Typical Residential Use. The Service is designed for typical residential use only. You will not use, or enable others to use, the Service to operate any type of business or commercial enterprise, or engage in other uses that involve atypical upstream or downstream usage.

You Will Not Allow Unauthorized Users to Use the Service. Authorized users of the Service are you (the customer), members of your household and your guests. You are responsible for all use of the Service whether you have authorized or know of such use, including unauthorized use of the Service because you fail to apply adequate security measures.

You Will Respect Your Service’s Bandwidth Usage Policies. Mediacom has implemented monthly downstream bandwidth usage allowances for many of its levels of internet service. Mediacom’s downstream monthly usage allowance is not a cap, meaning that you may exceed your downstream monthly usage allowance, but you will incur consequences for such overage in accordance with our Downstream Monthly Usage Allowance policy. More information is contained in Mediacom’s Downstream Monthly Usage Allowance statement.

Mediacom also has identified levels of upstream bandwidth usage that are inconsistent with typical residential service. These levels are also not a cap; you may exceed them, but you may incur consequences for such overage as set forth in the Additional Terms and Conditions. In addition, Mediacom engages in reasonable network management practices consistent with industry standards, which may affect your bandwidth usage. More information about Mediacom’s network management practices.

You Will Secure Devices and Protect Against Unwanted Conduct. While we publish this AUP, we do not have control over the behavior of our customers or other third parties, and we cannot promise you that all of our customers will abide by the AUP. It is your responsibility to take precautions to secure Mediacom Equipment, Customer Equipment and programs not provided by Mediacom that connect to the Service from unauthorized access, viruses, spam, bot nets and other security threats and to restrict access by your children to pornography and other content you think is inappropriate. Software programs claiming to be capable of restricting access to sexually explicit material on the Internet are commercially available. Mediacom, however, makes no representation or warranty about their effectiveness and it is your obligation to determine if they meet your needs.

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, each computer or other device used with the Service must be maintained in accordance with generally accepted security principles. Without limitation, each user must:

Keep computer operating system up to date with the latest service packs and operating system patches.
Implement standard anti-virus practices (“virus” refers to the entire group of destructive software including but not limited to viruses, worms and Trojans), which include but are not limited to:
- Using security software such as Computer Associates, Norton Internet Security or McAfee or other anti-virus program with up-to-date virus definitions;
- Performing a full scan of each hard disk for viruses at least weekly; and
- Exercising reasonable judgment about handling email and other files that are likely virus carriers. For example, do not open email or email attachments that come from unknown sources or that have unexpected subject headings or that show evidence of multiple forwarding.
Enable the firewall built into your operating system or a third-party firewall program such as Norton Internet Security, Zone Alarm Pro or other personal firewall software.
Scan each computer at least once weekly with Anti-Spyware programs such as Spybot and Adaware or other Spyware detection and removal tool.
Immediately resolve any known security problems with your computer, software or stored data.

Users of the Service who connect to the Internet through a wireless modem, router or other device are required to take the additional security measures that are recommended by the manufacturer of the wireless device used or security experts. You should consult the user manuals or other literature that was included with your wireless device, visit the areas of the manufacturer’s website that contains security information and/or consult reliable sources of information about wireless security available on the Internet.

You Will Not Engage in Any Prohibited Use or Activity. You may not use the Service in any manner that is illegal, infringes the rights of others, harms or interferes with or diminishes the use and enjoyment of the Service by others, or harms or may harm Mediacom’s network security or integrity, including, but not limited, to, using the Service, Mediacom Equipment or Customer Equipment to:

Disrupt, degrade or otherwise adversely affect the Service, Mediacom’s network or equipment owned by Mediacom, or other Mediacom customers.
Excessively use bandwidth, whether upstream or downstream, that in Mediacom’s sole opinion, places an unusually large burden on the network or goes above typical residential usage, as set forth in Mediacom’s Additional Terms and Conditions, available at https://mediacomcable.com/legal/additional-terms-and-conditions/, and Open Internet disclosure, available at https://mediacomcable.com/legal/open-internet-disclosure/.
Directly or indirectly interfere with, or gain or attempt to gain access to, our or any other person's network, network access or control device, system, server, computer, software or data without the knowledge and consent of us or such other person (as the case may be), including the use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security, such as password guessing programs, cracking tools, packet sniffers or network probing tools.
Directly or indirectly host, access, download, store, post, disseminate, transmit or re-transmit unlawful material, including, without limitation, threatening, harassing, defamatory, libelous, treasonous, or obscene material, or material constituting or encouraging conduct that violates any law, regulation or order, or provides guidance, or provides guidance, information or assistance with respect to causing damage or security breaches to Mediacom's network or to the network of any other Internet service provider.

A message is unsolicited if sent to a recipient who has not requested or invited the message. Mediacom reserves the right to decide, in its sole discretion, whether duplicative or mass e-mail messages are unsolicited. A complaint by the recipient is presumptive evidence that the message was unsolicited.
Directly or indirectly restrict, inhibit or otherwise interfere with the ability of any other person to use or enjoy the Service or the Internet including, without limitation, posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a worm, virus, or other harmful feature, or generating levels of traffic sufficient to impede others' ability to use, send, or retrieve information.
Mislead anyone as to your identity, including, without limitation, by pretending to be someone else, falsifying address information or modifying headers to conceal your true identity. This policy is not intended to disallow the use of screen-names, aliases or anonymous remailers for any legitimate purpose.
Use the Service to engage in any form of activity commonly called “phishing,” such as sending emails that falsely claim to be from a legitimate enterprise in an effort to induce recipients to surrender private information that will be used for raiding bank accounts, identity theft or other illegal or illegitimate purposes.
Use or run dedicated, stand-alone equipment or servers from your premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your premises. Examples of prohibited equipment and servers include, but are not limited to, email, Web hosting, file sharing, and proxy services and servers.
Resell the Service or otherwise make available to anyone outside your premises the ability to use the Service (for example, through Wi-Fi or other methods of networking), in whole or in part, directly or indirectly. The Service is for personal use only and you agree not to use the Service for operation as an Internet service provider.
Connect the Mediacom Equipment to any computer outside of your premises.
Interfere with computer networking or telecommunications service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, denial of service attacks, flooding of a network, over loading the Service, improper seizing and abusing operator privileges, and attempts to “crash” a host.
Access or use the Service with anything other than a dynamic Internet Protocol (“IP”) address that adheres to the dynamic host configuration protocol (“DHCP”). You may not configure the Service or any related equipment to access or use a static IP address or use any protocol other than DHCP unless you are subject to a Service plan that expressly permits you to do so.
Use any of the corporate or business names, logos or trade or service names or marks of Mediacom or any of its affiliates, licensors, contractors or suppliers unless and to the extent you are expressly and specifically authorized to do so by a written agreement with us or the owner of such name, logo or mark.

2. Mediacom's Rights; Consequences if you Violate These Policies

You are contractually obligated to abide by this AUP when using the Service and, if you are a subscriber to the Service, to ensure that other individuals who use the Service through your account likewise comply. Any violation of any of these Policies, suspected or reported violation, or other misuse of the Service may result in suspension or termination of all or part of the Service, a demand for immediate removal of offending material, temporary or permanent filtering, blocked access, or other action appropriate to the violation, as determined by Mediacom in its sole discretion. Neither Mediacom nor any of its affiliates, licensors, contractors or suppliers shall have any liability for any such responsive actions.

Mediacom is not responsible for the forwarding of e-mail sent to any account that has been suspended or terminated. Such e-mail will be returned to sender, ignored, deleted, or stored temporarily at Mediacom's sole discretion.

When appropriate in Mediacom’s sole judgment, it is Mediacom’s preference to give notice so that violations may be addressed voluntarily; however, Mediacom reserves the right and the sole discretion to act without notice.

Mediacom also may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement if criminal or other illegal activity is suspected. In addition, certain uses and activities may result in criminal or civil liability under applicable law.

Mediacom may at any time and from time to time modify, supplement, replace or otherwise change these Policies, in whole or in part, effective when posted here or on any Mediacom Website. Notice of changes may also be provided via electronic mail, regular mail or other appropriate method. Accordingly, you should consult these Policies regularly to ensure that your activities conform to the most recent version. In the event of a conflict between the express terms of your applicable Agreement and the express terms of these Policies, the terms of these Policies shall govern.

In addition, Mediacom specifically reserves the right to impose the following consequences for actual or suspected violations of this AUP:

Prohibit or stop certain uses. Mediacom reserves the right to prohibit or take action to stop or prevent activities that, in its sole discretion, harm or may harm the Service, Mediacom’s network, or Mediacom or its commercial reputation and goodwill. Mediacom has included examples of uses and activities that are prohibited in the section “Prohibited Uses and Activities” above.

Prevent abusive usage. Consistent with FCC rules and other applicable law, Mediacom reserves the right to respond appropriately if it becomes aware of misuse or abuse of the Service by any customer, such as non-compliance with applicable service terms or usage inconsistent with the fundamental nature of BIAS as a mass-market, retail, residential service relying on a shared network. In the rare event of such abuse, our preference is to consult with the customer involved in an effort to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution. If such a resolution is not achieved, then Mediacom may, with or without notice and without liability, take any steps it deems reasonably appropriate to protect the interests of the other customers who share the network and to enforce this AUP and service terms, including speed reductions or suspension or termination of service, and may also pursue any other available rights or remedies.

Require change in use of Service or change in Service Level. Where use of the Service harms the network or is otherwise in violation of this AUP, as determined by Mediacom in its sole discretion, Mediacom may require you to alter the manner in which you are using the Service or require you to subscribe to a different Service Level so that your use complies with the terms of your service plan and does not have a negative impact on Mediacom’s network or impair or impede others’ use of the Service.

Monitor use. Mediacom reserves the right, without notice to you, to (1) monitor content and transmissions electronically from time to time if required by law; (2) subject to certain conditions, disclose any information it learns as a result to governmental authorities; or (3) block or remove such content and transmissions to enforce the restrictions in these Policies and the Customer Agreements. Mediacom expressly disclaims any responsibility for any offense or injury arising out of your or others' access to or dissemination of any content posted or transmitted.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Mediacom also reserves the right, without notice to you, to:

Refuse to permit you or other users of your account to post, transmit or store messages or material that we deem unacceptable, undesirable, offensive or in violation of your Customer and User Agreement, these Policies, other requirements applicable to the Service, law or third-party rights.
Use content “spiders” or other technology that accesses your postings, messages, computer or data files to search for or detect such messages or material.
Block, filter or remove any such messages or material.
Block or discontinue access to any unlawful newsgroup, bulletin board, forum, Website or other resource that would otherwise be accessible through the Service or the Internet.

Investigate suspected or reported violations. Mediacom reserves the right to investigate suspected violations of this AUP, including the gathering of information from the user or users involved. During an investigation, Mediacom may suspend the account or accounts involved and/or remove or block material that potentially violates this Policy, the Mediacom Residential Customer and User Agreement, or the Additional Terms and Conditions. You expressly authorize and consent to Mediacom and its suppliers cooperating with (i) law enforcement authorities in the investigation of suspected legal violations, and (ii) and system administrators at other Internet service providers or other network or computing facilities in order to enforce this Policy.

Including statements regarding Mediacom’s rights in this AUP is intended solely to confirm that you agree that Mediacom may take any of the actions stated without violating your rights and without incurring any liability to you as a result of any such action we take or its consequences. The fact that we reserve these rights does not mean that Mediacom has, and we specifically disclaim that we have, any control over or responsibility or liability for your postings, messages, content, actions or omissions or those of any other user of your account, any other Mediacom customer, any operator of any Website or Internet resource or any other third party. The fact that we reserve these rights with respect to you or other Service users does not create any obligation to exercise them, nor does any exercise of any such right in any one or more instances create any obligation to exercise them in similar or other instances. Mediacom further disclaims any obligation or liability to any customer or user because Mediacom may have chosen not to exercise such rights with respect to another customer or user.

The failure of Mediacom to enforce these Policies, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of any right to do so at any time. You agree that, if any portion of this AUP is held invalid or unenforceable, that portion will be construed consistent with applicable law as nearly as possible, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect.

If you or any person using the Service through your account violates these policies, the foregoing shall not in any way limit Mediacom's rights or remedies under law, your applicable Customer and User Agreement or otherwise available. In addition, you agree to reimburse and indemnify Mediacom and its affiliates, employees, licensors, contractors, suppliers and agents for all claims, suits, proceedings, investigations, liabilities, damages, judgments, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, that directly or indirectly resulting from, arising out of or related to any such violation.

3. Use of Third Parties in Providing the Service

In providing the Service, Mediacom may use the services, equipment and infrastructure and content of affiliates, software licensors, network "backbone" providers, and other contractors, suppliers and third parties. Each such person is expressly made a third-party beneficiary of these Policies and the disclaimers, exclusions and limitations of warranties and liabilities, and Your indemnification obligations, stated in these Policies and in your applicable Customer and User Agreement. This means that each is entitled to directly assert and enforce against you these Policies and those disclaimers, exclusions, limitations and obligations in its, his or her own name and right. Otherwise, there are no third-party beneficiaries of these Policies.

4. How you can Report Suspected Violations.

Any complaints regarding violations of this Policy by any Mediacom customer should be directed to your local Mediacom cable system at the address and telephone number stated on your bills for the Service. Where possible, include details that would assist Mediacom in investigating and resolving the complaint (i.e., expanded headers and a copy of the offending transmission).

Questions regarding these policies can be directed by you or, if you are not a subscriber to the Service, by the subscriber whose account you use to access the Service, to the appropriate local Mediacom cable system at the address and telephone number appearing on the bills for the Service.