What are the Terms of Service?

Effective 01 February 2014

The Terms of Service (TOS) are the rules and regulations that specify guidelines for using our services. Use of our services is subject to these terms. Please read them carefully and ensure that you understand and agree to all parts. Use of ABNET's services implies agreement with these terms! ABNET.PTY.LTD (hereinafter referred to as "ABNET") provides web hosting to people all around the world. We have the responsibility to protect each client and provide them with the best service possible. The following guidelines were designed to ensure that our services remain of the utmost quality. Please read very carefully before ordering and/or using ABNET services. Any questions regarding this agreement should be sent to ABNET's sales department prior to signing up for service.

Quick Links

Service Agreement
Account Security
Website Security
Content and Usage
Bandwidth
System Resource Usage
Backups
Unsolicited Email (SPAM)
Abuse of Support
Abuse of Servers
Age
Cancellation and Refunds
Non-Payment
Delivery Policy
Privacy Policy
Failure to Follow Policies

Service Agreement

The ABNET Service Agreement is a separate agreement between ABNET and all customers. Please make sure you are in agreement with the following points and conditions, as well as our service agreement (in its entirety) before signing up for or using ABNET's services. Contact our sales department for any clarifications.
Contact us for a copy of the Service Agreement

Account Security

ABNET accounts must only be accessed by the authorized account holder, and it is the account holder's responsibility to maintain a secure password. Customers must not distribute their username and password to any other individual or third party.

Website Security

Whilst ABNET employs prorotective mechanisms to help protect against website vulnerabilities, it is the client's responsibility to maintain the security of their website scripts and to keep their web applications up to date to address vulnerabilites as they are recognised.

Content and Usage

All services provided by ABNET may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or presentation of any information, data or material in violation of any United States Federal, State or City law is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: copyrighted material, material we judge to be threatening or obscene, or material protected by trade secret and other statute. The subscriber agrees to indemnify and hold harmless ABNET from any claims resulting from the use of the service which damages the subscriber or any other party. Note: Pornography and sex-related merchandising are prohibited on any ABNET server. This includes sites that may infer sexual content, or Link to adult content elsewhere. This is also true for sites that promote any illegal activity or content that may be damaging to ABNET servers or any other server on the internet. Links to such materials are also prohibited. Contact our sales department for any clarifications.

Examples of non-acceptable content, usage and activities
- Copyright or trademark infringement (software, music, videos, etc)
- Bulk Email and spamming related products
- Pornography
- Hate, bigotry, stalking, harassment and/or intolerance related material
- Hacking and distribution of viruses, spyware, and malware

Material illegal under Australian Law
Sites containing or linking to material that may be considered detrimental to the public health, safety, or welfare. (Such as, but not limited to: Anarchists Cookbook, bomb making, weapon information, or anything else that may be considered detrimental or illegal.) ABNET will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision, and reserves the right to deactivate and remove any site at any time for any reason without refund!

Copyright Infringements
ABNET will respond to all reports of infringement that are formatted in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and any other applicable copyright laws. Notices of infringement that do not comply with this act will not be processed. We will act in accordance with the DMCA when handling infringement reports.

Bandwidth

Each account has an allocated site bandwidth allowance, this allowance is 80Gb per month. If this is exceeded, the account holder is liable for the cost of the exceeded bandwidth amount. Bandwidth is monitored and ABNET reserves the right to remove sites that exceed their bandwidth allowance without notice. Excess bandwidth is charged at the rate of $2.20 per GB per month.

System Resource Usage

If ABNET's system administration team determines that an account is utilizing an unacceptable amount of system resources, ABNET may temporarily deactivate the account in question. If ABNET's staff deems necessary, an eviction notice may be sent to the customer of an offending account providing them with seven (7) days in which to either upgrade to a VPS or other hosting solution as recommended by ABNET staff or locate a new provider. This only occurs in extreme cases; ABNET will do all it can to assist customers prior to this scenario. ABNET will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision. Because of the nature of this provision, each account will be considered and analyzed individually.
Contact us for a copy of the Resource Usage Policy

Backups

ABNET performs nightly backups of shared and reseller servers; however, these backups are for ABNET's administrative purposes only, and are in NO WAY GUARANTEED! Customers are responsible for maintaining their own backups on their own personal computers. ABNET does not provide any sort of compensation for lost or incomplete data in the event that backups do not function properly (even if the malfunction was due to negligence on ABNET's part). We will do our best to ensure complete and accurate backups, but assume no responsibility for this duty. Always back your site up to your personal computer! We make no guarantees about the availability of backups.

Unsolicited Email (SPAM)

SPAMing, or the sending of unsolicited email, from an ABNET server or using a return email address that is maintained on a ABNET server is STRICTLY prohibited. Using SPAM to advertise a site hosted on ABNET's network also constitutes as a violation of this provision. ABNET will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision. Sites found to be in violation of our SPAM policies will be immediately deactivated and no refund will be issued. For anyone intentionally spamming on our systems, we reserve the right to bill them at rate of $90/hour for any cleanup, research, and related work from their illegal activities. Help us STOP SPAM! Please email our abuse department immediately to report a violation of our SPAM policies.

Abuse of Support

At ABNET, we always treat our customers with the utmost respect. In return, we expect the same from you. If our staff feels that you are consistently addressing them in a demeaning or rude manner, your account may be suspended and you may be asked to take your business elsewhere. In the event that we terminate service for support abuse, customers will be given ten (10) days notice to find a new host. A pro-rated refund may be issued on a case-by-case basis.

Abuse of Servers

Any attempts to undermine or cause harm to a ABNET Internet Solutions server or customer of ABNET is strictly prohibited. ABNET will be the sole arbiter as to what constitutes a violation of this provision. Accounts found in violation of this provision will be subject to immediate account deactivation without refund. ABNET will turn all available information about abuse incidents, including customer contact data, over to the proper authorities and press charges.

Age

The Customer certifies that he or she is at least 18 years of age, or that their parent or legal guardian will act as the “customer” in terms of this contract.

Cancellation and Refunds

Cancellations are processed by our Billing department; to cancel an account, submit your cancellation via email or online form. ABNET reserves the right to charge a reinstatement fee. ABNET will accept a request to cancel a web hosting account and give a full refund to a new customer who requests such refund and cancellation within 30 days of ordering. Domain name registrations cannot be cancelled and are not refundable.

Non-Payment

All payments are due in full by the anniversary date.

Web Hosting and Domains

Failure to remit payment on or before the anniversary date shall result in a termination of public access to Customer services. Failure to remit payment for services within three (3) consecutive days, including the anniversary date, shall result in termination of access to the service network and all services shall be reclaimed. All Customer data remaining after seven (7) days of non-payment will be destroyed for security and privacy reasons.

To restore a terminated account from a backup, the client firstly needs to pay the overdue fees and order the additional backup restore service. Please be aware that NO guarantee can be given on the integrity of the account backup.

Other Services

Payment Terms for other services are 14 Days from date of invoice.

Delivery Policy

After ordering online, you will receive an email confirmation from eWAY containing your order details (if you have provided your email address). We will normally confirm receipt of your order within a few minutes of ordering. We will attempt to send your service details via email within 1 working day. If you wish to query a delivery please contact us at support@abnet.com.au

Privacy Policy

ABNet regards customer privacy as an important part of our relationship with our customers. The following privacy policy applies to all ABNet users and conforms to Internet privacy standards. If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should contact us at support@abnet.com.au

Collection of Information

In order to use the ABNet website, we may require information from you in order to provide the best service possible. All correspondence may also be collected and stored, particularly in regard to sales, support and accounts, including Email. Any information collected by ABNet is collected via correspondence from you or your company. This may be via the telephone, Email, mail, fax or directly through our website.

Use of Collection Information

Any details collected from ABNet customers is required in order to provide you with our products and/or services, and a high level of customer service. Correspondence is recorded in order to provide service references, and to assist in our staff development.

Storage of Collected Information

The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card numbers) on our website, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). When Credit Card details are collected, we simply pass them on in order to be processed as required. We never permanently store complete Credit Card details. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.

Access to Collected Information

If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire our service, you may correct, update, delete or deactivate it by emailing us.

Orders

If you purchase a product or service from us, we may request certain personally identifiable information from you. You may be required to provide contact information (such as name, Email, and postal address) and financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date). We use this information for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we will use this information to contact you.

Communications

ABNet uses personally identifiable information for essential communications, such as Emails, accounts information, and critical service details. We may also use this information for other purposes, including some promotional Emails. If at any time a customer wishes not to receive such correspondence, they can request to be removed from any mailing lists. You will be notified when your personal information is collected by any third party that is not our agent/service provider, so you can make an informed choice as to whether or not to share your information with that party.

Third Parties

ABNet may at its discretion use other third parties to provide essential services on our site or for our business processes. We may share your details as necessary for the third party to provide that service. These third parties are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information for any other purpose. ABNet does not share any information with third parties for any unknown or unrelated uses.

Legal

We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Website.

Failure to Follow Policies

Failure to fully comply with these terms is grounds for account suspension and/or deactivation (with or without refund, subject to ABNET's discretion). Any accounts and/or servers contained within ABNET's network must adhere to the above policies. We reserve the right to remove any account without prior notice. If we deactivate your account for violating policy, you will forfeit your rights to a refund--and none will be given. No refunds for advanced payment. Our normal policy is a warning first, and account deactivation the second offense, but no warning is required. ABNET reserves the right to deactivate and remove any site hosted on our servers that contains any content that it deems in its sole discretion to be unacceptable, undesirable or contraindicated.