Hot Springs School District

HSTC manages congestion in its own network by maintaining adequate bandwidth to the interconnecting point with upstream providers. When HSTC's network reaches a high percentage of capacity in use on a consistent basis, we begin planning for expanding bandwidth upstream. HSTC's end user network lies within the boundaries of the local exchanges of Hot Springs, Montana. A map of HSTC's bandwidth transport facility route beyond its local exchanges can be viewed at the Company's business office. At times, congestion can affect the overall quality of service to all of HSTC's end users. When congestion is caused by events other than normal anticipated use; i.e., a computer virus which attacks the network, an investigation is immediately conducted to find the root cause of congestion. If congestion is caused by an end user's computer with a virus, HSTC staff will attempt to contact the user who is expected to address the problem quickly. If the end user cannot be contacted, HSTC reserves the right to shut down the service until the cause is eliminated. HSTC maintains logs of network activity to study traffic patterns and potential congestion issues. Congestion beyond HSTC's network is managed by other Tier 1 and Tier 2 bandwidth service providers.