Terms & Conditions

Forest Communications Hosted VoIP and Broadband Connectivity T&C’s

This Service Application Order for Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Service is made by and between FOREST COMMUNICATIONS and you and is part of the Agreement between the Parties.

1 Definitions

“Cancellation Fee” means the average monthly in rental amount X how many months left in your contract plus any cease charges from the carrier

“Charges” means our charges for the provision, hardware and monthly rental of any the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services under your Service Application Order

“Hosted VoIP Services” has the meaning specified in Clause 2;

“Broadband services” has the meaning specified in Clause 2;

“Handset” means the IP telephone handsets and any associated switches, cabling and/or other equipment supplied by us to you in connection with the Hosted VoIP Services;

“Minimum Term” means the minimum term during which we will provide you the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Service as agreed with you on the Service Application Order

”Renewal Term” means a further commitment term that you agree to enter into regarding one or more of the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services

“Service Start Date” means the date your Hosted VoIP Services and or Broadband service go live.

2 Service Description

The Hosted VoIP Services consist of the VoIP services with, where applicable, inclusive minutes, provided by us pursuant to this Service Application Order.

The Broadband Service consists of the provision of fixed line high speed access to the internet in the United Kingdom

3 Emergency Calls

3.1 You acknowledge that the Hosted VoIP Services are a VoIP service, and as such, they are dependent on your connection to the data network and to the telephony network. You acknowledge and agree that the Hosted VoIP Services allow calls to the emergency numbers 999 and 112 and that calls to these services may fail if there is a power cut or if the broadband or telephony connection fails. This failure may be caused by reasons outside FOREST COMMUNICATIONS’s control.

3.2 Location information provided to the emergency services is limited to the site location details provided to us by you, but depending on the circumstances this may not be where the call was originated. You understand and acknowledge that the address provided by you is the location that the emergency services will use and that it is your responsibility to notify FOREST COMMUNICATIONS of any changes to this information. In the event that the users of your Hosted VoIP Services have the option to work from different permanent locations, we recommend you to register and update the location information of these users with us whenever accessing the Hosted VoIP Services from a new location or different locations, so that up-to-date information can be used for emergency location information.

4 When the Service Starts and Minimum Period

4.1 Our provision of Service will start on the Service Start Date.

4.2 Prior to FOREST COMMUNICATIONS starting to provide the Hosted VoIP service you must cancel any other VoIP service supplied by another company.

4.3 The Hosted VoIP Services will have the Minimum Period agreed with you and specified in your Service Application Order (usually 36 months if we provide you with one or more Handsets) and will start running from the Service Start Date.

4.4 If you terminate the Agreement or this Service Application Order (or we terminate the Agreement or this Service Application Order due to your breach of the Agreement) before the end of the Minimum Period or a further Renewal Term we may charge you a Cancelation Fee.

4.5 If you move to another address before the end of any applicable Minimum Term (or Renewal Term), Cancellation Charges will apply to you, unless you agree to keep receiving our Services at your new address and we agree, and are able, to provide these Services at your new address.

5 Availability for Installation and faults of the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services

5.1 Your Handsets and any other Equipment will be sent to you in the post. You agree to follow our reasonable instructions in relation to their installation.

5.2 Where we agree to arrange for an engineer to visit your Premises to install the Handsets and/or any other Equipment you agree to pay our then current charges for this service.

5.3 If you miss an installation and/or a fault appointment you agree to the charges of these missed appointments form the carrier

6 Use of the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services

6.1 The Hosted VoIP Services usually would be connected to a broadband connection provided by us. If you decide to:

 (a) use an alternative broadband connection to transport the delivery of your VoIP calls, we shall not be responsible for the connectivity of your alternative broadband connection with the Hosted VoIP Services and therefore we cannot (and will not) guarantee calls over that broadband connection; and/or

6.2 You undertake to use the Equipment and the Hosted VoIP Services in accordance with the terms of this Service Application Order, our reasonable instructions and the law. We may from time to time vary the technical and/or operational procedures for the use of the Hosted VoIP Services.

6.3 In order to use the Hosted VoIP Services, you will need our Equipment or Customer Equipment approved by us in advance. You must also ensure that compatible cables and extension leads are used with the Hosted VoIP Services. You must adhere to the Equipment manufacturer’s power and environmental specifications (as published from time to time) and conform to all local electrical code requirements.

6.4 You shall not configure any VoIP/IP VoIP services from other providers to an IP telephone handset that is configured to be used with our Hosted VoIP Services. You agree to disconnect any such equipment immediately on request from us.

6.5 The Hosted VoIP Services may allow our customers that have multiple DDI phone numbers to display a main number on outbound calls or to use presentation numbers identifying a caller’s extension number behind a DDI switchboard. Notwithstanding the above, you shall not use this capability to display any other numbers in your outbound calls unless you are previously authorised by us to do so. In that case, you agree and undertake that only authentic calling party numbers will be generated. In any event, you shall not display at any time numbers allocated to third parties (unless you have obtained the third party’s express consent in writing) or emergency service numbers. Furthermore, this number must not be a number that connects to a Premium Rate Service (prefixed 09) or to a revenue sharing number that generates excessive or unexpected call charges.

6.6 You acknowledge that we are dependent upon certain third parties to install and provide the Broadband Services to you. You also acknowledge and affirm that there may be technical limits that prevent us from delivering an operational service to you. We will endeavour to provide the Broadband Services to you at the access rate you choose but, due to: (i) congestion within the network; (ii) the ability of your line to carry data services; or (iii) the distance from the exchange, the speed of service may be reduced at times

6.7 Routers purchased directly from us will receive technical support within their warranty period. Technical support for modems or routers acquired from any other source is therefore the responsibility of the manufacturer.

7 Allocation and Number Portability

7.1 We will use reasonable endeavours to provide number portability to you, as soon as reasonably practicable and on reasonable terms, when you request so and provided that:

(a) there are no technical or physical reasons preventing the portability of the number(s) requested by you; and
(b) you undertake to pay our Charges for such number portability if applicable.

7.2 If you sign up to the phone services and you request to transfer your number from another telephone provider, we will use reasonable endeavours to do this if reasonably practicable and provided that your existing telephone provider agrees to release the number. To do so we will require a current bill showing the numbers to port and your company details within the bill.

8 Charges

8.1 We charge you for using the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services covered by this Service Application Order. You agree to pay and are responsible for paying the Charges for the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services or for any Equipment you purchase from us.

8.2 Charges for the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Service (and/or for any Equipment you purchase) will be incorporated into your monthly FOREST COMMUNICATIONS Telecom invoice.

8.3 Your monthly invoice will normally include:

 (a) in advance, your fixed monthly Charges (usually calculated on a per user basis) which are billed one month in advance or other Charges which we request you to pay in advance; and

 (b) in arrears, any Charges for your use of our Services which you do not have to pay in advance including, but not limited to, calls outside any inclusive call price plan;

8.4 We will charge a Cancelation Fee should you terminate the Agreement or this Service Application Order before the end of the Minimum Period or a Renewal Period or if we terminate the Agreement or this Service Schedule because you materially breach the Agreement.

8.5 Broadband Disconnection Fee applies to all products regardless of whether the service migrates away from Forest Communications to another supplier, or is ceased altogether. If within the first 12 months there will be an additional charge in conjunction with the disconnection fee for migrating/ceasing the service.

If you wish to modify/upgrade your broadband service additional charges will be applicable.

 

8.6 If you have received free Broadband install and you cancel this service within the term agreed then the install charge will be recovered.  This will also be the same if the router was provided free and it hasn’t been sent back to us

 

8.7 Mobile call rates refer to calls from your Hosted VoIP service to Vodafone, O2, EE, Three only. It does not include calls Lyca or Lebara mobiles or any mobile virtual network operator not based on the UK GSM cellular networks. If your tariff includes minutes to UK mobiles the same applies.

8.8 We will agree a date with you for installation of new Broadband Services. If you cancel or amend any appointment for the installation of any Service you will be liable to pay a missed appointment charge

8.9 When a carrier increases their costs then we have the right to pass these increase costs on by giving 90 days’ notice

9 Handsets and other Equipment

9.1 We may provide you with Handset(s) and/or other Equipment for use in connection with the Hosted VoIP Services. The Handsets usually include a 12-month warranty (or as otherwise specified in the manufacturer’s warranty).

9.2 You must keep the Handsets and other Equipment safe, secure and in good working order whilst they are in your possession. You must provide us with such information as we may reasonably request in relation to your Handers and other Equipment.

9.3 If this Service Application Order is terminated before the end of the Minimum Period, you must immediately return all Handsets and other Equipment provided by us to us.

 

10 Termination of this Agreement

10.1 You may terminate the Hosted VoIP Services in the following ways:

 (a) you can end your Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services during your Minimum Term (or any relevant Renewal Term) by giving notice to us at least 90 days’ before the date you want to terminate the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services, however, you must pay us all the Charges you owe plus any Cancellation Fee;

 (b) outside the Minimum Term (or any relevant Renewal Term), if a Minimum Term (or a Renewal Term) does not apply to you or if you want to end the Hosted VoIP Services at the end of your Minimum Term (or Renewal Term), by giving notice to us at least 90 days before the date you want to end the Hosted VoIP Services; or

 (c) within one month of us telling you about a variation to the Hosted VoIP Services which is likely to be of detriment to you by giving us written notice that you want to terminate the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services within that month and the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Services will finish at the end of the month.

10.2 We may terminate the Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Service

(a) by giving you at least 90 days’ notice at any time; or

 (b) immediately (and you have to pay all the Charges you owe up until disconnection) in the following situations:

 (i) if we have the right to suspend your Hosted VoIP Services and/or Broadband Service and we believe that the grounds are serious and have not been or are unlikely to be rectified;

 (ii) if we believe that your use of our Hosted VoIP Services is jeopardising the operation of our or our network provider’s network(s) or are of an unacceptable nature;

 (iii) in the event of your bankruptcy, insolvency or death; or

 (iv) if you transfer the Phone and/or the Broadband Services to a different supplier.

11 Effects of Termination

11.1 On termination of the Agreement:

(a) all the Services shall be terminated;
(b) any licence granted to you by us or by our licensors shall immediately cease, and you must immediately stop using the Services;
(c) you will immediately pay any outstanding invoices and interests. In respect of Services supplied for which no invoice has been submitted, we may submit an invoice, which shall be payable by you immediately on receipt. Where a Service is terminated by us as a result of your breach of this Agreement or by you for convenience, Charges (or any portion thereof) that are in advance will not be refunded. We will refund any money owed to you, and return to you the balance of any amounts held on deposit on behalf of you, after first deducting any amounts you owe to us under this Agreement or under any other agreement that we have with you;
(d) we may require you to return the relevant Equipment at your own cost if the Agreement (or the relevant Service) is terminated pursuant to Clause 24.1. If you do not return the Equipment in good working condition (fair wear and tear excepted) or do not return the Equipment at all, then you may be charged for the Equipment at our then current Charges (or if these Charges are not specified, you shall pay to us an amount equal to the full market replacement value of the Equipment); and
(e) unless the Agreement or a relevant Service Schedule states otherwise, we may delete all your Content and customer data (including any emails stored on the relevant Services). You are responsible for arranging a back-up of such Content and data.

11.2 Save as expressly set out in this Agreement, termination of this Agreement shall be without prejudice to any other rights or remedies a Party may be entitled to under this Agreement or at law and shall not affect any statutory or accrued rights or liabilities of either Party. The termination of this Agreement for whatever cause shall not affect any provision of this Agreement which is expressed or by implication intended to survive or operate in the event of termination of this Agreement (including but not limited to Clauses 15 (Payment Terms), 27 (Liability) and 28 (Warranties and Representations) of the Agreement)

12 Suspension of the Services

12.1 We may suspend or restrict any of the Services (without being liable to compensate you):

(a) if you fail to pay any amount due to us

(b) if we have good reason to suspect fraudulent activity or misuse of our Services, the Equipment or any other materials;

(c) if you cease to do business; or have bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings brought against you; or make an arrangement with your creditors (other than where solely for solvent amalgamation or solvent reconstruction); or a receiver, administrative receiver or administrator is appointed over any of your assets; or you go into liquidation; or a notice is given, a petition is issued, a resolution is passed or any other step is taken to commence any of the foregoing procedures; or there is a corresponding event under law.

12.2 We may suspend the Services including during scheduled periods of downtime where necessary for operational reasons (connected to us or to our suppliers) such as repair, maintenance or improvement of the Services (or software connected to the Services) or because of an emergency. We will restore the Services as soon as we reasonably can after suspension.

13 Access to your Premises and Network

13.1 To enable us to carry out our obligations under the Agreement, you must provide to our representatives and to any of our suppliers, agents or subcontractors access to your Premises at all reasonable times, including without limitation access for the purposes of installation, inspection, maintenance, replacement, upgrade or removal of a phone line, an internet access connection or any equipment associated with it (including but not limited to the Equipment).

13.2 We or our suppliers, agents or subcontractors will comply with the reasonable policies or regulations applicable in the Premises provided that you notify us in writing of such policies and regulations reasonably in advance.

13.3 You shall provide a safe and suitable working environment for our employees, agents, suppliers or subcontractors at the Premises at all times. You shall inform them in advance of any health and safety policies applicable on the Premises.

13.4 At times we may need to have access to log in to your network to make changes to the handsets and routers. If and when this is needed you must provide this access for us

14 Liability

14.1 Nothing in this Agreement shall exclude or restrict a Party’s liability for matters which cannot by law be excluded or restricted. Nothing in this Agreement limits or excludes your liability to pay the Charges (or any amount owed by you under this Agreement) or each Party’s liability for: (i) death or personal injury resulting from negligence of that Party; (ii) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (iii) breach of the terms implied by section 2 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (title and quiet possession); or (iv) any other liability which cannot be limited or excluded by applicable law. However, nothing in this Clause 12 gives a Party any right or remedy which it would not otherwise have.

14.2 Subject to Clause 12.1, we shall not be liable under, or in connection with, the Agreement for:

(a) loss of income;

(b) loss of business profits or contracts;

(c) business interruption;

(d) loss of the use of money or anticipated savings;

(e) loss of information;

(f) loss of opportunity, goodwill or reputation;

(g) loss of, damage to or corruption of data;

(h) any loss or damage that is not foreseeable by us;

(i) cost of procurement of substitute goods or services; or

(j) any indirect, special or consequential loss or damage of any kind howsoever arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise or, whether any such losses could be reasonably foreseen by us or not or if even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Each of the Sub-clauses 12.2(a) to 12.2(j) shall be deemed to be independent of the others.

14.3 Subject to Clause 12.1, our entire liability to you in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall, for any one incident or series of related or unrelated incidents within a period of 12 months, be limited to the annual Charges paid by you to us in the 12 months immediately prior to the relevant incident(s) (or if the Agreement was in force for less than 12 months when the liability arose, the Charges paid by you from the Effective Date to such date).

14.4 We shall have no liability to you in respect of any fraud perpetrated by you or any third party.

14.5 You acknowledge that our directors, employees, members of staff, agents, subcontractors, licensors, and suppliers shall have the benefit of the limits and exclusions of liability set out in this Clause 12 including without limitation in terms of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

15 Payment Terms

15.1 You are responsible for and must pay the Charges for the Services whether the Services are used by you or by someone else.

15.2 You shall pay your invoices by monthly variable direct debit. We reserve the right to refuse any new customer not wishing to pay by direct debit. You are responsible for notifying us as soon as possible of any changes to you bank details that may affect your payment

15.3 Arrears and/or unwillingness to maintain payment by direct debit may result in one or more of your Services being restricted and in the termination of your Agreement.

15.4 Cancellation of your direct debit does not constitute notice of termination of the Agreement by you, but we reserve the right to terminate the Agreement immediately if you cancel your direct debit for the payment of the Services and/or you chose another payment method.

15.5 You are protected at all times by the direct debit guarantee

15.6 If you fail to pay any sum due, within 14 days from the date of the invoice, we shall be entitled to charge interest on the amount due at the rate of four percent (4%) above the Barclays Bank Plc base rate ruling from time to time calculated from the due date until we receive your payment.

15.7 We reserve the right to perform a credit check on you with no prior notice given and to pass your credit history with us on to other credit agencies and/or County Court.

15.8 if we agree to provide you with a free line installation, in connection with Phone and/or Broadband Services, in return for you committing to an Initial Term or Renewal Term as applicable. We reserve the right to request the installation costs received to Forest Communications from our suppliers.

15.9 We may, at our sole discretion and at any time, impose a credit limit on your account or amend it. If you exceed any such credit limit, we may demand immediate payment of all the Charges incurred by you up to this moment and/or suspend the Service. We will endeavour to notify you as soon as possible if any of these situations arise. You will still be responsible for all Charges incurred including those exceeding the credit limit.

15.10 You agree to pay us all Charges without set-off, deduction, withholding, restriction or condition whatsoever.

15.11 If you wish to dispute an invoice, you must contact our accounts team within 90 days from the date of the invoice. After such period, any undisputed invoice will be deemed correct. You must pay the full amount of any disputed invoice, if the amount disputed is less than 5% of the total the invoice. You must pay the amount not in dispute in a disputed invoice if the disputed amount is more than 5% of the total invoice.

15.12 If you do not pay an invoice before the due date, we may instruct a debt collection agency to collect payment for you (including any interest and/or late payment charges) on our behalf. If we engage a debt collection agency to collect your debt, you must pay the reasonable costs we have to pay to such agency, which will be added to the amount you owe.

15.13 You acknowledge and affirm that, without prejudice to any other rights or remedies available to us under the Agreement, non-payment of any Charges due to us under the Agreement, will be regarded as a material breach of the Agreement.

15.14 You are solely responsible for paying any amounts due to us under the Agreement. We reserve the right to reject payment of any of the amounts you owe under the Agreement from any third parties (including without limitation the payment of any relevant Cancellation Fees from third parties).

16 Complaints

16.1 We make every effort to ensure that our customers are happy with the level of service they receive from us. However, despite our best efforts, things can go wrong. We take customer complaints very seriously and aim to resolve them quickly and efficiently. If you have a complaint about any part of our service, please contact our customer service team.  If you feel after this process, we have not resolved this issue then you can contact the Communications Ombudsman

17 Force Majeure

17.1 Neither Party will be liable to the other for any failure to deliver the Services or for any breach by it of this Agreement, where such failure or breach is due to a reason outside the reasonable control of such Party, including, but not limited to any act of God, reduction or failure of power supply, reductions or failures of other telecommunication operators, internet providers or communication suppliers, physical obstructions, atmospheric conditions and other causes of radio interference, acts or omissions of national or local government authority, war, act of terrorism, military operation, riot or delay, employee dispute, or supply of equipment by third parties

17.2 If such failure to deliver continues for more than 3 months after the commencement of such failure, then either Party may terminate this Agreement on notice in writing to the other Party.

 

Mobile:

FAIR USAGE POLICY

Unlimited Allowances

Forest Communications’ unlimited bundles are truly unlimited where usage is appropriate to subscription type.

Inappropriate usage would be considered as the following:

> Any usage outside normal commercial practice

> Any usage made via automated means (also see Gateway/AIT FUP)

> Any usage that damages or impairs the hosting network

> Any usage considered fraudulent, abusive, illegal or a nuisance

> Data usage where users regularly tether to 12 or more devices or have used 650GB of data twice within a 6 month period

> Data usage where roaming outside of the UK and exceeding more than 25GB within a single billing period* We may investigate usage in order to ascertain whether your unlimited usage is in line with these guidelines.In the event inappropriate usage is determined then we reserve the right to restrict services, adjust the plan or

terminate the agreement based on the severity of the misuse. *A charge of per GB will apply as standard after the initial 25GB roaming fair usage allowance is exceeded and this applies to Vodafone and O2 tariffs. Most Forest voice tariffs include bundled SMS and data allowances, in addition to inclusive minutes. The purpose

of these tariffs is to cater for appropriate end-user consumption where the subscription is utilised within a smartphone, or similar voice-enabled device. Where voice tariffs are used for non-appropriate consumption, such as data only, Forest reserve the right to restrict services, adjust the plan or terminate the agreement based on the

severity of the misuse.

Gateways/Artificially Inflated Traffic (AIT)

Forest does not allow SIMs to be used in any equipment which enables the routing of calls or data (including, without limitation, text or picture messages) from fixed apparatus or standard devices to mobile equipment, by establishing a mobile to mobile call or transmission. Nor does it allow the use of any equipment which enables the

sending of bulk SMS, voice or data services. Forest reserves the right to suspend without notice should we believe that such equipment is being used. During suspension, the liability for any access charges or calls will rest with the customer.

Roaming

Inclusive roaming services on our mobile tariffs have been built for business users who travel periodically, and not those who roam across foreign networks on a semi-permanent or permanent basis. If a customer uses their mobile in destinations outside the UK that qualify for inclusive access to standard bundles and they have spent more time abroad than at home with their roaming use exceeding their domestic use, we will consider them a permanent roamer and charges will apply in line with our standard roaming out of bundle costs. Please be aware that roaming activity will continue to be measured over a four month period. Please note, Forest reserve the right to disconnect subscriptions and apply a standard Cease Fee per subscription, in instances where terminations occur due to breach of listed policies.