The following overview of the LFT Fiber network is in response to a May 11, 2018 revised FCC Transparency Ruling (47 CFR 8.1) on Net Neutrality. LFT Fiber has always tried to provide an open network and was already adhering to the provisions of the revised ruling. LFT Fiber manages its network to ensure that all of its customers experience a safe and secure Internet environment that is fast, reliable and affordable. LFT Fiber wants its customers to be able to utilize its Internet and enjoy all of the aspects that it has to offer such as social media, music-video streaming, and email or video conferencing.
The technology used to deliver Internet access service can be complex and the details can change frequently. The information that LFT Fiber provides here is for your convenience and LFT Fiber reserves the right to change our Internet policies and network management practices at any time without direct notice to you. Please check back to this Guide for updates, which we will make periodically.
LFT Fiber operates a Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) network where fiber optic cable passes each home and business in the city of Lafayette and selects areas within Lafayette Parish. LFT Fiber will install a fiber drop from the street to connect to any home or business who buys service from LFT Fiber, where access is granted. Not all residential apartment buildings and multi-tenant office buildings are accessible to LFT Fiber. The FTTH network enables LFT Fiber to bring the exceedingly abundant bandwidth carrying capacity of fiber optics to every customer.
LFT Fiber also provides a more traditional MPLS network that is used to provide transport and dedicated services at various levels of bandwidth to carriers, wholesale customers and large business customers. Wholesale customers of LFT Fiber are defined as those who buy transport and bandwidth from LFT Fiber and then enhance the product for resale to their own customers.
Following are the three potential chokepoints that can occur in the LFT Fiber FTTH network:
Customers in this network share bandwidth on a fiber with up to 32 other customers. The customers share 2.4 Gigabits of data capacity on their fiber. The local 2.4 Gbps of bandwidth is used to deliver multiple services. These services include broadband services (Intranet and high speed Internet access), IP Telephone (Voice over Internet Protocol, VOIP) service, and IP Video (Internet Protocol Television, IPTV) service. For public safety reasons (911 calls and Emergency Alert System broadcasts), LFT Fiber allocates bandwidth directly to IP Telephone and IP Video services to ensure these services get to and from customers without delay. It is theoretically possible, but highly unlikely that all customers could use up all of the available bandwidth simultaneously. The broadband services are “best effort” services, meaning that there is no absolute guarantee that a customer will always get the full bandwidth they have subscribed to at all times. However, there is still only a very small possibility of delay of broadband service.
The following is the worst-case example:
Even if all of the above happens at the same time on a single local fiber, Internet access speeds purchased by customers would only be minimally affected and delayed. It is nearly impossible to imagine a scenario when all 32 local customers are using this much bandwidth simultaneously; therefore, the chance that there will be congestion on the local fiber is extremely low.
Customer traffic can also be congested between the local or “neighborhood” fiber (the fiber feeding customers’ homes) and the LFT Fiber Headend facility. The fiber on routes between neighborhoods and the headend have been sufficiently over-engineered and at the current customer levels there is no congestion on these paths and none expected for a number of years to come.
Customer traffic can become congested when it leaves the LFT Fiber network and hits the open Internet. LFT Fiber employs an oversubscription model which does not guarantee that all customers receive 100% of their subscribed to speeds 100% of the time. Statistically, all LFT Fiber customers do not use all of their allotted Internet bandwidth at the same time, and the LFT Fiber network was designed to meet the busiest usage times of the day. To date, LFT Fiber customers have not used more bandwidth than is available in aggregate for all customers, so there has been no congestion on the Internet route. However, LFT Fiber sells Internet bandwidth as a “‘best effort” service and it is possible that there will be times in the future when there will be congestion on a customer’s access to the Internet. LFT Fiber will always try to remedy congestion by increasing the amount of Internet bandwidth between the LFT Fiber network and the Internet.
Given the inherent and current bandwidth capacity and combined with the fact that there is sufficient bandwidth on each local fiber, no traffic on the LFT Fiber network is currently being delayed or restricted. Thus LFT Fiber is deploying no congestion management, other than monitoring the amount of customer usage on the Internet route.
All traffic traversing the LFT Fiber network is subject to the current LFT Fiber traffic congestion management practices. However, there is currently no congestion on the LFT Fiber network; therefore, no congestion management practices are being employed or enforced.
The LFT Fiber network carries the following types of broadband traffic:
Again, LFT Fiber has no current congestion other than the theoretical congestion within a local fiber. No congestion management practice is currently required or being employed or enforced on broadband traffic. All broadband traffic is treated equally on the LFT Fiber network.
Since the LFT Fiber network has been engineered today to allow for the free flow of customer broadband traffic, the result is that customers can download and upload traffic at will and at the speeds that they have purchased. Customers are able to do this regardless of the types of traffic being downloaded or uploaded.
LFT Fiber monitors aggregate customer usage to the Internet to make certain that there is enough bandwidth to allow free flow of customer traffic to and from the Internet. Congestion on the connection to the Internet backbone would be a trigger to purchase more bandwidth. LFT Fiber has prepared congestion management practices and is ready to be employ or enforce them should traffic on the LFT Fiber network ever become congested.
LFT Fiber places usage caps on the amount of total and accumulated bandwidth that a customer can use in one month. These are outlined in the below LFT Fiber Residential and Business Subscriber agreements:
Residential Subscriber Agreement
This monthly usage cap is only applied to Internet usage and any usage on the LFT Fiber Intranet. IP Video and IP Telephone service are not included in measuring the accumulated usage for a given month. If you violate these restrictions, LFT Fiber reserves the right to charge you for your bandwidth usage in excess of your package, to require you to upgrade your internet service to another package, or to suspend or terminate your internet service.
Currently, no standards are being applied since no congestion is being experienced on the LFT Fiber network.
LFT Fiber does not block any other kinds of traffic. LFT Fiber subscribes to the philosophy of complete network neutrality and treats bits to and from all customers the same. However, LFT Fiber may on a case by case basis block certain traffic in order to protect LFT Fiber broadband customers from malicious applications such as SPAM, Viruses, BOTs that take over computers, hackers, and other malicious activities.
LFT Fiber does not modify protocol fields that are not prescribed by protocol standards.
LFT Fiber does not favor or inhibit applications or classes of applications of broadband traffic. All broadband traffic is treated equally. As stated earlier, for public safety reasons, LFT Fiber does have protocols in place that will favor IP Telephone and IP Video applications over broadband traffic if congestion were to occur on the LFT Fiber access network.
LFT Fiber has no restrictions on the types of devices that are allowed to connect to the network. Devices connecting to the Internet and Intranet network are only required to be able to request and use an IP address.
Since there are no restrictions, there is no approval process.
LFT Fiber uses the following practices to ensure end-user and network security:
LFT Fiber uses these protocols and practices to protect and secure customer data as well as to protect the LFT Fiber broadband network for the benefit of all customers. LFT Fiber also uses some of these protocols to adhere to CALEA and other Law Enforcement requirements.
LFT Fiber also enforces a Residential Subscriber Agreement and a Business Subscriber Agreement. In said agreements LFT Fiber reserves the right to disconnect customers who repeatedly attempt to abuse the network through spreading malicious viruses, software, etc.
LFT Fiber believes that the encryption schemes and protocols used on the LFT Fiber FTTH network provide far more security than is available with other technologies. Practices on dealing with malware and other types of damaging traffic change all as the malware changes. LFT Fiber keeps current on the tools needed to fight malware. LFT Fiber monitors the network many times per second and a trigger would be finding any instance of unwanted intrusion on the network. LFT Fiber would react immediately to any such intrusion and would refer to Law Enforcement Agencies as needed.
LFT Fiber uses a state-of-the-art Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) access system to deliver broadband services to customers. The FTTH system standard is called G-PON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network). Up to 32 customers share one fiber in neighborhoods and this shared fiber is called a PON. The G-PON system delivers 2,400 Megabits per second (Mbps) to the subscribers on a single PON and 1,200 Mbps from the subscribers on a single PON. Additionally, LFT Fiber utilizes 10G-PON technology to deliver bandwidth above 1000 Mbps. In the LFT Fiber FTTH network there are no electronics between the LFT Fiber substation and the customer. No electronics means that there are fewer failure points in the network and better service quality to customers.
Each subscriber to an LFT Fiber FTTH data product (Internet tier) receives two different data products. Every broadband customer is given access to the LFT Fiber Intranet. This provides up to 1000 Mbps access to and from any other customer on the LFT Fiber network. This is dependent on the port speed of the customer premise equipment. The expected speed for the Intranet service is 1000 Mbps and the actual speed is 1000 Mbps.
LFT Fiber also offers high speed Internet access speeds at 60 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 1,000 Mbps in both directions. The expected speeds for these products are the same as what is being advertised at 60 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 1,000 Mbps and the actual speeds experienced by customers are the same as what is being advertised. The LFT Fiber network delivers speeds to the customers that are the same as what is being advertised. It is possible for customers to see much slower speeds on the open Internet, but slower Internet speeds are due to the nature of the open Internet and not due to any blockage or slowdown on the LFT Fiber network. There are other factors beyond LFT Fiber’s control that can affect actual Internet access speeds such as a customer’s computer performance or their in home network performance.
The LFT Fiber network is designed to have an operating latency as great as 20 milliseconds. However, in real practice the actual latency is generally around 3 milliseconds or less.
We believe that the LFT Fiber network is one of the fastest and most accessible networks available in the US. Currently customers can achieve the speeds on our network that they subscribe to, 24/7, without slowdowns or blockages on our networks.
LFT Fiber offers two services that could be considered “Specialized” services over the FTTH access system. These services are IP Video (IPTV) and IP Telephone (VOIP) service. Both IP Video and IP Telephone service are delivered to customers over the same fiber bandwidth that is used to deliver broadband data (including high speed Internet traffic).
As described in the example provided earlier, there is only a very tiny theoretical chance that delivery of IP Telephone and IP Video service could affect the delivery of broadband data speeds. To date, LFT Fiber has never seen interference from these services.
LFT Fiber does not:
| Internet Upload Speed | Internet Download Speed | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 60 Mbps* | 60 Mbps | $25.00 |
| 500 Mbps | 500 Mbps | $65.00 |
| 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps) | 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps) | $85.00 |
* Only offered to qualifying low income households who can show valid proof of low income or Government assistance
| Internet Upload Speed | Internet Download Speed | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 10 Mbps | $74.95 |
| 25 Mbps | 25 Mbps | $99.95 |
| 50 Mbps | 50 Mbps | $139.95 |
| 100 Mbps | 100 Mbps | $159.95 |
| 500 Mbps | 500 Mbps | $199.95 |
| 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps) | 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps) | $349.95 |
| 2,000 Mbps (2 Gbps) | 2,000 Mbps (2 Gbps) | $449.95 |
| * 10,000 Mbps (10 Gbps) | 10,000 Mbps (10 Gbps) | $ICB |
* Priced on an individual case basis
LFT Fiber has no usage-based fees for data products.
Residential customers on our FTTH network can enjoy the flexibility of month-to-month pricing, with no early termination fees. This means they are able to change their plan or cancel at any time without incurring additional costs. However, customers currently under an existing contract, will need to fulfill the remaining term of their contracts before switching to month-to-month pricing. Business customers on the FTTH and Wholesale network are required to sign contracts and the termination fees vary by contract. In the most extreme case, the termination fee is equal to what the customer would have spent on bandwidth and transport had they not left the LFT Fiber Wholesale network.
LFT Fiber examines traffic to the extent needed to utilize the network safety features listed earlier such as eliminating spam or intercepting malware. LFT Fiber does not inspect traffic for purposes other than to monitor, at the network level, where traffic flows in order to make certain that the network is adequate for the demands of its customers.
The only time that any stored information is provided to a third party is in response to a court order from a valid and qualified Law Enforcement Agency.
LFT Fiber first logs all complaints of troubles as a trouble ticket in a trouble log system. This allows for a numeric identification of each trouble reported on the network. Trouble tickets can be generated by customers or self-generated by alarms located within the LFT Fiber network. LFT Fiber then assigns a priority to each trouble ticket based upon the perceived severity of the problem. For example, outages involving multiple customers are given a higher priority than a minor network glitch affecting one customer.
LFT Fiber attempts to identify and resolve problems from its network operations center (NOC). If the NOC is unable to resolve a reported problem remotely, then a technician will be dispatched to try and resolve it. If the problem is of such severity that a field technician is unable to resolve it, the problem is escalated to an LFT Fiber engineer. If the LFT Fiber engineer is unable to resolve it, the problem is escalated to an external engineer, consultant or vendor that manufactured the equipment in question. LFT Fiber contracts with various vendors for this purpose to ensure that they will respond to the problem as needed for the network.
Once the problem has been resolved, the customer may be notified depending upon the severity and type of problem. Trouble tickets permanently archived so that LFT Fiber is able to see the history of trouble at a specific customer site, a specific neighborhood or a specific brand or piece of equipment.
Effective Date as of: 04-15-25
