Conditions for BT Openzone Choice

1 Interpretation

In this Contract:

"Acceptable Use Policy" means BT's policy for the use of the Service, a copy of which will be provided on request.

"BT" means British Telecommunications plc of 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ, registered in England No. 1800000.

"BT Network" means BT's communications network used to provide the Service from the Site to the Internet or, if applicable, the Customer Network.

"Contract" means, in order of precedence, these Conditions, and the on-line order form for the Service.

"Credit Card" means a credit or debit card registered in the United Kingdom and accepted by BT for payment.

"Customer" means the person named on the Credit Card. BT may accept instructions from another person who BT reasonably believes is acting with the Customer's authority or knowledge.

"Internet" means the global data network comprising interconnected networks using the TCP/IP protocol suite.

"IP" means Internet Protocol.

"Service" means the service described in paragraph 3 of these Conditions.

"Site" means each physical location of the radio access points offering the Service.

"URL" means a uniform resource locator.

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2 Commencement of this contract

The Customer can sign up for the Service on-line at www.btopenzone.com. When the Customer has done this and BT has accepted payment for the Service, this Contract and the Service (as set out in these Conditions and on the on-line order form) starts.

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3 Service Description

3.1 BT Openzone is a wireless data service using radio frequency to a Site, and fixed line connections from the Site to connect to the BT Network and subsequently on to the Internet.

3.2 When a Customer is located within the radio frequency coverage area of a Site it may connect to the Service using it's computing equipment and login name and password.

3.3 When a Customer is located within the radio frequency coverage area of a Site it may connect to the Service using its computing equipment and login name and password.

3.4 The Service is dependent on the suitability of the Customer's computing equipment and, if applicable, the Customer Network. The Customer's computing equipment or the Customer not provided as part of this Service.

3.5 Due to the nature of the Service the Customer acknowledges and accepts that BT does not guarantee the security of the Service against unlawful access or use. The Customer should also ensure adequate internal security policies are implemented to stop unlawful access to or use of the Service.

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4 Service Provisioning

4.1 BT will provide the Service to the Customer on the terms of this Contract and with the reasonable skill and care of a competent telecommunications service provider.

4.2 BT will enable the Customer to create a login and password on-line in order to use the Service.

4.3 BT provides a list of Sites offering availability of the Service published at: www.btopenzone.com or such other URL as BT may from time to time advise.

4.4 BT will use reasonable efforts to provide uninterrupted Service but from time to time faults may occur, which BT will repair as soon as reasonably practicable.

4.5 Occasionally BT may:

  • for operational reasons, change the codes or the numbers used by BT for the provision of the Service or the technical specification of the Service, provided that any change to the technical specification does not materially affect the performance of the Service;
  • give the Customer instructions which it believes are necessary for reasons of health, safety, security or the quality of any telecommunications service provided by BT to the Customer or any other customer; or
  • temporarily suspend the Service because of an emergency or for operational maintenance or improvements. Service will be restored as soon as reasonably practicable.

Before doing any of these things BT will give the Customer as much notice as possible.

4.6 BT will provide a Helpdesk for the Customer available weekdays 9.00am - 5.00pm excluding public and bank holidays. Upon initial fault diagnosis by BT, those faults that in BT's opinion are not attributable to the Service shall be referred back to the Customer who reported the fault.

4.7 BT will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the Service meets an acceptable service standard but no specific guarantees of service standards are offered in respect of the Service. In particular BT offers no guarantee or warranty for the performance of the Internet.

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5 Use of the service

5.1 It is the Customer's responsibility to obtain and keep in force any licence necessary for the Customer to use the Service in any country in which it is provided.

5.2 The Service must not be used in any way that:

  • does not comply with the terms of any legislation or any licence applicable to the Customer or that is in any way unlawful;
  • does not comply with any instructions given under paragraphs 4.5(b) and 6.1 or any other public telecommunications operator or other competent authority, in any country where the Service is provided.

5.3 The Customer must indemnify BT against any claims or legal proceedings which are brought or threatened against BT by a third party because the Service is used in breach of paragraphs 5.1 or 5.2. BT will notify the Customer of any such claims or proceedings and keep the Customer informed as to the progress of such claims or proceedings and have due regard to the Customer's representations.

5.4 The Service must not be used:

  • to send, receive, upload, download, use or re-use any information or material which is offensive, abusive, indecent, defamatory, obscene or menacing, or in breach of confidence, copyright, privacy or any other rights;
  • to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;
  • to send or provide or receive unsolicited advertising or promotional material;
  • other than in accordance with the Acceptable Use Policy, the acceptable use policies of any connected networks and the Internet standards; or

5.5 If the Customer or anyone else, with or without the Customer's knowledge or approval, uses the Service:

  • in contravention of paragraph 5.1 of this Service Schedule; or
  • in any way which, in BT's opinion, is, or is likely to be, detrimental to the provision of the Service to the Customer or any other customer and fails to take corrective action within a reasonable period of receiving notice from BT,

BT can treat this as a material breach of the Contract and terminate this Contract forthwith.

5.6 The Customer acknowledges that BT has no control over the information transmitted via the Service and that BT does not examine the use to which customers put the Service or the nature of the information they are sending or receiving. BT excludes all liability of any kind in relation to such information and use.

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6 Connection of equipment to the service

6.1 The customer must ensure that any equipment:

  • connected to or used with the Service must be connected and used in accordance with any applicable instructions, safety and security procedures; and
  • attached (directly or indirectly) to the Service is compliant with any relevant legislation.

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7 Access to sites

BT does not authorise or guarantee access to any of the Sites for the Customer to use the Service or guarantee that Service will continue to be available from a specific Site.

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8 Charges

The Customer must pay in advance via Credit Card the charges for the Service option selected on-line at www.btopenzone.com and this forms part of the Contract.

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9 Customer Responsibilities

9.1 The Customer is responsible at its own expense for having suitable computing equipment such as laptop or pocket personal computers with wireless LAN and associated software and configurations for use with the Service.

9.2 The Customer is responsible for the security and proper use of all login names and passwords used in connection with the Service and must take all necessary steps to ensure that they are kept confidential, secure, used properly and not disclosed to unauthorised people.

9.3 The Customer must immediately inform BT if there is any reason to believe that a login name or password has or is likely to become known to someone not authorised to use it or is being or is likely to be used in a manner not authorised by BT.

9.4 The Customer must not change or attempt to change a login name. If a Customer forgets or loses a password or login name the Customer must contact BT and satisfy such security checks as BT may operate.

9.5 BT reserves the right to suspend login names and password access to the Service if at any time BT considers that there is or is likely to be a breach of security.

9.6 BT reserves the right (at its sole discretion) to require the Customer to change any or all of the passwords used by the Customer in connection with the Service.

9.9 The Service does not prevent the Customer implementing additional security eg. firewalls on the Customer's equipment or networks.

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10 Limitation of liability

10.1 BT accepts unlimited liability for death or personal injury resulting from its negligence.  Paragraphs 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4 do not apply to such liability.

10.2 BT has no liability for any loss that is not reasonably foreseeable, nor any loss of business, revenue, profits, or savings the Customer expected to make, waste expense, financial loss or data being lost or harmed.

10.3 BT's liability to the Customer in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise in relation to this Contract is limited to £100,000 for any one incident or series of related incidents and to £200,000 for all incidents in any period of 12 months.

10.4 BT is not liable to the Customer either in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for the acts or omissions of other providers of telecommunications or Internet services (including internet registration authorities) or for faults in or failures of their equipment.

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11 Matters beyond the reasonable control of either party

11.1 If the Customer or BT is unable to perform or is delayed in performing any obligation under the Contract because of something beyond its reasonable control including act of God, lightening, flood, exceptionally severe weather, epidemic, pandemic, fire, explosion, war, civil disorder, industrial disputes, or acts or omissions of local or central government or other competent authorities, or beyond the reasonable control of its suppliers, it will have no liability to the other for the failure of delay in performing.

11.2 In the event of:

  • a refusal or delay by a third party to supply a telecommunications service to BT and where there is no alternative service available at reasonable cost; or
  • the imposition of restrictions of a legal or regulatory nature which prevent BT from supplying the Service

then BT will have no liability to the Customer for failure to supply the Service.

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12 Ending this contract before the service has been used

The Customer may cancel this Contract at any time prior to the point of first use of the Service by the Customer or up to 7 days commencing from the day after the Customer accepts the Contract terms, whichever is the earlier. Once the Customer has begun to use the Service the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 will not apply.

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13 Third Party Rights

A person who is not party to this Contract has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this Contract, but this does not affect any right or remedy of a third party which exists or is available apart from that Act.

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14 Law and Jurisdiction

This Contract is governed by the law of England and Wales and both parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

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