Impact Telecom Privacy Policy
Protecting our customers' privacy is an important priority at Impact Telecom. This Privacy Policy applies to the services and products provided by Impact Telecom, Inc. as well as to those of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Matrix Telecom, Inc. (provider of services under the Excel Telecommunications, VarTec Telecom, Trinsic and Matrix Business Technologies brand names), and, Americatel Corporation (provider of services under the Startec, ZERO11 Wireless, 1010123, 1010719 and 1016868 brand names). A full listing of our brands and services may be found at www.impacttelecom.com. These companies are referred to collectively in the privicy policy as “Impact Telecom.” This policy applies to our customers in the United States and to visitors to our websites.
Information We Collect and How We Use It
We collect and use information about you in the following ways:
Information Collected When You Communicate with Impact Telecom:
When you communicate with Impact Telecom, we collect information from you that we use to deliver, provide, confirm, change, bill, monitor, maintain and repair your products and services. This information is also used to resolve issues with your order, with our products and services, or with your account. The information we collect may include your name, addresses, and other contact information; the reason for the contact; and your Social Security Number and payment information. We use this information to establish and maintain your customer account and billing records (including establishing credit), provide services to you, authenticate you, and contact you about products and services that we offer.
When you contact us or we contact you with calls, e-mail, or through a feature on our websites or in our applications, we may monitor or record that communication or keep a record of the transaction to help us train employees, provide high-quality customer service and establish a record of the transaction and events.
Information Collected When You Use Impact Telecom Products and Services:
We collect information about your use of our products, services and sites. Information such as call records, websites visited, wireless location, application and feature usage, network traffic data, product and device-specific information, service options you choose, mobile and device numbers, and other similar information may be used for billing purposes, to deliver and maintain products and services, or to help you with service-related issues or questions. In addition, subject to any legal restrictions that may apply, this information may be used for other purposes such as providing you with information about other Impact Telecom products or service enhancements, determining your eligibility for new Impact Telecom products and services, and marketing to you based on your use of your products and services. This information may also be used to: (1) manage and protect our networks, services and users from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses; and (2) subject to consent practices described in this policy, help us improve our services, research and develop new products, and offer promotions and other services. This type of information may be aggregated or anonymized for business and marketing uses by us or by third parties.
If you subscribe to our Internet access services or wireless services, we may automatically measure and monitor network performance and the performance of your Internet or wireless connection to improve your, or our, service levels and products. If you contact us for service support, we also may access information about your computer, wireless device or other device settings to provide customized technical support or to install specific applications or services that you use or that are necessary to the applications or services you use.
From time to time, Impact Telecom may choose to provide links to relevant third-party websites. These websites work independently from Impact Telecom and have their own established privacy and security policies. We encourage you to research these policies before providing your personal information. Impact Telecom is not responsible for the content or practices of any linked websites, and provides links only for the convenience and information of our visitors. Before you access, use, link to or download a service or application on your computer or wireless device, you should review the associated terms of service and privacy policy. Personal information you submit in those contexts may be read, collected or used by the service or application provider and others associated with these forums in a manner different from that described here. If you use or link to a public forum, bulletin board, chat room, or social network on or from a Impact Telecom website, be aware that any personal information you submit can be read, collected, or used by other users of these forums, including to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for access to or use of personal information you choose to submit or share with others.
Information Collected on Impact Telecom Websites:
When you browse Impact Telecom websites, information is collected about your device and your visit. We also collect data about your browsing, searching and buying activity as you interact with our sites. We may collect and use your IP address, mobile telephone or device number, account information, web addresses of the sites you come from and go to next and information about your connection, including your device's browser, operating system, platform type and Internet connection speed. We use this information for operational and performance measurement purposes including monitoring statistics such as how many people visit our websites; which pages people visit on our sites; how much time is spent on each page or; which browsers are used to visit our sites.
When you access your account online, we maintain information about your user identification and password. This information is used to identify you when you sign in to your account.
Impact Telecom also uses information collected on Impact Telecom websites to help us deliver more relevant Impact Telecom marketing messages. These messages may be delivered on our websites, on non-Impact Telecom websites, by our representatives, via email, or via other Impact Telecom services or devices. We use this information in order to, among other things, ensure that you see the correct products and pricing available in the geographic area in which you live, manage the frequency with which you see an advertisement, tailor advertisements to better match your interests, and to understand the effectiveness of our advertising. We also may use this information to assess the effectiveness of our sites and to help you should you request help with navigation problems on these sites.
Impact Telecom may place and read cookies on our sites to help us deliver Impact Telecom marketing messages on our sites and on our vendors’ websites.
Information You Provide:
When you contact us online or by other means for information about products and services or when you enter a Impact Telecom-sponsored or affiliated contest, sweepstakes or similar promotion, we will respond to your request and may use the information you supply us to provide you with additional information about service offerings either at that time or in the future. If you enter a promotion, your information may be disclosed as part of the program’s administration, such as in connection with the publication of winners, prize fulfillment, and as required by law or permitted by the promotion’s official rules. Information you provide on our websites about your preferred location and other preferences may be used to provide you with more relevant product recommendations, services and special offers.
If you provide information to us in the context of an event that Impact Telecom sponsors with another organization, such as a contest or sweepstakes, or if you visit a co-sponsored site or use a co-sponsored service, you also may be providing information to the co-sponsor. You should refer to that co-sponsor's privacy policy for information about its practices which may differ from Impact Telecom's practices.
We may also collect information from you when you agree to participate in surveys or provide other feedback to us regarding our products or services, when you register to receive news or public policy updates, or when you apply for a job from Impact Telecom. We use this information only for the purpose for which you provide it.
Impact Telecom may send you emails that communicate information about your account or about products, services, marketing offers, or promotions that may be of interest to you. When you open a Impact Telecom email or click on links within these emails, we may collect and retain information to provide you with future communications that may be more interesting to you.
Information Provided to Us by Third Parties:
When you purchase products or apply for service with us, we may obtain credit information about you from outside credit reporting agencies (with your authorization) to help us with customer authentication and credit-related decisions.
Impact Telecom obtains information from outside companies that collect consumer information such as demographic and interest data. Examples of this information include gender, age range, sports enthusiast, frequent diner or pet owner. We use this data and combine it with other information we have about you to help us predict customer preferences and to direct marketing offers that might be more relevant to you.
We may also obtain contact information and other marketing lead information from third parties, and may combine it with information we have to contact you or direct Impact Telecom's marketing offers to you. Website visitors and others may provide us with your email address through "refer-a-friend" options or social networking platforms. We use these email addresses to send Impact Telecom promotional marketing information.
Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI):
Customer Proprietary Network Information, or "CPNI", is a form of personal information that is generated in connection with the telecommunications services we provide to you. CPNI includes, for example, call details, call location information, and certain information about your rate plans and features. CPNI does not include your name and address. Under federal law, you have a right, and we have a duty, to protect the confidentiality of CPNI and we have adopted policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with those rules. We won’t intentionally disclose your CPNI to third-parties without your permission, except as allowed under FCC rules, applicable law, or explained in this policy. However, you may designate other “authorized users” (for example, a spouse) to access and manage your account information, including CPNI.
We provide password protected online access to your account information through Impact Telecom websites. For multi-line accounts, the primary account holder is authorized to access online account information for all the devices on the account.
Additional Information for Wireless Customers
If you subscribe to one of our wireless products, we collect and use mobile device location data for a variety of purposes, including to provide our mobile voice and data services, emergency services (911 and E911), and our and third-party location-based applications and services such as navigation, weather, mapping and child safety applications or tools.
Many types of wireless applications and services use mobile device location data, including applications provided by other companies and wireless device operating systems. When you are considering new applications or services, you should carefully review the location-based services' or application providers' privacy policies to learn how they collect and use your information.
We may use mobile usage information and consumer information for certain business and marketing reports. Mobile usage information includes the addresses of websites you visit when you use our wireless services. These data strings (or URLs) may include search terms you have used. Mobile usage information also includes the location of your device and your use of applications and features. Consumer information includes information about your use of Impact Telecom products and services (such as data and calling features, device type, and amount of use) as well as demographic and interest categories provided to us by other companies (such as gender, age range, sports fan, frequent diner, or pet owner). We may combine this information in a manner that does not personally identify you and use it to prepare aggregated business and marketing reports that we may use ourselves.
Your information may be disclosed when the use of our services allow you to take advantage of services and products offered by other companies. For example, if you are roaming on the network of another carrier, your wireless telephone number, the numbers you dial, and other information about your usage will be available to that carrier to facilitate that service.
Some devices may automatically upload to Impact Telecom’s network servers information you have stored on the device and/or SIM card in order to facilitate specific functions. For instance, some devices back-up your address book. If possible, you may choose to disable such uploads but this may affect functionality of the device or your services. Refer to instructions for your device and service or for details or contact Customer Service for more information. We may also provide you the ability to upload other information from your device to Impact Telecom’s network servers. For instance, you may have the option to upload pictures, recordings, calendars, tasks, or notes. Uploaded information will not be used by Impact Telecom for purposes other than as disclosed in connection with those services, this policy, or applicable Terms and Conditions.
You may use your Impact Telecom service in conjunction with hand-sets or devices sold by other companies. As a result, personal information from your devices may be uploaded and stored on the servers of those other companies. As a result, these companies’ specific terms and conditions, terms of use, and privacy polices apply to the use of the equipment and services provided by these other companies.
Many devices store information both in the phone and on the SIM card. Therefore, before discarding, trading in, or giving away your device, be sure you remove and retain your SIM card and follow the manufacturer's instructions for deleting personal information or other data on the device. (This can be found in your owner's manual or on the manufacturer’s website.) If you provide a third-party access to your device, you should understand that personal information will remain on the device and may be accessible, deleted, altered, or transferred to another device or our network servers by the person using the device, and that we will treat that user as you for purposes of this policy.
We encourage you to use passwords to prevent unauthorized access to your device, your online account, and your voicemail. We recommend that you use unique, non-obvious passwords, that you periodically change your passwords, and that you not share your passwords with others. Notify us immediately if you believe your device has been lost or stolen or if you believe your personal information has been accessed without your consent.
When you install third-party applications (for example, programs, widgets, etc.) on your device, you may give your consent for the third party to access certain information you have stored on your device (for example your contact list). You may also give your consent for the third party to access information stored on Impact Telecom’s wireless network to facilitate the application’s functions (for example, you may have given your consent to third-parties to access your location information). In either case, the manner in which such third-parties may use, share, or disclose such information is governed by their terms and conditions and their privacy policies – not this policy.
We cannot guarantee that your communications using our wireless services or devices will be private or secure. Although it is illegal for unauthorized persons to intercept or access your communications or information, such interceptions or access can occur.
Information We Share
Information Shared Within the Impact Telecom Family of Companies:
Impact Telecom shares customer information within our family of companies for operational purposes. We also share certain types of customer information within our family of companies for our own marketing purposes. Sharing this information allows us to provide you with the latest information about our products and services and to offer you our latest promotions.
There are additional protections that apply with regard to certain information we collect and maintain about the telecommunications and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services you buy from us and how you use them. This information is categorized by the federal government as Customer Proprietary Network Information or CPNI. Specific laws govern our sharing and use of this type of information. Our wireless and wireline residential customers as well as our small and medium business customers may choose to opt out of the sharing of your CPNI within the Impact Telecom family of companies for certain marketing purposes.
If you are an Arizona resident, as required by state law, Impact Telecom Wireless does not share your CPNI within the Impact Telecom family of companies unless you provide consent using a form.
Information Shared Outside the Impact Telecom Family of Companies:
Except as explained in this Privacy Policy, in privacy policies for specific services, or in agreements with our customers, Impact Telecom does not sell, license or share information that individually identifies our customers, people using our networks, or website visitors with others outside the Impact Telecom family of companies for non-Impact Telecom purposes without the consent of the person whose information will be shared.
Impact Telecom uses vendors and partners for a variety of business purposes such as to help us offer, provide, repair and bill for services we deliver to you. We share information with those vendors and partners to the extent reasonably necessary for them to perform work on our behalf. For example, we may provide your credit card information and billing address to our payment processing company solely for the purpose of processing payment for a transaction you have requested. We may disclose personal information to third-parties performing services on our behalf (for example, companies who complete transactions and perform credit checks, billing, credit and debit card payment processing, shipping, customer service and marketing), or that perform transactions on your behalf (for example, verification of your account information at your request to some third-party business, processing of debit/credit card transactions, ) or transfers related to your service (for example, number portability). Your telephone number, the numbers you dial, and other information about your usage will be available to companies that perform underlying telecommunications services on our behalf to facilitate the origination, transport and termination of your calls. You name, address and telephone number may be made available to publishers of directories.
As described in more detail in other sections of this policy, Impact Telecom also may share certain information with outside companies to assist with the delivery of Impact Telecom’s advertising campaigns, or preparing and sharing aggregate business and marketing reports.
We may disclose information that individually identifies our customers or identifies customer devices in certain circumstances, such as:
- to comply with valid legal process including subpoenas, court orders or search warrants, orders issued by governmental agencies and as otherwise authorized by law;
- in cases involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person or other emergencies;
- to provide 911 and E911 services
- to protect our rights or property, or the safety of our customers or employees;
- to protect against fraudulent, malicious, abusive, unauthorized or unlawful use of or subscription to our products and services and to protect our network, services, devices and users from such use;
- to advance or defend against complaints or legal claims in court, administrative proceedings and elsewhere;
- to credit bureaus or collection agencies for reporting purposes or to obtain payment for Impact Telecom-billed products and services;
- to a third-party that you have authorized to verify your account information;
- to outside auditors, lawyers and regulators;
- to another telecommunications company for the provision of telecommunications services to the customer;
- to a company involved in providing communications directory services;
- to a person who, in the reasonable estimation of Impact Telecom, is an agent of the customer; and
- to provide services to inmates with your consent.
If you purchase services offered jointly by Impact Telecom and one of our partners, customer information may be received by both Impact Telecom and our partner that is providing your service. For these jointly offered services, you should also review the partner company's privacy policy which may include practices that are different from the practices described here.
Impact Telecom or any of our family of companies may disclose your information as part of a corporate business transaction, such as a merger or acquisition, joint venture, corporate reorganization, financing, or sale of company assets, or in the unlikely event of insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership, in which customer information could be transferred to third-parties as part of or in connection with the transaction.
How to Limit the Sharing and Use of Your Information
You have choices about how Impact Telecom shares and uses information.
Telemarketing:
Federal "Do Not Call" laws allow you to place residential wireline and wireless phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registries to prevent telemarketing calls to those numbers. If you would like to add your numbers to this list, you may do so by calling 1-888-382-1222, or by visiting www.donotcall.gov.
You should be aware that even if you add your number(s) to the federal or a state Do Not Call list, most telemarketing laws allow companies to contact their own customers. If at any time you would like to be removed from Impact Telecom's residential wireline or wireless telemarketing lists, please let us know by contacting a customer service representative at 1-800-221-3020. Please allow 30 days for your telephone number to be removed from any sales programs that are currently underway.
Marketing Email, Text Messages, Postal Mail and Door-to-Door Calls:
Marketing emails you receive from Impact Telecom and its family of companies include an unsubscribe instruction (usually found at the bottom of the email) that you may use to opt out of receiving future marketing-related emails. You may also opt out of receiving marketing-related emails from Impact Telecom by by by contacting us at 1-888-606-8394.
You may opt out of receiving marketing-related postal mailings or prevent door-to-door marketing solicitations from Impact Telecom by contacting us at 1-888-606-8394. You may opt out of receiving text message marketing by Impact Telecom by contacting us at 1-888-606-8394.
Working Together to Help Keep Children Safe
We do not knowingly solicit children to purchase our services or products. If, however, you authorize a child to use our services or products by providing them a device associated with your Impact Telecom account, any personal information associated with such use will be treated as your information in accordance with this policy. Our websites are not designed to attract children under the age of 13 and we do not intentionally or knowingly collect personal information on our sites from anyone under the age of 13. We encourage parents to be involved in the online activities (including wireless Internet browsing) of their children to ensure that no information is collected from a child without parental permission.
Information Security
Impact Telecom has technical, administrative and physical safeguards in place to help protect against unauthorized access to, use or disclosure of customer information we collect or store. Impact Telecom protects & encrypts your account information using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology as it is transmitted over the Internet. If your browser or firewall does not support SSL, you will not be able to access your account online or place an order. If you are not able to access our secure server for any reason, our customer service team would be happy to assist you via phone.
Although we work hard to protect personal information that we collect and store, no program is 100% secure and we cannot guarantee that our safeguards will prevent every unauthorized attempt to access, use or disclose personal information. If you become aware of a security issue, please contact Impact Telecom. We will work with you to address any problems.
Contact Information
If you have questions, concerns or suggestions related to our Privacy Policy or our privacy practices you may contact us at:
Privacy Officer
Impact Telecom
11300 Rockville Pike, Suite 900
Rockville, MD 20852
301-610-4300
Accessing and Updating Your Information
We strive to keep our customer records as accurate as possible. You may correct or update your Impact Telecom customer information by contacting a customer service representative at 1-888-606-8394 or by accessing your account online and providing the updated information there.
Changes to This Policy
We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy, so please check back periodically for changes. You will be able to see that changes have been made by checking to see if the effective date posted at the end of the policy.
Updated July 17, 2013
© 2013 Impact Telecom, Inc. All Rights Reserved.