Network Management & Fair Use Policy

1. Purpose

Alder’s managed ISP model is designed to support both the underlying internet service and, where selected, compatible network equipment behind it. The purpose of network management is to improve reliability, security and support—not to impose undisclosed restrictions on ordinary customer use.

2. What Alder may manage

Depending on the service and equipment, Alder may manage or support the WAN connection, router/gateway, access points, Wi-Fi settings, firmware, guest networks, security/filtering configuration, DNS protection, static IP configuration, failover settings and related service-health telemetry.

Management scope is limited by the service purchased, equipment compatibility, permissions and third-party platform capability. Customer-owned devices remain outside Alder’s administrative control unless a separate support arrangement expressly includes them.

3. Wholesale network and NBN dependencies

Alder relies on wholesale telecommunications providers and NBN infrastructure for core access services. Some network characteristics—including NBN technology, line capability, wholesale faults, planned maintenance, national routing and mobile coverage—are controlled outside Alder’s direct network.

Managed support means Alder coordinates diagnosis and provider escalation where appropriate; it does not mean Alder can directly control every wholesale network event.

4. Performance, contention and capacity

Internet services share network resources. Performance can vary with NBN technology, access-line capability, wholesale capacity, routing, destination servers, congestion, customer equipment and Wi-Fi conditions. Alder uses service and network data to distinguish likely WAN/provider issues from local Wi-Fi or device issues where possible.

Where we identify a systemic capacity or provider issue, we may escalate it to the relevant supplier, adjust network configuration, publish service information or take another reasonable operational step.

5. Unlimited plans and legitimate high usage

Where an Alder plan is expressly sold as unlimited, there is no routine undisclosed monthly data quota. Heavy use such as streaming, cloud backups, gaming, software downloads, remote work or ordinary large household/business usage is not automatically considered unfair.

We distinguish data volume from harmful behaviour. Intervention is reserved for an identifiable technical, security, legal or material shared-resource issue—such as a compromised device generating attack traffic or a deliberate activity designed primarily to degrade shared infrastructure.

6. Traffic management

Alder may use reasonable technical controls needed to operate and protect services. Depending on architecture and supplier capability, this can include routing changes, quality-of-service settings on managed customer equipment, rate controls required by a product specification, denial-of-service mitigation, blocking of malicious destinations, or temporary restriction of traffic associated with an incident.

We do not use this Policy as a general licence to secretly degrade a particular lawful streaming, communications or competing service for commercial reasons. Material service restrictions imposed by Alder will be based on a legitimate network, security, product or legal reason.

7. Network security controls

Alder may apply controls intended to protect customers or infrastructure from malware, botnets, phishing, spoofing, brute-force attacks, known command-and-control systems, denial-of-service traffic and other threats. Security controls may rely on threat-intelligence feeds and third-party security classifications.

Where an action materially affects a customer service and disclosure would not create a security/legal risk, Alder will provide an explanation and remediation path. We may take immediate protective action where delay would create a serious risk.

8. Alder Protect / Family Safe

Alder Protect / Family Safe can provide DNS or network-level protection and optional category controls. Features may include malicious-domain blocking, phishing/scam protection, Safe Search integration, category filtering and household-profile rules.

Filtering is not perfect. Classification providers can make errors and new threats may not yet be known. Customers can ask Alder to review a suspected false positive. Family controls are a safety aid and do not replace parental supervision or device-level controls.

9. Managed Wi-Fi and household device controls

For supported networks, My Alder may show household device status, connection type, signal quality, protection profile and other operational information. Customer-requested actions can include pausing/resuming access, blocking/unblocking a household endpoint or changing a protection profile. Depending on platform capability, some requests may require staff review or manual implementation.

Alder distinguishes household endpoints from Alder/UniFi infrastructure equipment so customer controls do not expose or misrepresent network-admin functions.

10. Network telemetry and privacy

Managed services may collect technical data such as IP/MAC addresses, router identifiers, access-point association, signal levels, device names, throughput, latency, packet loss, WAN state, firmware and protection events. Alder uses this information for service operation, support, security and network improvement.

We do not treat network-management authority as permission to inspect the content stored on customer devices. Detailed handling is described in the Privacy Policy.

11. Firmware, configuration and maintenance

Alder may apply or schedule supported firmware and configuration updates to managed equipment where reasonably necessary for security, stability, compatibility or service improvements. Material planned changes that are likely to interrupt service will be communicated where reasonably practicable.

Emergency security changes may be made without advance notice where delay creates an unreasonable risk. We will preserve customer-specific configuration where practicable, but some vendor updates or resets may require settings to be reapplied.

12. Customer-requested network changes

Customers can request supported Wi-Fi, guest-network, Family Safe, device and router changes. Alder may decline a request that is technically unsupported, materially weakens security, conflicts with law, creates an unreasonable support risk or falls outside the purchased service. We will explain the reason where possible and may offer an alternative.

13. Fault isolation and support boundaries

Connection-health tools and managed telemetry help Alder isolate likely causes, but diagnostics are not infallible. A fault may sit in the NBN access network, wholesale network, managed router, Wi-Fi environment, customer device or external service.

If investigation points to equipment or wiring outside Alder’s managed scope, we will explain the finding and any available next step. Chargeable work will be disclosed before it is undertaken where practicable.

14. Service restrictions, security incidents and recovery

Alder may temporarily restrict a particular function or service where necessary to contain a material security incident, fraud, unlawful activity or severe network-integrity problem. We aim to use the least disruptive measure that adequately addresses the issue.

Once the underlying problem is remediated and there is no ongoing reason for the restriction, we will restore normal operation as soon as reasonably practicable. Customer-protection requirements for hardship, DFSV and complaints are considered before broader service action where relevant.

15. Questions, review and complaints

If you believe network management is incorrectly affecting your service, contact Alder support. We can review available telemetry, explain the applicable control and correct an error where identified. Formal complaints are handled under the Complaints Handling Policy.