Internet Service
As part of our Unlimited Plan, Helium Mobile provides Broadband Internet Access Services to our subscribers. “Broadband Internet Access Services” means services that provide the capability to transmit and receive data from all or substantially all Internet endpoints. The network practices, performance characteristics, and commercial terms applicable to Helium Mobile subscribers on Helium Mobile Broadband Internet Access Services over our Network Supplier’s networks are described in the policy below. This policy does not describe the practices, characteristics, or commercial terms that may apply when using a roaming partner network, where available. For additional details on Roaming, please see the Helium Mobile Plan Terms and Conditions.
Broadband Internet Access Services Terms and Conditions
Broadband Internet Access Services are subject to our Plan Terms and Conditions (including our Privacy Notice and Acceptable Use Policy, together “Terms”). These Terms are subject to change so we recommend that you periodically check for updates to the Helium Mobile Legal Notices page at https://hellohelium.com/legal. Certain uses of our network are prohibited as described in Section 5 of the Plan Terms including without limitation uses prohibited under our Acceptable Use Policy. Our dispute resolution procedures are addressed in the Plan Terms in Sections 11, 33, and 34.
Helium Mobile Data Plan
Helium Mobile plans include a data plan that provides Broadband Internet Access Services to you. The data plan is intended for personal use in the United States only. Data usage within our network is counted by bytes with no rounding. When roaming, depending on our roaming partner, your roaming data usage may be rounded up to the next full 10 kilobyte increment at the end of each data session. Each of the Helium Mobile Service plans has an assigned monthly 5G and/or 4G LTE data usage level. Please note that accessing 5G and/or 4G LTE provided through your Service plan requires a capable device and SIM within an appropriate coverage area. We will measure your upload and download data usage, including all of your requests to upload or download data, as well as network overhead. If your total data usage aggregated over the billing cycle exceeds the monthly usage level for the plan you purchased, you will be downgraded to slower data speed for the remainder of the billing cycle. When you begin a new billing cycle, your Service plan usage level will be reset and your data speed will be restored.
Network Protective Measures
To minimize capacity issues and ensure reliable, quality service to our customers, we and our network supplier may take measures to protect our network. We may use automated systems to analyze network traffic in order to detect and prevent unlawful, fraudulent usage or activity that does not comply with our Acceptable Use Policy. Based on our analysis, we may take appropriate actions, including, but not limited to, temporarily reducing data speeds, deprioritizing traffic, suspending, or terminating data sessions of users who use excessive amounts of data or engage in heavy, continuous usage that adversely affects our network performance and degrades quality of service for other customers. We and our network supplier apply various network management techniques and practices to allocate network capacity among users and devices to ensure the best possible experience for users.
Broadband Internet Access Services Performance
Many factors affect the speed and performance that you experience as a Helium Mobile subscriber. Coverage maps only approximate our anticipated wireless coverage area outdoors, and under optimal conditions. Even within the coverage area, actual coverage, speed, service area, and quality of service may vary depending on such factors as signal strength, network capacity and congestion, hardware and software limitations, terrain, weather, use inside a building or moving vehicle, radio frequency interference, how many other subscribers are attempting to use the same spectrum resources, and other factors beyond our control. Outages and interruptions in the Services may occur and the quality and speed of the Services may vary. We do not warrant or guarantee that the Services will be available at any specific time or geographic location or that the Services will be provided without interruption or at any particular quality level. You agree to not hold us liable for any problems related to Services availability or quality, including, without limitation, any failure of emergency calls.
For the typical speeds and performance that you can expect when using 5G and/or 4G LTE capable devices and SIMs within an appropriate coverage area over our network, subject to the factors described above and below, see the sections below.
Device Management
To access and use Helium Mobile Service you must use a supported, compatible device. A supported device is a phone or a tablet that complies with the Federal Communications Commission regulations, is certified by Helium Mobile and our network supplier for use on our network, and is unlocked. You can find the list of supported devices on https://hellohelium.com. Please note that not all Services may be available on all the supported devices and operating systems. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate Services to any device that is not a supported, compatible device. Helium Mobile does not support devices that are locked or become locked by another mobile operator or that have been or become reported as lost or stolen.
Speed and Latency
Speed
The term “speed” is commonly used as a shorthand way to describe the rate at which a particular Broadband Internet Access Service can transmit data. This rate (or speed) is typically measured in the number of kilobits or megabits transmitted in one second (Kbps or Mbps). Applications you use may vary in their data speed requirements. For instance, using email, messengers, or basic browsing may work well on low data speed, while other applications like video streaming or transferring large data files work better with higher data speeds.
Latency
Latency, also known as delay, is the amount of time from when a data packet is sent to when it is received. For Broadband Internet Access Services, latency is usually expressed as the round-trip time in milliseconds (“ms”) that it takes for a data packet to travel between two Internet endpoints. For some applications, such as email, a substantial amount of latency will not affect their performance. However other applications, such as real-time video conferencing, are more demanding and need lower latency to function without interruption.
Based on our network supplier’s published network management policy disclosures, and subject to the factors described above and below, Helium Mobile expects our subscribers to generally have the following speeds and latency ranges on the 5G and/or 4G LTE networks, provided they use recent broadband-capable devices and SIM within an appropriate coverage area, as well as have a qualifying service plan:
5G Network
Download Speeds: Typically between 89-418 Mbps
Upload Speeds: Typically between 6-31 Mbps
Latency: Typically between 17-32 ms
Broadband Labels
You can also look up the information about the data speed and latency in the Helium Mobile Broadband Labels. Broadband Labels provide clear and concise information about a wireless service provider’s Broadband Internet Access Services, such as cost, data limits, and performance. It is very similar to a standardized nutrition label that you find on food packaging, but for wireless. Since all service providers use the same format, the labels make it easier for you to compare plans (even from different service providers) and choose the right option for your needs. The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has mandated that all wireless providers display these labels at the point of sale.
You can find the Helium Mobile Broadband Labels here: https://hellohelium.com/plan.
Additional Network Management Practices
Blocking. Except for our network management practices disclosed in this notice or in our Plan Terms (including our Privacy Policy and Acceptable Use Policy), we do not block or otherwise prevent end user access to lawful content, applications, service, or non-harmful devices.
Throttling. Except for our network management practices disclosed in the Helium Mobile Plan Terms (including our Privacy Policy and Acceptable Use Policy), we do not degrade or impair access to lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, application, service, user, or use of a non-harmful device. Please refer to Section 4 of our Terms for more information.
Prioritization. We do not engage in practices that directly or indirectly favor some traffic over other traffic, including through use of techniques such as traffic shaping, prioritization, or resource reservation. Please note that, independent of the Helium Mobile network practices, our network supplier may implement certain practices from time to time that may result in de-prioritization of some users.
Congestion Management. We or our network supplier may reduce speeds during times of network congestion. For additional information, please see above and Section 6 of our Plan Terms.
Application-Specific Behavior. Except for our network management practices disclosed in this notice or in our Terms (including our Privacy Policy and Acceptable Use Policy), we do not discriminate against lawful applications that are compatible with our services. We do not block or rate-control specific protocols or protocol ports, modify protocol fields in ways not prescribed by the protocol standard, or otherwise inhibit or favor certain applications or classes of applications.
Security. Helium Mobile takes the security of its network very seriously. A list of measures we may take to ensure security of the network can be found in the Plan Terms.
For any additional questions regarding Helium Mobile Plans and Services you may contact our customer support team via the Support Chat or support@hellohelium.com.