Effective Date: 1/30/25
Orion Cable is committed to providing its customers with a high-quality Internet access experience. The disclosure below explains the performance characteristics, commercial terms, and network practices for broadband Internet access services (“BIAS” or “Internet Services” or “Services”) provided by Orion Cable. The disclosure may be changed from time to time without notice (with the date of the last update reflected above). The information provided in the disclosure is not a contract between Orion Cable and its customers or any users of the Services provided by Orion Cable but is designed to provide you with information to understand our Services and make informed decisions regarding your choice of Internet Services. It also does not obligate Orion Cable to provide any specific level of service or to maintain any level of service or network configuration and creates no rights that are not already available to a customer or user by law or under any agreement with Orion Cable. The information provided is applicable to residential Orion Cable Internet service (Orion Cable Internet) and small/medium business Orion Cable Business Internet service (CBI) and Orion Cable Fiber Internet service (CFI) offered by Orion Cable on a retail, mass-market basis.
A. Performance Characteristics:
A1. Service Description:
Orion Cable offers multiple residential Internet Service packages providing different maximum downstream and upstream speeds. In increasing areas within its service locations throughout the Northern San Diego County, Orion Cable offers residential packages with downstream speeds of up to 1 Gbps. Orion Cable uses wireline networks to provide Orion Cable’s broadband residential Internet services.
In some locations, a Fiber to the Node (FTTN) network architecture is used together with Data Over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS) technology to provide reliable service over a shared network. The FTTN network uses fiber optic cables connecting headend distribution hubs to optical nodes located close to residential areas. DOCSIS broadband Internet service passes from the optical nodes to customers’ premises through coaxial or fiber optic cables. In the customers’ premises, DOCSIS cable modems, gateways, or Radio Frequency Over Glass (RFOG) Optical Network Units (ONUs) with cable modems are deployed to provide an in-home data interface. Cable modems provide Ethernet port interfaces, while gateways provide Wi-Fi connections as well as Ethernet port interfaces.
In some locations, Orion Cable’s wireline networks use Passive Optical Network (PON) technology to provide reliable service over a shared network. In these areas, fiber optic cables run from the headend distribution hubs all the way to the customers’ premises with optical splitters used to divide the optical wavelength among the customers. In the customers’ premises, PON Optical Network Terminals (ONTs) are deployed to provide the in-home data interface. PON technology delivers data from a single source to multiple endpoints sharing the capacity of the wavelength, allowing Orion Cable to provide fast, reliable connectivity for subscribers. An ONT provides at least one Ethernet port interface for the in-home data interface. Orion Cable also offers gateways that connect to the ONTs to provide Wi-Fi interfaces as well as Ethernet interfaces for PON subscribers.
In some PON locations, older ONTs may only support speeds of up to 940 Mbps due to speed limitations of the equipment’s Ethernet ports. PON locations with newer ONTs support speeds up to 2 Gbps. The most appropriate package for a particular customer will depend upon a variety of factors, including the types of real-time applications typically used, the number of devices, and the number of users in the household.
Orion Cable’s network provisioning and engineering practices are designed to enable its customers to receive the speeds for the packages they are subscribed to. However, it is important to note that many factors beyond Orion Cable’s control can affect the actual speeds customers are able to receive to their devices, including:
Capability of end user devices (computer, smartphone, tablet), including factors such as age, software and operating system versions, the presence of viruses and malware, and the number of simultaneous applications running.
Wireless home network (Wi-Fi) connections, which may be slower than wired connections.
Capability of hardware used to connect to internet service (modems, routers, gateways, and associated firmware). For speeds of 1 Gbps and above, the modem/gateway must have a minimum 2.5 Gbps ethernet port.
Congestion on websites visited, including high demand by multiple simultaneous users.
Fluctuations in latency within connecting networks outside of Orion Cable’s network, such as gaming servers.
Force Majeure events such as natural disasters, national emergencies, or epidemics/pandemics.
Orion Cable’s architecture and related engineering standards are constantly evolving through a long-term, multiyear network upgrade transformation. As such, service types and speeds that Orion Cable offers may vary by location throughout the duration of this transformation. However, there should be no discernible, persistent performance characteristic variations related to geography, where the same service types and speeds have been deployed.
B. Commercial Terms:
B1. Orion Cable Internet and other services:
Information about residential pricing, data plans and fees, and additional network services can be found on the Internet Pricing and Plans pages of orioncable.com. In addition to the pricing shown, residential customers may also incur local, state, or federal taxes. These webpages may also include standard promotional rates being offered in Orion Cable markets from time to time. Additionally, more targeted promotional offers for our Internet Services are available from time to time through orioncable.com and our other sales channels. Residential customers purchasing bundle packages consisting of Internet and other services may incur additional taxes, fees and surcharges related to the other services subscribed to in the specific bundle packages.
Orion Cable residential Internet packages include monthly data plans for different levels of data usage, tailored for the range of household uses. A Data Plan refers to the amount of data a customer can download or upload at one time. It is not related to a monthly data usage limit but instead represents the maximum bandwidth available for simultaneous data transfer. Data Usage refers to the amount of data used during online activities through the cable modem, router, or Wi-Fi modem.
Orion Cable does not implement data caps, so there are no overage fees for exceeding a Data Plan. Customers can use their Internet service without concern for data usage limits. We do not charge for exceeding any monthly data limits, and unused data does not carry over from month to month.
Orion Cable’s Service is a pay-as-you-go monthly service with an all-in fixed price per month, without any data usage limitations or additional charges.
B3. Early Termination Fees
Orion Cable operates on a month-to-month basis, and there are no early termination fees for canceling our Internet service. Customers are free to cancel at any time without penalty.
B4. Privacy
Orion Cable protects your privacy throughout the process of providing you service, billing, and customer support. Orion Cable’s Services are provided subject to Orion Cable’s Privacy Policy for broadband Internet service, referenced in the links below. The privacy policy may change as provided by its terms and conditions.
Your Privacy Rights as a Residential Orion Cable Customer
B5. Contact Us
If you have a complaint or question regarding your Orion Cable Internet Service, you may contact us using the information found on the following web pages. Contact Us
C. Network Practices:
C1. The following describes Orion Cable’s network practices as of the date of this disclosure; it will be updated from time to time as Orion Cable’s practices change. Orion Cable may take any appropriate measures, whether or not they are described below, in response to extraordinary levels of usage, denial of service attacks, or other exigent circumstances that have a significant effect on our customers’ ability to use the Services or Orion Cable’s ability to provide the Services.
Orion Cable is committed to the ongoing management of its network to improve its service offerings, protect customers, and create new service and feature enhancements for its customers. Orion Cable does not shape, block or throttle lawful Internet traffic or engage in other network practices based on the particular online content, protocols or applications a customer uses or by a customer’s use of the network. Orion Cable uses other measures to ensure the best overall experience for our Orion Cable Internet customers, including, without limitation: rate limiting of email (as set forth in our email policies), email storage limits (including deletion of dormant or unchecked email), rejection or removal of “spam” or otherwise unsolicited bulk email. Orion Cable may also employ other means to protect customers, children, and its network, including blocking access to child pornography sites (based upon lists of sites provided by a third party and an international police agency), and security measures (including identification and blocking of botnets, viruses, phishing sites, malware, and certain ports as set forth below).
Customers who live in homes with legacy network equipment, such as signal strength amplifiers and splitters connected to their inside wiring, may cause harm to the network. Accordingly, after detection of network harm, Orion Cable may reduce the upload speeds available to that customer. Similarly, use of an incompatible modem for a given tier or the presence of out-of-date in-home equipment may cause harm to the network, so Orion Cable may reduce the download and/or upload speeds available to customers using incompatible modems. In both instances, Orion Cable will notify customers that they are unable to receive the advertised speeds for their subscribed to tiers and provide instructions on how full service may be restored.
If Orion Cable increases the download and/or upload speeds associated with a given tier and existing customers’ modems, and legacy network equipment, such as signal strength amplifiers and splitters, cannot accommodate the higher speeds, Orion Cable may prevent customers from experiencing the increased speeds until Orion Cable is informed that the problems have been corrected.
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses identify devices on the Internet. Due to the ongoing increasing volume of devices connected to the Internet, IP addresses are evolving from IPv4 to IPv6. During this transition, your Orion Cable Internet connected gateway may appear to share an IPv4 address with other Orion Cable Internet connected gateways. This will not materially affect your service.
C2. Port Blocking:
Orion Cable does not block or restrict any ports. To protect your security and ensure optimal network performance, we recommend that customers download and regularly update antivirus software on all devices connected to the Internet.
C3. Congestion:
There is no typical frequency or location of congestion, although congestion is more likely to occur during peak use hours in the evening. A major news event at any time of the day which results in many customers streaming video of the event can also cause congestion. At an individual node level, in rare circumstances, multiple users of heavy bandwidth applications (e.g., households running multiple instances of concurrent video streaming or uploading), may temporarily reduce the bandwidth available to all users on the same node. At times of congestion, standard network algorithms may be employed to ensure that available bandwidth is equitably allocated to competing users. Orion Cable regularly monitors data usage, congestion, and capacity to decide where additional capacity in the network is needed. In exceptional circumstances due to unforeseen and dramatic increases in traffic over a short period of time, Orion Cable may take reasonable measures on impacted nodes on a temporary basis to alleviate congestion until network capacity can be increased to ensure consistent good performance for all users.
C4. Network and Customer Security Protection:
Orion Cable Internet service performs certain actions to protect your personal security and also suggests other actions that will enhance your personal security.
C5. Certified Orion Cable Internet Modem Devices
Orion Cable certifies devices for connection to its network to ensure that they will meet Orion Cable requirements and provide the services as intended. Our certification process includes extensive lab testing by our Engineering teams. Testing is performed on the device software and hardware to assess network operability and compliance with Orion Cable service requirements, working with vendors to have them update software/firmware to ensure that devices work as desired on the Orion Cable network. As of 2023, DOCSIS 3.1 devices are required for 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps service tiers, but not all DOCSIS 3.1 devices are fully compatible with these tiers. DOCSIS 3.0 devices may be compatible with other service tiers. Use of a device that is incompatible with a service tier may cause network harm resulting in speed limitations as described in the Network Practices section above. Accordingly, DOCSIS 3.1 devices are strongly recommended for all service tiers.
To view a list of cable modems and supported home networking equipment that have been reviewed and certified to be compatible with specific service tiers on the Orion Cable network, refer to:
Orion Cable Certified Cable Modems
Orion Cable 