These terms apply when you order or use an L2TP tunnel, L2TP VPN or any similar tunnelling service from Stacklayer Communications Ltd ("we", "us"). They sit on top of our Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy and the other policies listed there. If these terms disagree with the Terms of Service about the L2TP service, these terms win for that service.
We only offer the L2TP service on certain plans and at certain times. Reading these terms does not mean the service is available to you. What you actually get is described in your order.
Because a tunnel sends your traffic out from our network, what you do through it reflects on us and on every other customer who uses the same addresses. That is why these terms are stricter than for an ordinary hosting plan. We would rather say so plainly now than surprise you later.
What the service is
L2TP (Layer 2 Tunnelling Protocol) lets your device or your network send traffic through a tunnel to our network, AS218805, and onwards to the internet. We provide the tunnel endpoint and the connectivity on our side. We do not provide your device, your software, or your own internet connection.
L2TP does not encrypt traffic on its own. If you want your traffic to be encrypted, you need to use it together with a protocol such as IPsec, and set that up properly. We can tell you what we support, but we cannot promise that any particular setup will keep your traffic private. You are responsible for how you configure your own side.
The service is a network connection. It is not a guarantee of privacy, anonymity or security, and it does not protect you from malware, from websites that track you, or from anything you choose to run on your own device.
Who can use it
The service is for you, or for the business that holds the account, and for the people you allow to use it on your own devices. You must not share your login details with other people, sell the service to anyone, or give it to others as a free or paid service of their own. If you want to resell it, you need our written permission first, and you will be responsible for your own customers.
You must be 18 or over, or be authorised to bind the business that is ordering. We may ask you to confirm who you are before we set up a tunnel, and we may refuse or cancel an order if we are not satisfied.
You are responsible for making sure that you are allowed to use a tunnelling service where you live. The laws on VPNs and encryption are different in different countries, and some forbid them. Do not use the service where the law does not allow it.
Setting up and connecting
After your order is confirmed, we give you the details you need to connect, such as a server address, a username and a password, and any shared secret needed for IPsec. Guides may be in our knowledgebase. Setup depends on your device and software, which we do not control, so we cannot promise that every device or router will work.
We may change the connection details, supported methods or encryption settings, for example for security reasons. If we do, you may need to update your settings. We will tell you where we reasonably can.
Tunnels commonly use UDP ports 500, 1701 and 4500 and the IPsec protocols. Some home, mobile and business networks block these, and if yours does, the service may not work for you. That is not a fault of ours.
Your login details
You must keep your login details private and use a strong, unique password. If you think someone else has them, tell us at once and we will reset them. You are responsible for everything that happens through your connection, including what other people do with it if they got in because you did not look after your details.
We may reset or disable logins that look compromised, that are being shared, or that are being used in a way that puts our network at risk.
Connections and devices
Unless your order says otherwise, you may use one connection at a time per account. We may disconnect extra connections, or limit how many you can open. If your order allows more than one device, they must all belong to you or to the people you have the right to allow, and they must all follow these terms.
IP addresses
Your traffic leaves our network from an IP address that we control. Unless your order says you have a dedicated address, that address is shared with other customers and may change without notice. It may also be blocked, rate limited or flagged by websites and services, because of the way someone else used it. We are not responsible for that, and we cannot promise that any website, game, streaming service or bank will accept it.
We may support IPv4, IPv6 or both. Which you get depends on your order and on what your device supports.
If your order includes a dedicated address, it stays ours, and you have the right to use it for as long as you have the service. Our Terms of Service section on IP addresses and network resources applies. You may not announce or route any address through the tunnel that we have not given you.
We do not offer port forwarding or inbound access through a shared address, unless your order says so.
What you must not do
You must follow our Acceptable Use Policy. In particular, because other people's traffic leaves our network from the same addresses, you must not use the service to:
- break the law, or to hide from the police or another authority while you are doing something illegal
- download, share or stream pirated films, television, music, games or software, or run any other kind of piracy, including nulled or cracked software
- send spam, run phishing or malware, or carry out scanning, brute force or other attacks
- run denial of service tools, or any booter or stresser service
- run open proxies, exit nodes or relays for other people
- take part in fraud, carding, credential stuffing, account takeover, or harassment of other people
- get around the security, licensing or geographic controls of a service in a way that breaks that service's rules or the law
- cause heavy load on our network, for example by constantly using all of your bandwidth in a way that affects other customers
- host a public server or website through the tunnel, unless your order says that you can
- send any content that is illegal in the United Kingdom, or that we do not allow under our Acceptable Use Policy
You may share lawful files and use lawful peer-to-peer software, within the fair use limits below. If we receive complaints about piracy from your connection, we will treat it as piracy, whatever software you used.
Blocked or limited traffic
To protect our network and the people on it, we may block, filter or limit some kinds of traffic. For example, we may block outbound email on port 25 to stop spam, block known attack sources and addresses, limit the rate of new connections, or filter traffic that looks like an attack or a scan. We do not have to tell you each time we do this. We may also limit or drop traffic during an attack on our network.
Speed, fair use and limits
Your order shows any limits that apply, such as a data allowance or a speed. We do not promise any particular speed or latency. What you get depends on your own connection, the distance to us, the other networks between us and the destination, and the load on the service.
If your use is so heavy that it affects other customers, we may slow it, limit it, move you to a different plan or suspend it. We will tell you first where it is reasonable to do so. Using up your allowance does not entitle you to a refund.
What we keep
To run and protect the service, and to deal with abuse, we may keep technical records about your connection. These can include the time you connected and disconnected, the address you connected from, the address you were given, the amount of data used, and technical error messages. We do not read or record the content of your traffic as a matter of routine.
We keep these records for as long as we need them for those purposes, or for as long as the law requires. We handle them as set out in our Privacy Policy, and we use them only to run the service, keep it secure, deal with complaints, and meet our legal duties.
We may give these records to the police, a regulator or a court where the law requires or allows it, and to a rights holder where there is a valid complaint and the law allows it. L2TP is not an anonymous service, and you should not use it believing that no one can find out who you are.
Complaints and abuse reports
If someone reports abuse that came from your connection, we will look into it under our Abuse Policy. We may suspend your tunnel straight away while we do, and we may tell you the details of the complaint so that you can respond. We cannot always say how an address was identified.
We keep a record of valid complaints. If your connection is the subject of repeated valid complaints, even if you fixed each one, we may end the service and refuse to offer it to you again.
Your devices and software
You are responsible for your own devices, the software you run on them, and keeping them up to date and free of malware. We do not provide support for your device or operating system, though we may help where we can. We are not responsible for loss or damage caused by a problem with your equipment, your software or your internet provider.
Availability, maintenance and DDoS protection
We work to keep the service running but we do not promise it will always be available or free of faults, and we may carry out maintenance, with notice where we reasonably can. Our Service Level Agreement does not apply to the L2TP service unless your order says it does.
Tunnelled traffic passes through the protections on our network, which may block or slow some of it. Our protection reduces the effect of many attacks, but it cannot stop all of them, and we cannot promise that an attack will not affect your connection.
Trials, previews and early access
If we offer a trial, beta or early access to the service, it is provided as it is. It may change, be limited, be switched off or stop working at any time, and it carries no promise of availability or support. We may end it at any time and will tell you where we can.
Support
You can ask for help by opening a ticket in the client area. We cover our side of the tunnel. We do not cover your own device, router, software or internet connection, though we may help where we can. We do not promise a response or fix time unless your order says so.
Payment, cancellation and refunds
Prices, billing periods and payment are as set out in your order and in our Terms of Service, including the sections on payment, renewals, cancelling and refunds. If you cancel, the service ends at the end of the period you have paid for. We will not refund fees where we suspend or end the service because you broke these terms or our policies.
Suspending or ending the service
We can suspend or end the L2TP service for any of the reasons in our Terms of Service. We can also do so if a complaint or a legal request makes it necessary, if your use puts our network at risk, or if we stop offering the service. In serious cases, for example an attack, illegal content or fraud, we may act first and explain afterwards.
If we end the service for a reason other than your breach, we will give you reasonable notice where we can and refund the part you have paid for and not received. When the service ends, your login details stop working and we may delete the records and settings linked to your tunnel, apart from records we must keep.
Changes to the service and these terms
We may change the L2TP service, for example its locations, features, supported methods or limits, and we may update these terms. We will tell you about changes that matter before they apply, by email or in the client area. If you keep using the service after a change takes effect, you accept it. If you do not agree, you can cancel before then.
Our liability
Our Terms of Service section on our liability applies to this service. In particular, we are not responsible for loss caused by a connection that drops, for traffic that is blocked or filtered by us or by someone else, for how any website or service treats the address you use, or for what happens to your traffic once it leaves our network.
You agree to cover our reasonable costs if a third party makes a claim against us because of what you did through your connection, in the same way as set out in our Terms of Service.
Contact
If you have a question about the L2TP service, open a support ticket in the client area.
Questions about this page?
Open a support ticket