This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) was last updated on 05/01/2026, and such updates are effective immediately. If you have any questions concerning this Privacy Policy, please contact us using the contact information at the end of this Policy.
This Policy applies to voice and data communications services provided by Farmers Mutual Telephone Company d/b/a Heartland Technology (together with any subsidiaries or affiliates providing your communications services, “we,” “us,” or “Heartland”). This Policy explains how Heartland collects, uses, and discloses information about our subscribers when they subscribe to, access, or use our communications services. Some of the information we may collect is “personally identifiable information” and/or “customer proprietary network information,” each as defined by applicable Federal law. Our use or sharing of such information is governed by applicable Federal law (as described herein) and this Policy. Your use of any Heartland services constitutes your acceptance of this Policy.
This Policy does not apply to the areas of Heartland websites that are accessible to the general public, which are governed by the Heartland website privacy policy (available at www.heartlandtechnology.com). Heartland is not responsible for information, content, applications or services provided by others. 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.
This Policy applies across the Heartland family of companies and, except as otherwise specified herein, applies to all of the communications services we provide. This Policy explains our practices in the following areas:
- Our Responsibilities and Your Rights under Federal Law
- Information We Collect and How We Collect and Use It
- How We Share Your Information
- How to Limit the Sharing and Use of Your Information
- How Long We Keep Your Information
- How We Protect Your Information
- How You May Access and Correct Your Information
- Changes to This Policy
- Violations of This Policy and Your Rights
- Availability of This Policy
- How You may Contact Us
1. Our Responsibilities and Your Rights Under Federal Law
When you communicate with us, we collect information from you that we use to deliver, provide, confirm, change, bill, monitor, maintain and repair your services and service-related devices. Some of this information may be “personally identifiable information” or “customer proprietary network information” (“CPNI”) as defined by Federal law.
Section 702 of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, as amended (the “Telecommunications Act”) provides special privacy protections for CPNI we may collect about our telecommunications and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service subscribers. CPNI generally includes information about the quantity, technical configuration, type destination, location and amount of your use of voice services and information contained on your bill concerning the type of voice services and features you subscribe to or receive. If you subscribe to our voice services, you have the right, and Heartland has a duty, to protect the confidentiality of CPNI.
As required by the Telecommunications Act, this Policy describes: what personally identifiable information or CPNI we collect and how we collect it; how we use or share that personally identifiable information or CPNI; how long we keep your personally identifiable information and/or CPNI; how we protect such information in our possession; and your rights and remedies if we violate this Policy or applicable Federal or State law.
In the event we determine there are any conflicts between this Policy and applicable Federal law (for example, Telecommunications Act), we will comply with the applicable Federal law. In addition to Federal law, we will also comply with any applicable State law.
2. Information We Collect and How We Collect and Use It
Information Collected When You Communicate with Us
When you communicate with us, we collect information that we use to deliver, provide, maintain, bill, and support your services and service-related devices. This information is also used to resolve issues with your orders, services, or account.
The information we collect may include your name, address, and other contact information; the reason for your inquiry; and, where necessary, your Social Security Number and payment information. We use this information to establish and maintain your customer account and billing records (including credit-related decisions), provide services to you, authenticate your identity before sharing sensitive account information, and communicate with you about services we offer.
When you contact us or we contact you by phone, email, or through our website or applications, we may monitor, record, or retain those communications to help train employees and provide high-quality customer service.
Information Collected When You Use Our Products and Services
We collect information about your use of our products, services, and websites. This may include call records, internet usage data, network traffic data, application and feature usage, service options you choose, account activity, telephone numbers, contact information, and device identifiers (such as equipment information associated with your service). This information may be used for billing purposes, to deliver and maintain products and services, or to assist you with service-related issues or questions.
Heartland does not monitor or inspect the content of your internet communications except as necessary to provide service, troubleshoot issues, or comply with legal obligations.
In addition, subject to applicable legal restrictions, this information may be used to provide you with information about service updates or enhancements, determine your eligibility for new services or service packages, and market services to you based on your use of services. This information may also be used to: (a) manage and protect our networks, services, and users from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful activity; and (b) subject to the consent practices described in this Policy, improve our services, develop new services, and offer promotions.
If you subscribe to our internet services, we may automatically measure and monitor network performance and the performance of your connection to improve service quality. If you contact us for service support, we may access information about your computer, wireless device, or other device settings to provide technical support or assist with the services you use.
We may use your contact information, including telephone numbers and email addresses, to communicate with you regarding your account and services. This may include service-related notifications such as billing notices, payment reminders, service updates, maintenance alerts, and outage notifications. With your consent, where required by law, we may also send you marketing or promotional communications. You may opt out of non-essential communications at any time as described in this Policy.
Information Collected on Our Websites
When you establish an online account with us, we maintain information about your user identification and password. This information is used to identify you when you sign into your account.
Information You Provide
When you contact us online or by other means for information about services, 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. Information you provide on our websites about your preferred location and other preferences may be used to provide you with more relevant service recommendations, services and special offers.
We may also collect information from you when you agree to participate in surveys or provide other feedback to us regarding our services, when you register to receive newsletters or similar updates, or when you apply for a job with Heartland. We use this information only for the purpose for which you provide it.
We may send you emails that communicate information about your account or about services, marketing offers, or promotions that may be of interest to you. When you open an email or interact on links within these emails, we may collect and retain information to provide you with future communications that may be more interesting to you. Please note that we will not ask you to send us, via email, sensitive personal or account information.
By providing us with your telephone number(s), you consent to receive calls and text messages from Heartland for service-related purposes, including billing notifications, service updates, and account-related communications. Consent to receive marketing communications, where required by law, will be obtained separately.
3. How We Share Your Information
Information Shared Within the Heartland Family of Companies
We share 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 unless you advise us not to share. Sharing this information allows us to provide you with the latest information about our products and services and to offer you our latest promotions.
Specific laws govern our sharing and use of CPNI. All customers receive a privacy notice regarding CPNI when service is established and at least every two years thereafter, as applicable to the service provided. For more information, please read our applicable CPNI notices. You may choose to opt out of the sharing of your CPNI within our family of companies for certain marketing purposes as described below.
When you are speaking with a customer service representative, we may ask your permission to review your records, including your CPNI, to provide you with information about the full array of services provided by our family of companies.
Information Shared with Third Parties
Heartland does not sell your personal information to third parties. Except as described in this Policy, we do not share information that individually identifies our customers with parties outside our organization.
We may use 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 require that these vendors and partners protect the customer information we may provide to them and limit their use of our customer data to the purposes for which it was provided. We do not permit these types of vendors and partners to use this information for their own marketing purposes.
We provide the names, addresses and telephone numbers of wireline telephone subscribers to directory publishers and directory assistance services unless a non-published or non-listed phone number has been requested.
Unless otherwise restricted or prohibited by applicable law, including the Telecommunications Act, we may disclose information that individually identifies our customers or identifies customer devices to third parties in certain circumstances, such as:
- to comply with valid legal process including subpoenas, court orders or search warrants, and as otherwise authorized by law;
- in cases involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person or other emergencies;
- 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 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 Heartland-billed services;
- to a third-party that you have authorized to verify your account information;
- to outside auditors;
- to the FCC, Iowa Utilities Commission, and other federal, state, local or other governmental or quasi- governmental authority with jurisdiction over any Service; or
- with your consent.
If we enter into a merger, acquisition or sale of all or a portion of our assets or business, customer information will also be transferred as part of or in connection with the transaction.
4. How to Limit the Sharing and Use of Your Information
You have choices about how we share and use your information.
Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI)
Under the Telecommunications Act, you may choose whether to allow us to share your CPNI within our family of companies for certain marketing purposes. You may choose to opt out of the sharing of your CPNI within our family of companies for these marketing purposes by following the instructions on our CPNI notices. You may also opt-out of this sharing by calling us at 319-827-1151.
Telemarketing
Federal “Do Not Call” laws allow you to place residential wireline and wireless phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry to prevent telemarketing calls to those numbers. If you would like to add your numbers to this list, you may do so 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. It is Heartland’s practice not to engage in telemarketing to our own customers. In order to keep you informed concerning our services and your account, we may use an automatic telephone dialing system, artificial or prerecorded voice, text message, or other form of written or audible communication to your designated contact number(s). For example, these informational contacts may include reminders of payment due dates, maintenance alerts and service cutovers.
Email Communications
Marketing emails you receive from Heartland include an unsubscribe option (usually found at the bottom of the email) that you may use to opt out of receiving marketing-related emails. You may also opt out of receiving marketing-related emails by contacting a customer service representative at customercare@heartlandtechnology.com
Text Message Communications
Heartland may use the telephone numbers you provide to communicate with you via text message regarding your account and services. These communications may include service-related notifications such as billing notices, payment reminders, service updates, maintenance alerts, and outage notifications. These types of messages are not considered marketing communications.
For text message communications, standard message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of receiving text messages at any time by following the opt-out instructions provided in the message, such as replying “STOP,” or by contacting us directly at 319-827-1151. Please note that opting out of text messages may limit our ability to provide important service-related notifications.
With your consent, where required by law, Heartland may also send marketing or promotional text messages. You may opt out of receiving marketing text messages at any time, and opting out of marketing messages will not affect your ability to receive service-related communications unless you opt out of all text messages.
Heartland does not share end-user text messaging information, including telephone numbers, with third parties or affiliates for their own marketing purposes. Such information is used only to provide and support our services.
Postal Mail and Door-to-Door Communications
You may opt out of receiving marketing-related postal mailings by contacting a customer service representative at 319-827-1151. Please note that Heartland may use bulk mail services for certain marketing mailings. These services deliver offers to all homes within a neighborhood or zip code and may continue even if you opt out of direct marketing communications from Heartland.
5. How Long We Keep Your Information
Under our practices and policies, sensitive records are retained only as long as reasonably necessary for business or legal purposes. We will maintain personally identifiable information about you no longer than necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. This means we may also maintain this information for a period of time after you are no longer a subscriber if it is necessary for business or legal purposes. We will destroy the information if we have no pending requests, orders or court orders for access to this information, after we determine that it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and in compliance with any applicable federal, state or local laws or requirements.
6. How We Protect Your Information
Heartland 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, including Social Security Numbers. Employees are trained on the importance of protecting privacy and on proper access to, use and disclosure of customer information. Under our practices and policies, access to sensitive personally identifiable information is authorized only for those who have a business need for such access, and sensitive records are retained only as long as reasonably necessary for business or legal purposes. 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. Heartland maintains security and incident response plans to handle incidents involving unauthorized access to private information we collect or store.
Heartland will notify affected individuals in accordance with applicable laws in the event of a data breach involving personal information.
7. How You May Access and Correct Your Information
We strive to keep our customer records as accurate as possible. You may correct or update your Heartland customer or account information by calling a customer service representative at 319-827-1151 or by accessing your account online and providing the updated information there.
8. Changes to This Policy
We may revise and update this Privacy Policy from time to time in our sole discretion. Please review this Policy periodically for changes. You can determine whether this Policy has been updated by reviewing the effective date listed at the beginning of the Policy. If we use or disclose information that identifies you in a manner that is materially different from what was stated at the time the information was collected, we will provide you with a choice regarding such use or disclosure, as required by law, which may include an opt-out mechanism.
9. Violations of This Policy and Your Rights
If you believe that your privacy rights have been violated, please contact us immediately. We will take immediate steps to address your concerns. If you believe that you have been aggrieved as a result of our violation of applicable provisions of the Telecommunications Act, you may enforce the limitations imposed on us through a formal complaint to the FCC and/or a civil lawsuit seeking damages, attorneys’ fees and litigation costs. Other rights and remedies may be available to you under federal, state or local laws.
10. Annual Notice and Availability of This Policy
It is our practice to provide a copy of this Policy to all customers when service is established and to provide a summary of our privacy practices, or a copy of this Policy, at least annually thereafter. To the extent required by applicable laws or regulations, this Policy may be supplemented by service-specific privacy policies or notices (such as our CPNI notices for applicable services). Customers may obtain a copy of this Policy at any time by contacting us using the methods described herein.
11. How You May Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns or suggestions related to our Privacy Policy or our privacy practices you may contact us at:
Heartland Technology
541 Young St.
PO Box 249
Jesup, IA 50648
Email: customercare@heartlandtechnology.com
Phone: 319-827-1151
Web: www.heartlandtechnology.com