February 6, 1999

An Important Newsletter;

0) Planet Direct
1) More Lines
2) The Big Move
3) Wireless
4) Network Changes

0) Midcoast's new personalized web service

There is something for everyone, and there's no extra charges. We did this
for you.

To enhance your Internet experience, MIS is happy to announce the launch
of our personalized Web service that will help you get more out of your
everyday life on and off the Web.  Best of all, it's absolutely free! You
can find it at http://midcoast.planetdirect.com/

We will soon have a link on our homepage to make this easy to get to.

This personalized Web service -- produced by Planet Direct -- tailors your
Web experience to your interests and local community.  It's been created
to help you make the most of your time by delivering the best of the
Internet in a way that is useful and relevant to you.

Experience your personalized Web Service immediately, by
going to http://midcoast.planetdirect.com.

Midcoast's new service provides you with:

* Easy customization of your own personalized Web service.  Instant access
to e-mail, your favorite Web sites, and information you need daily, such
as breaking news, local and national weather forecasts, real-time stock
quotes or maps and driving directions. 

* Highly personalized tools, such as the ability to view your e-mail from
any computer in the world through a unique e-mail center, set up a stock
portfolio, create a virtual address book and a personal reminders
calendar, plus so much more.

* Ability to "Surf and Search" the Internet.

* A robust community atmosphere with opportunities to express yourself
through chat rooms, discussion groups, opinion polls, and instant
messaging with other members. 

* Local information for 380 communities across 15 broad-interest topics
and 90 subtopics such as Movies&TV, Home&Auto, and others.

The service is FREE to you and available immediately
(without disks or downloads) at http://midcoast.planetdirect.com. 


1) More Lines (Really really good news)

At the beginning of my workday, a Bell Atlantic person stopped in and went
to work testing the copper for our new lines. It's been a long enough
wait. It's sort of a hurry up and wait. We do the hurrying, and then wait
while things move slowly at BA.

We've got LOTS of new lines on order. These will have Belfast (338),
Waldoboro (832), Camden (236), and Rockland (59x) phone numbers and will
be all backhauled to Owls Head where they will terminate about 10 feet
from our internet routers which connect our company to the rest of the
internet. These will be all V90, with new state-of-the-art equipment.
Some are also going into Wiscasset area to service Wiscasset (882) and
Brunswick (443). Most of the lines, however, are for the Waldoboro to
Belfast region.

We met with BA in Portland on Sept 10 to discuss our needs for new lines. 
November 16, we met with them again, at the Augusta PUC office, after an
official meeting about our Wiscasset situation. At that time, they stated
that they were working on getting the necessary approvals. Then, December
23, they faxed us a proposal, which had several ambiguities and errors.
The necessary revisions and fixes were made, and we signed the deal on Jan
13. This is a deal for approximately 300 lines. 100 of these are brand new
access lines for expansion (we need all the lines we can get), and the
other 200 are for gradually replacing our 33.6 lines with V90 capable gear
over a several month period. The latest estimates are that the first 96
lines will be in around the 20th of this month (February), plus or minus a
week. All these new lines are REAL GOOD NEWS for customers, because it
will make things faster to get online, and faster surfing once you're on.

We do wish they'd had been installed, by now, but we're pushing Bell
Atlantic as hard as we can. We do this to meet our customers needs, just
as fast as we can. We really wish it were easier and quicker to get the
services we ask for from BA as well, but that's a battle in itself.  We'll
keep you posted, any announcements will be on our homepage, under,
"Announcements and System Notices."

Washington is also in the midst of an upgrade as well. We have built a new
POP in Washington with more space and more lines. We're waiting on CMP and
Bell Atlantic right now. This will give us 15 new lines and a T1 backbone
connection in Washington right away. We expect availability of the new
service on roughly the 20th of February as well. Keep an eye on
Annoucements and System Notices as the time nears. 

For the past two years (or more?), our equipment has been located at the
library/town office in Washington. We've been 100% pleased with the people
and facilities there. Everybody in the town has been very nice, and very
helpful in all situations. If you see someone involved in the town there,
say Thanks. We can't thank them enough.  We will continue to provide them
free internet access, regardless of where most of our equipment is.  Much
to our dismay, there is not enough phone capacity there to permit further
growth. The phone cable buried beneath the library lawn would be to be
replaced, and the closet they have graciously shared would get over-run
with more internet equipment. We'd also have to setup a monstrous
interface box on the library lawn, which would probably not have been a
good idea. This is why we've had to setup a second POP in Washington. 

Union (785) has received 24 new lines, thereby tripling the capacity
there. They are also V90, meaning that some lucky people will get a speed
increase over the 33.6 speed limit they have now. The number for this is
785-6622. Besides changing the phone number, people should log in with
their full email address also. If you logged in as username before, you
should log into this access number as username@midcoast.com. Union
customers will receive a special mailing which covers the details of this
upgrade.


2) The Big Move

We'll be moving our Rockland office near the end of February. We will be
moving to 25 Oak St, which is about a quarter mile away. This used to be
the WinoMat, which received an award for best renovation a couple years
ago. We've bought the building and are doing a few more minor renovations.
The reason for the move is to get more space. When we get more space, we
can work more efficiently, AND add another full time person to our staff,
and provide a better work environment for our current staff. This will
allow us to work more quickly and to help customers more quickly. People
tell us that we're the best around now, but we can do better.

Our phone number will stay the same, our post office box will stay the
same, but our physical address will no longer be 488b Main St. If you
currently use that address for anything, please use our P O Box 669
address if possible. Most people do use the P O Box 669 anyways.
No internet services will be interupted during this move.

Sometime after we get settled in, we'll have an open house day where
people can stop in and get the tour, and some light snacks of course.

Our present 488B Main St. office will be up for rent again. It is leased
to us by Vincent Ferialo. He did a LOT of work making it nice for us when
we moved in two years ago. The windows out front are new, there is a new
marble and brick entrance which is handicap accessable. We've also done
some work which will make it VERY attractive for the next tenant. We've
wired the office extensively with about 2000 feet of Cat-5 wire and lots
of jacks, and each of the connectors in the jack corresponds to a spot on
a large patch-panel in the basement. This is probably a couple-thousand
dollar wiring job which was done by our staff when we moved in. This is
suitable for ethernet and phone service. Bell Atlantic also setup new
wiring into the building for us. The building is also setup for wireless
internet if the new tenant wants it. It's all hooked up and we'd sell the
gear at below cost to the tenant if so desired. If not, we'll take it with
us. The extensive inside wiring stays though. Contact Ferialo's if you are
interested in leasing the 488B Main Street location.

3) Wireless Progress

We've been working with Coastal Communications and have completed our
repeater atop Ragged Mountain behind Camden. This enables us to provide
wireless internet access to people in Camden, Rockport, West Rockport,
parts of Hope, Union, and Warren. We've also got deals lined up to provide
excellent and convenient coverage in the Camden downtown. We are starting
to make appointments now to get the patient residents of these towns
hooked up.

We've also made arrangements to use a tower on Benner Hill behind
Rockland. This will provide excellent additional coverage overlooking
Rockland, as well as parts of Owls Head, South Thomaston, Thomaston,
Warren, as well as provide a repeater hop to other location which we have
expansion plans for, such as the islands, Tenants Harbor, and to other
mountaintop areas. Expect this Benner Hill site to be working in a couple
of weeks.

A transmission site in the Newcastle/Damariscotta area has been in the
works for a while, but has been delayed by the local governmental bodies
there. We're still working hard to get something up, and will keep you
posted. 

We're also working on a deal for an excellent site for servicing
Washington and Liberty with wireless as well. We won't go into details, as
it's not official yet, but it sure is exciting. 


4) Network Changes

We want everyone to know that you can log in anywhere on our dialup
network, no matter which office you'd signed up at. Log in with your full
email address (username@midcoast.com or username@lincoln.midcoast.com),
and you're all set with 100% coverage from Brunswick to Belfast. 

With the other network changes, V90 access lines will be available in most
of our service areas. Some customers may not be able to take advantage of
V90's 56k speeds due to their phone lines, but it will make many people
very happy. Unlike 14.4 or 28.8, don't expect or demand 56k. As we
approach the limits of the voice phone network, actual connnect speeds
vary from location to location. A person on one set of wires can get 53k,
but someone else on another set of wires might only get 28.8k. You'll be
getting the very best reliable speed you can get with V90 capabilties,
with a V90 modem, on your regular phone lines. (Washington or Liberty
don't have the phone services required to provide v90 at this time.)