MIS Newsletter					March 26, 2002

0. Upgrades in Progress
1. More Lines and Statewide Service
2. Dialup Plan Changes (Important!!!)
3. Adelphia/Mint rumors
4. New k2bh Patron Option
5. New Web Hosting Plans
6. New Spam Filtering Software
7. Wireless Now Available in Belfast

0. You may have read about or heard about our datacenter. This is a place
for us to store our radio, telecommunications, and computer equipment
needed to permit MIS to operate and expand.

There were two main reasons why we needed this right away. The first is that
the electrical and generator systems at our old location in Owls Head are
at capacity and can't be expanded easily. The second is that the old
location is nearing capacity for phone lines, even though everything is
digital there. We use more phone network capacity than most small towns.

Our new datacenter in Rockland has the power and backup generator sized
big enough that we won't outgrow it for a while. We're still waiting on
the phone lines. Back in October, we told Verizon we wanted the lines by
the beginning of the year. We're still waiting, and waiting impatiently.
The latest word from Verizon is that the new lines are scheduled to go in
during the last week or March, as long as they straigten out a couple of
issues. We really don't have too many options in this regard. If you dial
into MIS in the evening and get a busy signal, it's because we aren't yet
able to make use of the vast amount of capacity at the new datacenter
location. We're ready for it, just like you are.

1. The new datacenter location has phone lines coming in over fiber-optic
cabling, so there is really no limit to how many incoming lines we may
have, or how many internet backbone connections we may have. We look
forward to the phone company completing there work in regard to this
project. We really need this capacity with the current and planned edoxus
of dialup customers from Adelphia/Mint that is in addition to our normal
growth.

When this work is done, MIS will have statewide service with the "500
number" system. We will also have most of our old numbers. This new
connection will have more incoming lines than what we presently use. We
hope busy signals are not common while we wait for this and we hope the
wait is almost over. We will also retain our connections and locations
with the indepedent phone companies, as we have found that to be more
reliable than putting all our eggs in one big Verizon basket like many
statewide ISPs do. We also do not want to do more business than necessary
with Verizon due to the way this project has been delayed. MIS already 
provides statewide service, but we prefer local business interactions. 
Statewide is helpful when customer travel, move, or have friends and 
family throughout the state who need similarly high quality internet 
services.

2. Yet again, we give you more for your money. Our $20/month and $30/month 
dialup internet plans have changed again. This is for everybody, not just 
new customers. 

Price	Hours	Emails
$20	200	2
$30	300	3

The $20 plan, which is most common, come with two email addresses and 200
hours per month. The $30 plan comes with three email addresses and 300
hours per month. Extra hours beyond this are $0.50. With this change, we
are eliminating the midnight-to-10am free time. 200 or 300 hours is plenty
of internet for 99% of the people who dial in.  Not providing unlimited
keeps the other 1% from tying up most of the incoming lines. This makes us
different from many other ISPs. 

This increase in hours and simplification of accounting make the "time
machine" reports more reliable and easier to use as well.  If you use a
great deal of hours, please make use of the time machine on our homepage.
Remember, internet usage is in hours, not minutes like your cell phone or
your long distance. (This would be 12,000 and 18,000 minutes if you're
trying to make a comparison.) We want to give you all you need without
making it complicated.

We have also reduced the setup fee from $20 to $10. This helps pay for
some of the signup materials and internet server equipment needed to add
more customers. Prices for these have come down quite a bit with the dot-com 
fall-out and we want to pass this on. As always, if someone comes from 
another ISP, there is no setup fee.

3. It has been reported at K2BH, Bangor Daily News, and by customers that
Adelphia/Mint is getting out of the dialup internet business. We have not
confirmed that ourselves and don't know any more than the news sources have
reported. We have however seen an increase in customers moving from
Adelphia dialup to MIS and other ISPs.  We want to remind you that when a
customer comes to MIS from another ISP, there is no setup fee. Also, if
you refer a friend to MIS, send in the referal coupon that came in your
signup folder. If you have used that already or have lost it, there is one
you can print out from our www.midcoast.com webpage. (See
http://www.midcoast.com/restricted/referral.html .) When you fill this out
and your friend brings it in to signup, you get a $20 credit! If your
friend is unable to bring this referral coupon in, mail or fax it to MIS
as soon as possible, as there is a 30-day time limit for receiving this
credit after your friend signs up.

4. New k2bh Patron Option: We are pleased to announce yet another benefit
to midcoast.com subscribers. We've teamed up with k2bh of Camden to offer
a special package to all MIS subscribers. As of November 17 2001, MIS
customers have had the option of becoming a patron of the local community
Internet station for a special rate of $3.00 per month. This amount will
show up on your Midcoast Internet bill. We provide this service for the
sole benefit of our customers: we receive no financial "kickback" from
k2bh. For all the details about adding this service, please point your
browser to http://www.midcoast.com/k2bh.

5. New Web Hosting Plans: We are also pleased to announce a new tier in 
our Web Page Hosting services. Those customers who had "Domain Lite" saw that
portion of their bill drop from $20 per month down to $12. We will offer the 
new "Virtual Domain Basic" in the $20 slot. The new plan adds features to the
"Domain Lite" option: more server space, domain email addresses, and full cgi
bin scripting. More info on the plans can be found at 
http://www.hosting.midcoast.com, or you can contact Jim Thompson at 
594-8277, ext. 102, or email him at jt@midcoast.com. 

6. New Spam Filtering Software: Recently, we've all been noticing the
increase of junkmail filling our boxes. In an effort to reduce the amount
of spam you see in your box, we recently purchased a piece of software
that will filter spam system wide. When a possible spam arrives, the
system adds the words PJM-> to the subject line. PJM stands for Probably
Junk Mail. This was at one time JUNKMAIL in the subject when we were
testing, but PJM is a more accurate description. This heading was not
meant to describe the mail, just tag it. If you are offended or annoyed by
junkmail, you can set your mail program to automatically filter mail with
PJM-> in subject line to the trash or a mailbox for ocassional review.  

We want you to know that we think email is VERY important and we are
working on reducing junkmail, while respecting the value and importance of
your email. This is why we don't trash the email before it gets to you.
Aside for adding information to the subject field, this does not modify
your email. 

Over the last couple of months, this software has tagged better than 80%
of the junkmail I receive. Some people have had almost complete sucess,
others have had lower percentages. It is difficult to get all junkmail
because of the crafty nature of the senders, and more thorough detection
software usually marks a higher percentage of good mail as junkmail, so we
have to find a good balance and improve from that.

The software also catches some email viruses and marks them PJM->, but you
should not rely on it as a sole form of virus protection.  There are
software products for your computer, and they are designed for that
purpose. Many of them do a good job if they are kept updates.

7. Wireless Access Now Available in Belfast: For the last few months
wireless access in Belfast has been in the Beta stages. Having added about
one dozen customers to the link, we feel it is now appropriate to
officially announce the availabilty of wireless access in the downtown
Belfast area. Access points in Belfast are located on the roof of The
Green Store, and at Perry's Nut House. If you have line of sight to either
of these two locations, and would like to have the ultimate in high speed
Interet access, please give us a call to discuss the details of wireless
Internet.