June 2000 Newsletter from Midcoast Internet Solutions. Midcoast Internet Solutions was FIVE years old in June. Topics: 0. Old Phone Numbers 1. Damariscotta Customers take note 2. The Virtual Domain Newsletter 3. An interesting help page 4. Hardware upgrades 5. Mail Spools 6. We're here to listen 7. DSL 8. Removal of R&P Link 9. Announcement of Scholarship Winners 10. Domain Lite 11. Our Staff 0) Old phone numbers: Once upon a time, MIS had these numbers for 33.6k dial-in: 354-3680, 354-8749, 236-8345. People should no longer be using these. These are old numbers, which may not work correctly. We've removed them from our literature and most people no longer use them. However, they are to be disconnected, so we want to make absolutely sure nobody is using them. If you are and need help changing to another number, please contact MIS! You will find a list of numbers if you go to our homepage and click on "About Midcoast Internet Solutions" and then on "MIS dialup numbers." 1) Damariscotta Customers take note It has come to our attention that many customers do not accurately understand the difference between Midcoast Internet Solutions and The Computer Connection of Damariscotta (DCC). Both businesses are located in the same building, but are two separate companies, with different employees and different responsibilities. When you have an Internet connection and use problem, you must call Midcoast Internet Solutions at 563-8563. The hardworking folks at DCC are not responsible for any Internet issues. If any customer calls DCC for these issues, they will be instructed to contact us here at MIS. We and DCC would appreciate your cooperation in this matter. 2) Virtual Web Newsletter Jt, our Virtual Web Coordinator, recently added another service to all virtual web customers the Virtual Domain Newsletter. As reported in our last newsletter, this new service will keep our virtual web customers apprised of any changes, as well as giving helpful hints. It also allows us to send this newsletter to all our virtual domains mailboxes as well. 3) ChasM's homepage: Mitchell in the Damariscotta office found this great resource. It walks you through, step by step, setting up various functions on various computers. Using screen shots, you can see exactly what a Linux desktop looks like. Wanna know how to set up dial-up networking in Windows 2000? It's there! It's a great resource, and we thought we should share it with you. Here's the link! 4) Some hardware changes at MIS The core router for the Damariscotta hub has been replaced with a more capable unit that will enhance access for this region of the MIS system. The upgrade helped noticeably with improved page-load times on the web and in our interactive use of the link. This had **NOTHING** to do with the outages which some Damariscotta/Wiscasset/Bath customers experienced during the daytime on a couple of occasions. We also moved the routing of the Union (785 exchange) phone number. That number used to forward to the Damariscotta pop. The Union number is now in Union. Also, the core router in Owls Head has been replaced with a more reliable and more capable unit. This upgrade helped us to expand and accomodate more T1s. It is also important for ease of future upgrades. Union has been upgraded to 48 lines. These are all V90 capable modems. Things change all the time at MIS, so for more timely information about upgrades, be sure to visit our Announcements and System Notices page. 5) Mail Spools: Midcoast Internet Solutions provides its customers with 10 free megabytes of server space. This space is yours to do with as you wish. Some people chose to ftp files to this space, some choose to have a web site, and some choose to leave their old email on the server. It has come to our attention that some mail spools are above the limit. The simplest way to avoid this is to not have your mail left on the server to begin with. Often, people don't even realize a copy of their mail is being left with us. If you are using Eudora, go to the "tools" menu, and select "options." Under "options" you will find "checking mail" (In some newer versions of Eudora it's under "Incoming Mail"). Under that category you will find a box that says "leave mail on server." Please take the check mark out of this box. If you are using Outlook Express, select the "tools" or "edit" menu (depending on version--it may also be under the "view" menu), and then select "accounts." Under the "accounts" tabs, select "mail accounts." Double click on the name of the Midcoast mail account. You will now be in the mail account properties. Select the last tab, called "advanced" There you will see the "leave a copy of message on server" box. Please remove the check. If you in fact wish to leave your mail on the server, then we need for you to clean your mail spool in order to keep it under the 10 meg limit. There are a couple of ways to do this. Following the directions above, leave the check mark in the box, but then select one of the following: delete from server after (blank) days, or delete from server when emptied from trash. You can then set the mail to be removed from the server after a set number of days, or when you empty trash from your email program. (Remember that emptying trash is a two step process in all email programs. You first send mail to the trash, but then you must empty it. Choosing "remove from server when emptied from trash will only work if you remember to empty the trash.) 6) Trouble Tickets, Help Email, and Help Voicemail: We at Midcoast pride ourselves on customer service. If you are having a problem, we want to fix it. When communicating with us, please give us as much information as you can. Please give us your name, email, and phone number. Let us know what your problem is. Let us know the name of the program that you are using. Let us know if you are using Windows or a Mac. If you have your account number, give us that as well. Within the last month, we have had several messages without enough information for us to properly respond. We understand that not being able to get online can be frustrating, but help us help you - leave enough info so we can help. NEW!!! 7) DSL now available in Damariscotta and Lincolnville! DSL is not available to any local areas that have Bell Atlantic as there carrier, but in working in cooperation with Tidewater, we are now able to offer 384K DSL in Damariscotta and Lincolnville. DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, is all the rage in many metropolitan areas. DSL allows you to have a high speed, 24/7 connection to the Internet. In order to receive the benefits of DSL, you must be within about 5 wire miles of the telco switch. We can set you up with a survey to determine if your sight is able to reap the benefits of DSL. The cost is $89.95 a month, and includes both the telco and Midcoast’s fees. Mike Genova, in our Damariscotta office, is running or DSL program for us, but any of the staff can give you more details and specifications. 8) Removal of the R&P Link Midcoast has several Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) for its customers to access. One is available for Swap and Sell, one is a Midcoast community board (for general discussion and announcements), two are help BBBs (one for Mac and one for PC users-only available to Midcoast customers) and one is for local businesses. Several years ago, there were many posts of religious or political nature that were taking up much space on the Community board. Jason Philbrook decided to create a new board specifically for people who wanted to post messages dealing with religion and/or politics. Recently, it was decided to remove the prominent link to the R&P BBS, and replace it with a smaller, hidden link. This decision was made in-house, and was not made because of a flurry of complaints from any particular group. Instead, it was removed as a business decision. The majority of postings were going on by a few, and people who disagreed with those few were often treated to bouts of name-calling. After several requests by JP to keep things civil, the link (not the board) was removed. People looking for the link can find it in the lower right hand corner of the red banner on the BBS page. 9) Midcoast Internet Announces Scholarship Winners Midcoast Internet Solutions, Midcoast Maine's first Internet provider, recently announced the winners of their first Midcoast Internet Solutions Scholarship. Nicholas Painter, of Rockland High School, and Jason Sewell of Lincoln Academy, will both be attending the University of Maine this fall, and will both major in computer science. This is just one more way that Midcoast proves its support for the local community, said Bill Batty, Jr., Director of Public Relations and Marketing for Midcoast. We really wanted to make this scholarship available to our entire coverage area, from Belfast to Brunswick. But since this was our first year, that challenge was a little too daunting. Instead, we chose to offer the scholarship in Rockland and Damariscotta, as these are the towns where we have a physical location. Next year, our goal is to provide three $1000.00 scholarships, available to any graduating senior in our coverage area, who will be furthering their education in a computer related field, at an accredited two or four year college or technical school. After graduation, Painter hopes to work in the software development field. Sewall wants to further his interest in web authoring, history, and photography. 10) Domain Lite: Domain Lite is a new product MIS has added in order to help customers own their own URL (www.mybusiness.com) and yet not have to pay for a full virtual domain. For $20.00 a month, we will point www.yourbusiness.com to midcoast.com/~username. The benefits include the ability to have your own domain name, at minimal expense. Domain Lite does not include web stats, domain email, or hosting on dedicated web servers. More info can be found here: http://hosting.midcoast.com/domain_lite.html 11) Our Staff If you see Mitchell Wellman at Bath Savings Institution, say hi and perhaps thank him for his help at MIS. Mitchell has retired from MIS to again work in the financial world. His pleasant help will be missed. We have also hired Jon Powers and Ray Stevens. Jon brings expertise from Envisionet, as well as his own strong interests in computers and internet. Jon helps in our community of Nobleboro as a volunteer firefighter and EMT basic. Ray was just hired from the Computer Connection of Damariscotta. Ray knows how to build computers, repair computers, and deal with Windows problems of all sort. We suspect this assistance will be very helpful.