0. Technical Updates 1. Changing Phone Numbers for Washington and Liberty (IMPORTANT!) 2. DSL Rollout 3. Places to go 4. E-Mail for Locked Accounts 5. Goodbye to a Dear Friend 6. Contest Winners 7. Holiday Hours -- 0. Technical Updates This summer, we have been making many capacity and reliability improvements to our wireless network, and we're not done yet. We have added additional antennae on our towers for more performance; we have enhanced the lightning protection at many locations; we have a new automatic start generator for Benner Hill; we are replacing the T1 to Westport with a new wireless link; and we have rewired several sites. The more trouble free we can make our infrastructure, the more time and resources we have available to dedicate to serving our customers. The wireless network isn't just for wireless customers - it serves a number of data and telecommunications needs for all of our customers and their communities. We are also in the process of increasing or adding coverage in some areas. When those areas have service, we will note that on our website and notify the patient people who have expressed their interest in those areas. Since the last newsletter, we have added new wireless coverage to new areas. We have added most of Glen Cove along route 1. We have better coverage in Owls Head along south shore drive from about the Timber Hill area to Ash Point drive. We are also finishing a new coverage area on Islesboro located at the Second Baptist Church providing a service radius that extends as far as the school, ferry terminal, and historical society. Rockland's south end has been in service for several months and covers the industrial park to park street. These sites feature a new system that does not require line-of-sight to a tower location. This helps customers in those area who had been blocked by trees. We also have added wi-fi hotspots in the areas of Rockland and Camden harbor with the help of Abacus Computer, Rockland Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce, and Wayfarer Marine. Other areas are planned. MIS is also providing an even higher tier of speed and quality via a new higher-end wireless system in Owls Head and Rockland from the Owls Head tower, and in Camden and Rockport via Ragged Mountain.. This is about four times faster than regular high speed wireless and only moderately higher in cost. This higher tier of service will soon be expanded to downtown Waldoboro. MIS is not just about wireless. We provide access to the Internet and excellent internet services in many different ways. Dialup, Hosting, and DSL services continue to be important and popular aspects of our business. More is written about DSL in part 2 of the newsletter. Important Dialup changes for some customers are in part 1 of this newsletter. In other news, all of our email servers now have virus scanning for all incoming email. Virus definitions are updated several times per day on the servers. Our anti-spam system has been updated to reduce the amount of potential junkmail to customers who host domains here at Midcoast. 1. Changing Phone Numbers for Washington and Liberty (IMPORTANT!) (WE ARE STILL OFFERING LOCAL SERVICE TO WASHINGTON AND LIBERTY! DON'T WORRY!) For years and years, we've been providing local dial-up numbers with a Washington (845) and Liberty (589) exchange. For many of those years, we were the only company willing to put equipment into those towns. With our new 1-500 numbers, there really is no need of maintaining those numbers. You'll still get v.90 service in Washington and Liberty, and you can get v.92 service on phone number 1-500-699-7200. It's still a toll free call; you don't get charged on your phone bill for 1-500 calls. But we need people to move away from using the 845-2002 and 589-3003 numbers. This is our first announcement--you'll have some time to make the switch. We'll also monitor who's logging into those numbers, and send them individual emails as well. But if you're currently using the local access number in Liberty or Washington, please take a moment to configure your computer to dial into the 1-500 numbers. You can get directions for how to do it here: http://www.midcoast.com/2help/windows/changephone.html Or, you can call our office, and we'll walk you through it over the phone. It only takes a minute. Be sure you are in front of your computer, and the computer is on, before you call. Don't worry if you only have one phone line. You won't need to go online to make the changes. The Rockland office number is 594-8277, and the Newcastle office is 563-8563. 2. DSL Rollout In our last newsletter, we announced that we were going to be offering DSL in many Verizon residential areas. Well, we've made that announcement to the general public. You may have seen or heard the newspaper, television, and radio ads recently. If you missed the info, please see http://www.midcoast.com/dsl for the whole scoop, including what areas are covered. If you're looking for high-speed access, and don't want to tie up your phone line, DSL is a great alternative. Sorry, not available to businesses. For your business, check out the special we're running on Wireless service: http://www.midcoast.com/wireless/ 3. Places to go You may have noticed the absence of our Places to go webpage. We were forced to change insurance companies. The new insurance company dictates rules regarding what we can and can't link to. When we receive the fine print on these rules, we will restore what we are permitted to. 4. E-Mail for Locked Accounts Unlike many service providers, Midcoast offers an account status that's neither really on nor really off. Locked accounts are active on our server, yet you can't log into them. E-Mail can be sent to a locked address, but you can't access it. This locked status is frequently used for seasonal accounts: the account is open while the customer is in Maine, and when they're in warmer climes, the account is dormant. That's the essence of a locked account. We also lock accounts for non-payment. Once an account is 2 1/2 months past due, we send a gentle reminder to get that balance paid off. About a week after that, those accounts that haven't paid (or made arrangements for payment) are locked. Here's the important part... In the past, E-Mail boxes for locked accounts would continue to accept mail until it reached its 20 megabyte limit. Storing all that E-Mail uses resources--bandwidth, hard drive space, etc. So JP came up with a tool that empties mailboxes on locked accounts every night. So, if you're a seasonal resident, and you want to continue to receive mail, we'll need to forward that mail to a different address. (Forwarded mail isn't affected by this change--only mail that remains on MIS servers.) If your account is locked for non-payment, E-Mail sent to that box will be emptied every evening. The moral of the story is: if you want to make sure your E-Mail isn't deleted, don't let your account become 2 1/2 months overdue. If you keep your account in good standing, this won't affect you at all. 5. Goodbye to a Dear Friend Moto was the goldfish in the Macquarium that greeted people in the Rockland office. See his photo here: http://www.billyrhythm.com/macquarium/small/IMG_3115.jpg He was with us over two years. But alas, he came to meet his fishy maker in mid-July. He was a good fish, and everyone loved him. We were sad to see him go. After a resonable mourning time, though, we decided to get back in the fish saddle. Jim took $.85 and came home with Lt. Charles Streager. His photo is here: http://press.midcoast.com/archives/streager.jpg Where'd the name come from? Well, Jim thought Streager (rhymes with meager) sounded like a cool Top Gun styled call-sign. Bill thought Charles just flowed well with Streager. And why lieutenant? We didn't want to give him a big head and make him a general, so Lt. Charles Streager it is, though everyone just calls him by his last name. 6. Contest Winners Congratulations to Louise Reynolds! She was chosen as last month's winner in the Midcoast Internet referral contest. By referring a friend to us, she not only got $20 of her bill, but was entered into a drawing for breakfast for two at the Brass Compass Cafe in Rockland! This relatively new restaurant is the talk of the town, and breakfast is one of their specialties. They also have a huge list of daily specials, and they can fax them to your business, if you like. Call them at 596-5960. This prize is brought to you by Lynn Archer of the Brass Compass. A great new prize coming up for this month! Flagship Cinemas in Rockland is donating a pair of tickets! Everyone loves the movies, right?! You can call the movie line at 594-2100 and get the movie titles and times. Wicked! Their web address is: http://www.flagshipcinemas.com 7. Holiday Hours It seems a little strange to talk about holiday hours already! But time slips away so fast, and things get hectic around the holidays, that we thought it'd be nice to give you plenty of warning on our holiday hours. October 11: Columbus Day, we're open regular business hours, 8am-6pm. November 25, 26, + 27: Thanksgiving (and the Friday and Saturday after). We'll be closed these three days. On Friday and Saturday, however, we'll have a technician monitor the email and voicemail systems. So though the office won't be open, if you have a problem, call and leave a message, or send an email to help@midcoast.com. Someone will get back in touch with you. December 23, 24, + 25: Things are a little strange with Christmas coming on a Saturday this year. Christmas will be observed (as far as the office is concerned) on Friday the 24th--we'll be closed all day. On Saturday the 25th, we'll be closed as well. Usually, we're open only 1/2 day on Christmas Eve, but this year we'll be open regular hours Thursday, December 23rd.