GREETINGS & “HAPPY NEW YEAR” TO YOU ALL !

Looks like winter has finally arrived! In this first Newsletter issue of 2005, we recap this past year and look ahead at some of our exciting plans for ’05. Changes we’ve made—and our plans for the future—will allow us to continue providing the best Internet and telephone service around!

2004 IN REVIEW

DIALUP UPGRADES
Our dialup network has never been better! Speedier service and greater stability are the result of intensive work by our engineers, more robust equipment, and memory upgrades. Additionally, the v.92 protocol has been enabled! Go to www.v92.com to get further information about this service. A v.92 modem will allow you to surf the web and still accept phone calls if you have our Call Waiting service.

NEW WAYS TO SAVE $$$!

• 4 for Free: Pre-pay for 8 months of dialup Internet and get 4 additional months FREE! Dialup for $13.34/month!

• Referral Credits Now Include Telephone Services: Let your friends, family, and neighbors know how pleased you are with your SoVerNet services. If they sign up, you get the credit. Make sure they mention your name and we’ll credit you $40 for every dialup or residential phone account, and $100 for every DSL or business phone account.

• As Always, Our Bundle Discounts: Save up to 20% when you purchase our Internet services bundled with telephone. Dialup or DSL can be combined with telephone service and features to save you money every month.

Contact our Sales department for more information: 877-877-2120

NEW COMPANY PHONE SYSTEM
A new, state-of-the-art, Cisco VoIP phone system provides you with direct access to more departments, shorter on-hold times, and a company directory so you can find us by name.

A FACELIFT FOR www.sover.net
Launched in July, our website redesign features cleaner lines and a streamlined navigation process. Upon arriving at the new Home Portal, you will find convenient links to local resources, news, weather, and local events. The dialup-number finder puts local access numbers at your fingertips while traveling out of your home area.

SO-LONG TO SPAM & VIRUSES!
220 million pieces of spam and just over 2.85 million viruses were deleted from our mail servers in 2004! Need we say more? Our spam and virus filters were upgraded this year, so you can spend more time reading the emails you want, and less time deleting those you don’t.

TOP 5 FASTEST GROWING VT TECHNOLOGY COMPANY
We are pleased to announce that we were named one of “Vermont’s Top 5 Technology-related Companies” by Vermont Business Magazine. This award is given to those companies who have experienced the greatest growth over the past 5 years. SoVerNet received the award on September 30th at an awards ceremony in Burlington.

http://www.vermontbiz.com/business_info/pressrelease_detail.cfm?PRID=613
Photos of the event: http://www.vermontbiz.com/555/555index.html

With your help, we are not done growing! On to 2005...

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2005

SOVERNET CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF SERVICE!
“SoVerNet’s success is attributable to two great groups: our employees and our customers. Many have been with us since our inception nearly ten years ago. Our customers’ faith and loyalty demonstrates the value you place on being able to choose a locally-owned company for your telephone and Internet services.” Tony Elliot, CEO

We are planning birthday celebrations around the state, and look forward to meeting those of you who are new to our ranks and seeing, again, those of you who are long-time customers.

FLEXIBLE INTERNET ACCOUNTS
Watch for some exciting changes to the structure of our Internet accounts. You will have the flexibility to choose the features you want. Details are coming soon!

CALLING CARDS ARE COMING!
We’ll shortly be sending all of our telephone customers a new long distance calling card. We know this will make it easier to take SoVerNet’s phone service with you on the road. Activate the SoVer-PhoneCard on receipt and, for a limited-time, receive free long distance minutes against your card. If you don’t have our telephone service, this is a great time to switch over and enjoy the benefits of working with a local company.

NETWORK UPGRADES
In the coming year, we plan to deploy an interconnected, fully redundant SONET-based network. This will provide you with an unsurpassed infrastructure for all your phone and Internet communications. A self-healing fiber ring will be setup between designated locations and our Central Offices. Should a problem occur in the network, traffic will get rerouted without any interruptions to your service.

COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY
We have strengthened and maintained our commitment to the Vermont community over the years by supporting many charities and other non-profits across the state. As a direct community service, we have created the Snow Days site. As the days get colder and more slippery, we hope you will find this page a great resource on those snowy, icy mornings. Schools and Supervisory Unions across the state maintain their own up-to-date information. If your school is not represented, we urge you to contact your superintendent and request that he or she signup. All they need to do is call or email us for details.
Check closings at www.sover.net/schoolclosings/

We’ve turned the corner and the days are getting longer.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.