Important Changes to Your Accounts
 March 10, 2004

We would like to announce the following changes to your account:

  • The web and shell space included with base accounts is being doubled. (more)
  • Primary username email space is doubled. (more)
  • We're doubling the maximum message size (attachment size) from 5 to 10 MB. (more)
  • Email-only subaccounts included with Single-User and PHSA accounts are no longer limited to family members. (more)
  • New email account enhancement to the online Account Tools. (more)
  • A new system for cleaning out messages in accounts that have been inactive for over 120 days. (more)
  • Some new fees—but...not for everyone. (more)
  • Auto-Responder (more)

In large part, these changes are responses to your requests. They add value to each and every one of our accounts and help to better manage our resources.

Thanks for your past suggestions. Please keep them coming. We want SoVerNet to be the best Internet Provider (not to mention phone company) you have ever used!

Read on...

Increased Space

  • Web/Shell Space:
    • Single-User Dialups, PHSA and sBHSA accounts now come with 10 MB.
    • Multi-User Dialups and BHSA accounts now come with 20 MB.

  • Email Space:
    • Mail-server space for all primary usernames is now set at 10 MB.
    • Email-Only accounts include 6 MB of server space.

      A word about space, quotas, attachments, & message size—A mailbox's size (6 or 10 MB) represents its basic amount of storage. A box-size of 6 MB can hold many messages or maybe just one big one. Few messages themselves are very large, but it's the attachments that do you in       (see below). Once a box hits its space limit, you have 7 days or until additional mail reaches the box's “hard”-quota—whichever comes first, to clear it out.

      If your box is over its base allotment (6 or 10 MB—also called its “soft”-quota) you'll start receiving warning messages and will have the just mentioned period of time to clear out old mail to bring it down to below its limit. If you let it reach its hard limit (a 6 MB box has a hard-quota of 12 MB; a 10 MB box has a hard-quota of 20 MB), the box will freeze. No more mail will be accepted, messages will bounce back to the sender as undeliverable. Mail in the SPAM Folder counts toward the limit, a message with a large attachment does, too.

      If additional space is purchased, the hard-quota increases as well— A 10 MB unit brings along a 10MB increase in the hard-quota. So...one unit of space (10 MB) will increase a 6 MB box to 16 MB, with a hard- quota of 22; a 10 MB box increases to 20 MB, with a hard-quota of 30.

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Email Changes

  • Maximum Message Size:
    You can send and receive a single message of up to 10 MB. This includes both the message itself, and any attachment.

    Note: Because of the somewhat elastic nature of your email-box, even an Email-only account with a 6 MB box can receive a message/attachment of 10 MB—see the note on quotas above.

  • Email-onlys:
     Effective immediately, Single-User dialup, PHSA, and sBHSA accounts will include 4 Email-only accounts.

  • Mail Accumulating in Inactive Accounts:
    On March 30th, we will begin cleaning out messages in inactive accounts by means of an “aging” system. Email accounts that have not been accessed in 120 days (4 months) will automatically be placed on an “aging” list and will have mail that is 120 days old or older deleted. Any email account that is accessed will be removed from that list until it is once more untouched for 120 days.

    We feel this system is the best way to handle the problem of abandoned mail, as it allows us to manage server space for maximum performance, while allowing you to keep the email addresses that you want, rather than just losing un-accessed email accounts.

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Account Management Tools

New: See all Email-only subaccounts associated with a primary account. Add and Remove accounts as needed.

Login to the secure Tools interface, then click on the “Add Email Accounts.” Note that only the account's primary username & password can be used to make these changes. These email management tools join the list of other utilities already in place. We'll keep adding tools, so keep telling us what you want.

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New Fees

We have instituted user fees for these services that require considerable staff resources to process.

  • A $5.00 reactivation fee for dialup accounts suspended for nonpayment, or for other reasons,

  • A $15.00 fee to change your username, while maintaining existing services associated with the account.

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Auto-Responder:
Coming soon! A new online utility is in the works that will allow you to set up a response message alerting your correspondents that you are out of town. The days have to get a little longer for this one, but like warmer weather—it's coming.

 

Thanks for your past suggestions. Please keep them coming. We want SoVerNet to be the best Internet Provider (not to mention phone company) you have ever used.

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