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SOVERNET
NewsLetter Headlines SECTION I - We have NEW LOCAL NUMBERS in BENNINGTON and BRATTLEBORO, some of which are x2, V.90, and ISDN capable. SECTION II - We are now DIRECTING CALLS FROM SAINT ALBANS and MIDDLEBURY INTO THE BURLINGTON POP. This provides improved service to customers in those areas. Some older access numbers may soon go out of service. SECTION III - We have DEFINED OUR WEB SPACE OFFERINGS. We now provide up to 5 MB (megabytes) of web space for a single-user account, and up to 10 MB of space for a multi-user account, at no additional charge. Additional space is available at $5/5MB per month. SECTION IV - We are DEPLOYING V.90 TECHNOLOGY in as many locations as is possible. SECTION V - We will begin discussing and explaining some new, upcoming CHANGES TO THE WAY WE PROCESS THE "SUSPENSION" (TEMPORARY CLOSING) OF YOUR ACCOUNT. These new policies will also affect how we handle closing your account(s). SECTION VI - Based on feedback from you, we have implemented a new CUSTOMER ANNOUNCEMENT SYSTEM. We have developed a system to notify you of planned upgrades and maintenance that may temporarily affect your service. SECTION VII - We are BUILDING A T3 BACKBONE NETWORK. We have installed a T3 backbone circuit within Vermont, as well as out to the Internet. SoVerNet NewsLetter, May 1998 SECTION I - We have NEW LOCAL NUMBERS in BENNINGTON and BRATTLEBORO, some of which are x2, V.90, and ISDN capable. The new numbers in Bennington are 753-2222 and 549-2222 and the new number in Brattleboro is 258-3030. When you call the Bennington numbers, your call is passed directly to our Burlington POP which is served with digital lines. With these new numbers, we are able to offer increased performance since they are x2, V.90, and ISDN capable. The new Brattleboro number is x2 and V.90 capable, but is not ISDN capable. We expect to be able to offer an ISDN capable number for Brattleboro in the near future. The complete (and most current) list of local access numbers is available to you anytime by sending a blank email message to numbers@sover.net . This triggers an auto-responder and returns the full list. As we add new numbers we will let you know, but if you need the list it is always available. Also, by popular request, we have plans to post the list on our web site in the near future. In order to achieve optimal performance with our new numbers, you may need to adjust your modem's configuration--usually by specifying a new "modem initialization string." Your modem manufacturer can assist you with this, or you are welcome to email our Support Team (support@sover.net ) for some suggestions and advice. Additional information about these issues can be retrieved by sending a blank email message to 56k@sover.net . You m ay also visit our 56k web site for an on-line update.
SECTION II - We are now DIRECTING CALLS FROM SAINT ALBANS and MIDDLEBURY INTO THE BURLINGTON POP. By passing calls from these areas into the Burlington POP, we are able to provide you with better service and improved performance since the lines in Burlington are delivered digitally. This also means some older access numbers may soon go out of service. You can get the complete list of the most current access numbers anytime, by sending a blank email message to our Number List auto-responder numbers@sover.net . Please feel free to get this list anytime. Also, feel free to inform us if you think you have a number problem. As noted in Section I, in order to achieve optimal performance with our new numbers, you may need to adjust your modem's configuration--usually by specifying a new "modem initialization string." Your modem manufacturer can assist you with this, or you are welcome to email our Support Team support@sover.net for some suggestions and advice. We have additional information available about these issues by sending a blank email message to 56k@sover.net .
SECTION III - We have DEFINED OUR WEB SPACE OFFERINGS. SoVerNet now provides up to 5 MB (megabytes) of web space for a single-user account, and up to 10 MB of space for a multi-user account, at no additional charge. Additional space is available at $5/5 MB per month. What this means is you are welcome to post a reasonable web page within the prescribed limits, on our server. If you need more space, just let us know and we will send you a form which authorizes us to charge you for the additional space and adjust the limit accordingly. Please note that additional space is available only in 5 megabyte (MB) increments. For the full details about a web page, send email to webmaster@sover.net .
SECTION IV - We are DEPLOYING V.90 TECHNOLOGY in as many locations as is possible. V.90 (unified 56K modem standard) technology has only recently been released for general deployment. Having participated in USR/3Com's beta-test program, we were in a good position to make this available and we are currently V.90 compatible everywhere possible. Those of you who would like to read more about the history of 3Com's 56K (formerly US Robotics' "x2") and other modem manufacturer's 56K (primarily Rockwell and Lucent's "K56flex") technologies and the emergence of the V.90 standard, should send email to 56k@sover.net for more details. Briefly, V.90 is the agreed upon standard between the different protocols used by different modem manufacturers to provide higher download speeds over regular (analog) phone lines. SoVerNet will continue to support USR/3Com's proprietary 56K technology (x2) in addition to the new V.90 technology. So, if you own an x2-compatible modem no changes will be required, although you may want to look into a V.90 upgrade. If you own a non-x2-compatible modem, for example, a "K56flex" modem, you will want to upgrade it to V.90.
SECTION V - We will begin discussing and explaining some new, upcoming CHANGES TO THE WAY WE PROCESS THE "SUSPENSION" (TEMPORARY CLOSING) OF YOUR ACCOUNT." We refer to a temporary closing of your account as an "account suspension." Currently, if you wish to suspend your account while you are away or for any other reason, we will gladly do so. Suspended accounts do not incur new charges and may be reactivated at anytime without a setup charge. Many of you have told us how much you like this service and we intend to continue providing it. However, until now, we had not decided what to do with your email as well as what to do with any files that you may have stored on our system. The problem is, since your account is not closed it is only suspended, your email collects on our system and remains unread. As it accumulates, it can become a real problem. A large Inbox can prevent you from even reading your email when you return and reopen your account. This can be very frustrating. We are formulating a new procedure whereby we will be pleased to suspend your account for you as always, but we will need to know where to forward your email. We will also be asking you to remove any files you may have stored on our system. We will also be offering the option of just letting your email bounce. This means any email sent to your suspended account would be returned to the sender marked as undeliverable, or something similar. When you permanently close your account, we anticipate some of the same procedures will apply. We are describing this now to alert you to these changes before they happen. We will send an announcement to everyone when the final procedures are in place. We will provide a grace period for any currently suspended accounts.
SECTION VI - Based on feedback from you, we have implemented a new CUSTOMER ANNOUNCEMENT SYSTEM. This is perhaps our most exciting news. We have developed a system to notify you of events that may temporarily affect your service. Such events include planned upgrades and maintenance, service improvements, unplanned outages and significant policy changes. The announcement system employs a mailing list which will be used to send an email message to you whenever we need to let you know your service may be affected, or when we have important news such as new numbers in certain areas. Some of you may already know that we post this type of information on our SoVerNet web site <http://www.sover.net/notices/notices.html> as well as on the shell server shell.sover.net in the "Message Of The Day," or MOTD on [granite:~]$. However, these are not areas every customer sees or chooses to use. The new system provides a way for us to keep all customers informed about important issues. We will continue to post these messages in the above areas, but we have enhanced the entire announcement process with the creation of the mailing list. Some of you may find that our traditional ways of letting you know about important issues work quite well. You are welcome to remove yourself from the list (there is a way for you to 'unsubscribe'), or send us an email staff@sover.net requesting that we do it for you. Our goal is to provide you with a minimum of 48 hours notice on any planned upgrades and maintenance. We will strive to provide you with announcements of new and improved features and services prior to them becoming available. We will strive to provide you with an announcement within a few hours of any unplanned problems (for example, telephone service for an area was interrupted). We welcome your suggestions for any improvements to the Announcement System.
SECTION VII - We are BUILDING A T3 BACKBONE NETWORK. We have installed a T3 backbone circuit within Vermont, as well as out to the Internet. We have not only built a T3 backbone network within Vermont, we have also installed two, separate, redundant T3 connections to the Internet itself. We are anxiously awaiting another (redundant) T3 connection to the Internet, and we are pursuing redundant T3 backbones within Vermont. This is exciting news. A T3 circuit has almost 30 times the capacity of a T1 circuit. A good comparison would be a fire hose versus a garden hose. The 3 T3s to the Internet, for example, will replace the 10 T1s that comprise the majority of our Internet connectivity right now, which is a very significant increase. These new circuits are all in line with our goals of providing the best possible service to our customers.
As we bring this Newsletter to a close, please keep in mind that we are always interested in your ideas, needs, and thoughts about how we can do things better. We have plans in the wings which we expect will greatly improve our web site. We hope to make it more useful for on-line technical support, and to provide an array of features and services that will make it easier for you to communicate with us. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we pledge to continue to address the issues which will make SoVerNet the Internet service that you need and want. Warm regards, |
