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NewsLetter
August 2003
Greetings!
It's been quite a while since our last newsletter—quite a winter,
quite a spring, and, so far, quite a summer. Lots of perfect and near-perfect
days! We deserve it!
This newsletter will update you on some of the new and soon-to-be happenings
we've been working on.
"Roam if you want to..." as the song goes.
That's right—now you can access your SoVerNet account via a local
number from just about anywhere in the US. All our data accounts will
now include 2 hours of National Roaming per month! See the article below
for usage and setup details.
Those craving broadband access, but not yet able to avail themselves of
our DSL products will be interested in our partnering arrangements to
bring broadband to areas lacking it. Also, a note to
those who relay on warning letters to remind them of payment due-dates—changes
are coming. And, last, an update on our next generation of spam and virus
filters.
Read on!
NATIONAL
ROAMING FOR TRAVELERS & OUT-OF-VERMONT VACATIONERS!
That's right! Great news for travelers and vacationers: effective August
1 we are adding 2 hours per month of FREE NATIONAL ROAMING capability
to all our data accounts. Now you can drop that 2nd ISP account, have
local access while away, and still save money! If you want unlimited roaming,
just add it and forget the clock---as an Additional Service, Unlimited
National Roaming is just $5/month! Of course, our "800-number"
Remote Dial-In remains available as it has been, for those who don't want
to have to reprogram their dialer with every change of location, and for
those rare instances when a local number is not available. We have over
12,000 access numbers throughout most of the country, so grab your laptop
and roam away!
To you folks with DSL accounts: now, a real reason to dust off those dialup
access instructions that came with your DSL service! Your backup dialup
account is a real boon, making your High-Speed service an even better
deal!
Read the details at www.sover.net/services/services.html#remote
. You'll need to locate an access number and change dialer settings. Our
webpages tell you all about it.
EXPANDING
BROADBAND COVERAGE FOR RURAL AREAS
We continue to bring broadband access to customers in rural areas throughout
Vermont, both via our own network and by partnering with other service
providers. Our network has recently expanded to offer business DSL in
St. Albans and Randolph. Please see www.sover.net/services/business.html
for product details.
In pursuit of wider broadband access, we have begun partnering with other
service providers in rural areas around the State which are out of range
of our own DSL service. Subscribers are able to get (or retain) SoVerNet
email, webspace, Additional Services, etc., while obtaining always-on
high-speed access through our local, broadband partners.
Duncan Telecommunications, LLC and SoVerNet have been providing high-speed
cable-Internet access to folks in the Wilmington community of Vermont
for the past 12 months. Within the upcoming months, many areas of the
Dover community will also be able to purchase this service.
Similarly, we have partnered with LastMileNet, LLC to bring wireless high-speed
access to rural communities. Some of the communities we are working with
are Londonderry, Marlboro, Newfane, Island Pond, Fairlee, Thetford, Bradford,
and Barton.
Both of our partners are interested in hearing from folks living in their
areas who do not yet have broadband service— demand pushes expansion!
LastMileNet is particularly interested in expanding into other, widespread,
geographic areas. If there are others in your community who are interested
in broadband, but are beyond the reach of SoVerNet's landline network,
we encourage you to contact LastMileNet about your interest. There is
a form on their website that may be filled out, letting them know of your
area's interest. Who knows? Your community could rise to the top of the
list!
Contact:
US MAILED WARNINGS—A
THING OF THE PAST
Effective August 1, we will no longer be mailing paper Warning Letters
to those whose dialup accounts have passed their due date. We will continue
to send the email reminder on day 7, with an emailed warning on day 21.
To avoid the inconvenience of suspension, we encourage you to sign up
for the 18-FOR-12 special, our longest-term dialup discount program, or
to sign up for electronic funds transfer directly from your checking or
savings account. The advantage of the former is the large discount and
of the latter, that you no longer need worry about providing changed credit
card info, remembering to send off the monthly check, or dealing with
the hassle of reactivation an account that slipped by. Our Accounts Department
can explain the details and get you signed up with either right away—(877)
877-2120 or by email to accounts@sover.net.
UPDATE
ON SPAM & VIRUS FILTERS
Just to keep you in the loop—With increase in spam and the decrease
in our current filters' effectiveness, we figure you're wondering “What's
the big deal about spam filters?”—it seems it should be so easy
to just block the messages that are obviously spam.
Unfortunately it is not so easy. About 1 1/2 million email messages pass
through SoVerNet in a day, and about 2/3 of those are spam. Determining
what exactly constitutes spam is a very subjective thing, and computers
are not very good at subjective judgments. The filters must be able to
process many, many messages per second to avoid bottlenecks and delays,
and they must recognize when those words we have come to hate are associated
with legitimate mail versus when they are just spam.
Our engineers are building new mail servers and equipping them with more
powerful spam filters. These new servers will also be equipped with virus
filters. The new spam filters will still have a web-based interface through
which you will be able to tweak your settings for best performance according
to your personal criteria Even the new filters won't catch everything,
and we encourage you to make use of your email software's filtering rules
as well (www.sover.net/support/c4a.html#rules),
and to install updated anti-virus software on your own machine.
The new mailservers will number twice what we currently have and will
each be 5 times more powerful than the current servers. The increased
power will provide both the speed and capacity necessary for reviewing
each message, rather than having to skip batches during a surge in inflow
as is now the case.
Spam and viruses are taking their toll on our servers and your patience.
The new virus filters, and improved spam filters and mail servers, are
being engineered to strike a balance between efficient filtering and speedy
delivery of email. It won't be long before they're ready, and you'll hear
from us again just as soon as their deployment is scheduled.
Enjoy the rest of
the summer! And let us hear from you!
Warm regards,
-SoVerNet Staff
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REMINDERS—We have several dialup and voice/data Bundle specials going
on. It's a great time to consider an upgrade, and a great time to refer
new customers! Check out our Promos page to read about our current promos
and the Referral Program. As always, questions about any of this may be
directed to either sales@sover.net
or (877) 877-2120.
Promos: www.sover.net/services/promos.html
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