The questions and answers below were accumulated from our 2002 customer survey. Many people had similar comments and questions and we felt it would be best to combine all of this into a website which all of our customers could read. I want to thank everyone who answered the survey questions as this gives us great insight into the things we are doing right, the things we could be doing better, and the things which we shouldn't be doing.

This information is provided so that you can better understand how your connection to the internet works and to suggest solutions for the problems you may be experiencing. While a few of the issues below are specific to our service, most of the issues and suggestions will help regardless of which ISP is being used.

This information is not provided in place of our technical support. If you are experiencing difficulties with your internet service, please call our technical support line and we will try our best to help you find a solution.

Do you guarantee 100% uptime?

No. If we did that we would be lying. What we do guarantee is that if anything is down (either here or with one of the companies with which we connect to the internet) we will be working as hard as we can to fix the problem and get our services working again.

We feel we have an excellent track record in terms of our uptime. This is due to our expertise and persistence and is also due to the fact that we use Macintosh computers for nearly all of our servers. Those that are not running Mac OS are running Linux so we have the reliability and the power we need to serve our customers.

Why do you always assume that the problem is with my computer when you could be having trouble with your servers?

We have thousands of customers all over the state of Mississippi. When we get a call from a customer who is having trouble connecting and we don't have any indication from our server monitoring software that anything is wrong here we have to assume that the problem lies with the settings in the customer's computer.

We realize that this can be frustrating (especially when you have made no changes to your settings) but in more than 99% of the cases changing a setting or two on the customer's computer will fix the connection problem.

If many people call with similar problems we double-check our servers to make sure everything is working. If you are having a problem and you have friends who are having similar problems, please encourage them to call us. The more information about a common problem we get, the sooner we can find a solution that works for everyone.

CONNECTING

Why do I get busy signals?

There are two kinds of busy signals: regular busy and fast busy.

A normal busy signal is what you get when you call a number and that number is in use. We have enough lines that even at peak times you should not get a busy signal. In addition, we monitor our lines during peak times and test for busy signals ourselves so that we can order new lines as soon as possible. Although we use projections to try to always have lines before we need them, this daily check makes sure that any busy signal problems are taken care of as quickly as possible.

Some versions of Windows display an error message that says that the computer you are dialing is busy or not answering. This does not mean that the line was busy. This means that your modem and our modem are having trouble talking to each other. See below for why this happens and some suggestions to make your connection work better.

A fast busy signal is what you get when you call a number and the telephone company does not have enough lines to carry the call from your location to the location you are calling. If you get a fast busy you should call the phone company and complain. If you are getting a fast busy it is likely that your neighbors are also getting a fast busy. If enough people call and complain from the same area something may be done about it.

"The computer you are dialing is not answering"

Does this message sound familiar? This is the message that Windows sometimes displays when it cannot connect. It does not mean that our modems did not answer the phone. It means that our modem and your modem could not agree on how to talk to each other.

When you try to connect to our system, your modem calls our modem and they must agree on how to talk to each other before you can get on the internet. If you have your speaker on then you will hear this as a series of high pitched noises as the modems communicate with each other. If it works you will be connected to the internet. If it doesn't work your computer will hang up and dial again or display a message like the one above. Sometimes Windows will display a more useful error message that says it cannot establish communication protocols. While far more techie, this error message is more correct.

Whether or not the two modems agree on a way to communicate is based on many factors: the manufacturer of your modem, the manufacturer of our modem, the line quality of the telephone line which is being used to connect to us, and possibly the time of day.

Why should the time of day matter?

It has been suggested by some of our customers that during peak hours we do not have enough lines and therefore it is harder to get connected during those times. As long as you are not hearing an actual busy signal when trying to connect this is not the case.

The most common cause of this problem is that the telephone company does not have one line going to every house and at peak time some households share the lines back to the telephone company offices. In some areas (particularly in areas which have grown quickly or are very far from the telephone company office) the telephone company runs some wires from their offices to a multiplexor (these are often seen as grey boxes which stand beneath a telephone pole). They then run a line from the multiplexor to each house.

The signals from all the households currently using the telephone are combined and sent over the lines between the multiplexor and the telephone company offices. This means that each household is getting less than the whole line for their use. Since regular voice telephone calls use about 1/8 of what a V.90 (56k) dialup connection uses, this does not affect your ability to hear the person you are talking to at the other end of the line.

When you are connected to the internet, the dialup connection tries to use the whole line. If the whole line is not available, our modem and your modem try to agree on a slower connection speed. Some modems handle this well, others do not. Some modems are determined to connect at a high speed and will not negotiate a slower speed. They will disconnect instead and try dialing again.

Why do I get disconnected from the internet?

There are many answers to this question.

The first is related to the time of day issues described above. Anytime you are connected your modem or our modem can try to re-negotiate the connection. This can happen if there is static on the line, if there is a call waiting beep on the line, or if the phone lines in your area become busy enough that you do not have a whole telephone line from your house to the telephone company office.

Some modems are more aggressive than others (particularly US Robotics Modems). This means that they remember that they had connected at a fast speed and anytime there is re-negotiation they think that since they had been talking at a fast speed that they should be able to get that fast speed again, so they refuse to compromise and change to a lower speed. After the modems fail to agree on a new connection speed, they will disconnect.

This can be worked around by using an INIT string to tell your modem to negotiate differently. Each manufacturer has different INIT strings. If you have this type of problem you should call our support line and we will try to help you improve your connection.

We will disconnect you from the internet after 20 minutes if our modems do not detect that you are doing anything. In other words, if you are not sending or receiving email or loading web pages or doing something else which sends data back and forth between our modems, our servers will disconnect you.

Sometimes when I try to connect I am told that my user name is invalid, but if I try to connect again it works. Why is that?

We have two different servers which verify user names and passwords. These two servers use different software and different operating systems and cannot be configured exactly the same.

Our backup servers will not verify a user name which is yourusername@watervalley.net, but our primary server will. Both servers will verify a user name which is simply yourusername. When we walk people through setup we try to get only yourusername in the user name field in the connection, but sometimes people put in yourusername@watervalley.net instead.

This will work most of the time, but when our primary server is too busy verifying user names and passwords the backup server will begin to verify user names and passwords. If someone tries to connect with yourusername@watervalley.net as their user name and the backup server tries to check the user name and password, it will fail and you will be told that your user name is not valid.

Unfortunately we cannot use the same type of software and operating system for both servers as each one has features that the other does not have which we need to provide some of our services.

Sometimes when I try to connect it takes several tries and then it connects slowly. Why is that?

If this happens at all times of the day then you should call technical support and we'll try to find an INIT string for your modem that will make you connect more reliably.

If this only happens at night then it is probably because of the issues described above that have to do with the time of day and multiplexors. We can still usually make this work better if you call technical support. Some INIT strings for your modem will make the connection more reliable at all times of the day.

How can I get a faster connect speed?

When you connect to the internet your modem tries to negotiate with our modem for the best connect speed. While a faster connect speed is usually better, this isn't always the case.

If your modem and our modem negotiate a high connection speed and then the line gets some static or some noise on it, the modems will try to re-negotiate so that you do not get disconnected. The higher the connect speed, the more sensitive the modems are to static and line noise. Every time this happens, the modems are spending time re-negotiating instead of sending your data.

Sometimes adding an INIT string that limits the top speed that the modems can negotiate can actually make your connection to the internet work better. If you call our technical support we can help you find an INIT string for your modem which allows you to connect better.

Some older computers with newer modems which are "WinModems" cannot connect at a fast speed. This is because a WinModem makes your computer do more work than a hardware-based modem. If your computer is older, it may not be able to transfer the data from the internet and draw the webpages at the same time without slowing down.

You can try unplugging other things from your phone lines while getting on the internet. Some older telephones and answering machines create static on the line which you may not be able to hear, but will interfere with the modem's attempt to connect at a higher speed.

We have also found that since our equipment is made by Lucent that modems using Lucent chipsets work better than other manufacturers in many cases. Sometimes replacing your modem will improve your connect speed.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

I keep calling over and over but no one ever picks up the phone.

We have thousands of customers and we do not have thousands of technical support people. However, we do have voice mail. If all of our technical support people are helping other customers your call will be transferred to voice mail. If you leave a message with your name and phone number and the nature of your call you will be called back. We call people back in the order that we get the messages.

We make every effort to return every call and answer every e-mail message we get. We also try to always get back to our customers the same day that they leave their message (usually within 30 minutes). There are times when we get a lot of calls for a few minutes before our technical support people go home. When this happens the calls get returned the next day, but they do get returned.

If you leave us a message, you will get a call from someone in our office. If you leave a message and do not get call back, email Howard with the time that you left the message. We keep track of who works at what times and if we find that one of our technical support people is not doing their best to help our customers we will take appropriate action.

I realize that when you are having a problem that leaving voice mail isn't very satisfying, but leaving a message is the quickest way for our technical support people to get back to you and help resolve your problem.

DSL

Do you offer DSL?

Yes. We offer DSL throughout the state of Mississippi. Our DSL rates can be found here: www.watervalley.net/interchange/dslrates.html

If you are interested in finding out if DSL is available for your telephone number, just e-mail support@watervalley.net with the telephone number. We will check it and get back to you.

I want DSL. Why isn't it available in my area yet?

DSL has a limit of about 3 miles from the telephone companies office that serves your telephone number. It also requires that this telephone office has been upgraded to support DSL. The experts are at work on new types of DSL which have longer ranges and we will support these services when they are available.

We can test your telephone number to see if DSL is available for you. Just email support@watervalley.net with the telephone number. We will check it and get back to you.

If I can't get DSL, is there anything else that I can get that is faster than dialup?

Although we can sell you a T1 line, you probably don't want to pay such a high price.

We also offer ISDN and multi-link PPP connections. While these are only about two times faster than a modem connection, they are far less expensive than a dedicated T1 connection.

The other option is satellite internet service. We were originally looking into a service which was a download-only service so it still used your phone line. The response to this type of service was not very positive. We are now working on offering a 2-way satellite service. As soon as we work out the details we will let everyone know.

WEBMAIL

Do you have webmail?

We do have a very primitive version of webmail running at: webmail.watervalley.net

We are working on setting up a better webmail system because we have had many requests for this service.

TOLL-FREE DIALUP NUMBER

Do you have a toll free number I can use when I am out of town?

No, we don't, but there are several solutions to this problem:

We sell a pre-paid internet access card which can be used on local access numbers throughout the U.S. and Canada. The cards cost $10 and have about 10 hours of connect time on them. They can be recharged by dialing a toll free number and using your credit card. More information about this can be found at: www.gocanquest.com

We also have several customers who have bought their own toll free numbers from sprint, mci or some other long distance carrier and had them ring on one of our dialup numbers. You are responsible for paying the long distance charges, but they are typically lower than using a hotel's phone or calling cards.

VIRUSES

What can I do about those Windows Viruses that I keep getting?

If you use Outlook Express to check your mail there are some settings you can change that will protect you against some of the viruses, but not all of them.

How to turn off the preview pane in Outlook Express:

1. open Outlook Express
2. click view
3. click layout
4. uncheck show preview pane
5. click ok

How to turn off the IE HTML rendering in Eudora:

1. open Eudora
2. click tools
3. click options
4. click viewing mail from the category menu
5. uncheck user microsoft viewer
6. click ok

Click here for a complete tutorial on how to in switch your mail program to Eudora.

Can't you stop those Windows viruses from coming into my computer?

We are looking into several ways of filtering the viruses on our servers so that our customers do not send them to others, and to prevent viruses from getting to our customers. We are also looking at some outside virus filtering services.

How would filtering the viruses be different than just using Norton Anti-Virus or McAfee?

If we setup a service to filter the viruses on our servers you won't have to spend the time downloading them every time someone sends one to you. The software you run on your computer does not detect the virus until it has already been downloaded onto your computer.

WEB PRESENCE

How do I use the free webspace which is included with my service?

Easy. Click here to learn more about it.

I have a domain. Do you have a special rate if I host it with you and use your dialup service or DSL service?

Yes. If you have a domain with us and also have a dialup account or DSL account, we will take $10 per month off of the domain hosting charge.

CLASSES

Will you ever offer classes?

This is something we would like to do. We are trying to create a small classroom/lab which we can use for this purpose. We will make an announcement as soon as we are ready to do this.

RATES and BILLING

Why don't you have special discounts for students, senior citizens and disabled customers?

At one time we had special rates for students, senior citizens, and disabled customers but as we grew it began to cost more to keep track of who was eligible for the discount and who was not. We finally decided to offer our discount rate to all of our customers in order to keep all of our rates as low as possible.

If you pay for four (4) months of dialup internet service at a time, you save $1 per month, If you pay for a year of dialup internet service you save $2 per month. Other services have similar discounts. All of our rates can be found here.

Why are your rates so high?

Even with our new rate of $20 per month we feel that our rate is fair. Many other ISPs (AOL, Earthlink, etc.) have rates which are $2 to $4 higher than our rate each month.

As the internet has grown there has been more useful and interesting content on the internet. There are also many services (like Instant Messenger and Stock Trading) which are being used more and more by our customers. This means that the average customer is using more online time than they were a year ago.

In order to keep busy signals at a minimum we must add more lines when the average usage increases. We also have to add more bandwidth to the internet to make sure that the internet feels responsive when you use it. These things increase our costs.

We must increase our rates when our costs go up. We try to keep our price lower than our competition and offer better service at the same time.

If you are raising the rates, how about giving us better service?

We will try. We are working on several projects right now to improve our service.

We will be changing the way we connect to the internet during the months of September and October. This will eliminate a step from the path that your data takes to get to the internet and should speed things up.

We will be replacing several of our routers as well as our mail server and web server in the next few months. We are trying to find a better solution for our webmail (which is very plain and lacks many nice features of other webmail systems) and possibly running some game servers for our customers who play a lot of games over the internet.

if you have any suggestions for new services we can offer, please email Howard at hshere@watervalley.net.

I pay by credit card every month. Why do I get a bill anyway?

If you have your account setup to be charged to your credit card every month your credit card will be charged on the 1st of the month. If you get a bill in the mail it is because there is some past month when the credit card charge did not work. We always apply the automatic payment to the oldest month which has not yet been paid for.

You should contact billing@watervalley.net to resolve this issue.

COMPUTER SERVICES

I want to buy a new computer. Do you have any suggestions?

Our first suggestion would be to buy a Macintosh computer. They are more expensive than Windows PCs, but they are easier to use and will be useable far longer than a Windows PC. We still use Macintosh computers in our office which are more than 10 years old.

You can find out about Macintosh computers at www.apple.com

We have a listing of local places which sell computers.

We also now sell Windows PCs. Click here to find out more about it.

I need some parts for a computer I am building. Where can I get them?

We usually have some things in stock, such as Floppy Disks, Blank CR-Rs, Surge Suppressors, etc. In the future we will also have hard drives, CD-ROM drives, RAM and other parts available.

Check the Gurus page as well.