0. New 1-500 Numbers - Very Important! 1. New Staff Changes 2. Data Center Info 3. Rockbound Computer's New Location 4. Domain Name Renewal Information 0. Very Important! New 1-500 Numbers: Verizon has made a new serice available for transering data over phone lines. A new 500 exchange allows for state wide non-toll access. This service is currently in place for the whole state. In our areas served by Verizon and TDS, We will be phasing out local exchange numbers favor of these new 1-500 numbers which are also toll-free. In Damariscotta, Washington, and Liberty areas we will be maintaining existing numbers. 1-500-699-7200 forwards into our bank of modems with Patton gear on our end. Our 1-500-699-7201 number forwards over to our Lucent PortMaster3 gear. If you have been using 1-500-699-6677 or other statewide phone numbers MIS uses, now is a good time to switch to either 1-500-699-7201 or 1-500-699-7200. Verizon will be reducing the number of our lines on local numbers in these exchanges: 236, 338, 593, 443, 882, and 832. Please begin to use the 1-500-699-7201 and 1-500-699-7200 numbers instead. These new numbers are toll-free calls that are not long distance in Maine. We have a large number of lines ready for service on these "500 numbers." We are moving away from using the 236, 338, 593, 882, 443, and 832 numbers. We will be gradually unhooking equipment from the old numbers and hooking it up to the new numbers over the next few weeks. These two new numbers permit us to better serve you, reduce the chance of busy signals, and increase performance and reliability. Instructions for changing the number your computer dials are found at: http://www.midcoast.com/help/windows/changephone.html. Contact us at help@midcoast.com if you have any problems. 1. New Staff Changes: We would like to welcome some new staffers to MIS. They are here to help you. Scott Dunlop is a new Tech Support person in the Rockland office. Scott recently returned to Maine from the Middle of Nowhere, Texas. Scott works in our Technical Support department, assisting dial-up and web hosting customers. After hours, Scott spends most of his time at home with his family or perfecting the ultimate Kobold on his MUD. James Taylor also works in Tech Support, but from our Damariscotta office. He graduated from Lincoln Academy and is a year 2000 graduate from the University of Maine at Augusta. In his free time, James enjoys outdoor activities and designing web pages. (It was not lost on us that James Taylor and Ray Stevens are our Damariscotta Tech workers!!!) Dave Clarke has just recently joined our staff, but has been hooked on computers since he took a computer course at UMA in the fall of '91. When not helping us out, he does web page design and consulting in the Belfast area, and teaches music lessons. You might catch him performing with his jazz group, The Bel-Isle Trio, or in a number of other musical combinations. Mike Genova, our DSL Coordinator out of the Damariscotta office, recently left us to move out to Colorado. He plans on spending some time there, then moving to Boston, and going to college. We wish him the best. Patrick Rowling in the Rockland office will pick up the DSL duties. 2. Data Center Update Our new data center in Rockland is complete and we're about half moved in. This increases our reliability and capacity greatly, due to better temperature control of our equipment, larger standby generator, and fiber optic lines from the phone company. We can get telecommunication services faster and with more reliability. We also have room for more servers of our own and more room for server equipment of our customers. It also provides better physical security than most ISPs have. This infrastructure upgrade shows our commitment to serving the local communities well into the future. 3. Rockbound Computer's New Location: Rockbound Computer (Owned by JP's mother Carolyn) is no longer sharing our building. Instead, she has moved to 688 Main St in Rockland. This is a couple hundred yards north of Dunkin Donuts on Route 1. Not only does she have more retail space, but she has more workshop capacity for repairing and building computers. You can contact her at 596-7803. 4. Domain Name Renewal. Please don't forget that your domain name is only registered for a period of time and will eventually run out. Often times this is 2 years but it can be for a shorter or longer period. If it does run out, someone else can legally register your name and you can lose it! This is VERY IMPORTANT and Midcoast Internet Solutions DOES NOT keep track of these or automatically renew them. It is up to the owner of the domain to do this. Midcoast facilitates registering when you sign up for service, but we are not the registrar or domain names - it is usually a national or international company that is the registrar. If you have a domain name hosted with us and you are wondering with whom you are registered, or how long before your name expires please feel free to email the Web Hosting Department here at Midcoast Internet. Our email address is hosting@midcoast.com. We can tell you what the status of your domain name is as well as show you how to check on your domain name. Don't wait until it is too late! You can't get your name back once someone else registers it!