internet-alaska_spleen_unknown-date_71d9da015e67eed357c537f5308142d617ff7420e4d68a76d0a843ea915cffd9.txt

internet-alaska_spleen_unknown-date_71d9da015e67eed357c537f5308142d617ff7420e4d68a76d0a843ea915cffd9.txt

hello one and all,

In the spirit of the Communications Decency Act, this newsletter has been

  * "approved" by all self-appointed authorities
  * "dumbed down" to third grade reading level
  * "cleared" for transmission by government decrypters and
  * "broadcast" by your local Cable/IXC/LEC Converg-opolis

Still, lots of interesting news, I wouldn't skip a word if I were you.


COMMERCE SERVER

New features have been added to the Netscape server. Again, check out
the following page (but please don't ask for more info until we
announce the end of the beta test):

       http://byatt.alaska.net/test.html 


TECH SUPPORT 

Last week's message ended, "Please be patient with us over the next 
few days as we work out any bugs with the new phone system."

It would be fair to say that some customers were not very patient, and 
some were unhappy to find they were talking to a call routing system.

We are trying very hard to improve the system to speed it up and help
you take shortcuts.

At the same time, as anyone who signed up around Christmas knows, the
current system is far better than what we were using before.  The old 
system would quickly fill up, so no one could reach us and no one
could leave voice mail for us.

We think the new system will help us make better use of our limited
staff and phone lines.  We now have over 4300 customers, and we have
taken the next step to build a real Tech Support Center.  Support
calls will be queued to be handled by the next available agent, and
we will post statistics on our support calls for everyone to see.


LOCAL DIAL-UP NUMBERS

Many customers ask us to post all the local dial-ups on our home page.
We will do this in the future, but for now we hope this list suffices:

Anchorage  562-4107 (backup is 562-4108)
Fairbanks  452-4108
Homer      235-4300
Juneau     586-4108
Mat-Su     746-4108
Soldotna   260-4108
Valdez     834-1400

Remember, just change the number you dial if you login from any of 
these sites and everything should work as it did at your home or office.


SUPPORT AUTO-RESPONDER

We have installed an auto-responder so that you will be notified
that your message to support@alaska.net has been received.  If you
have any suggestions about the wording of the message you receive
from us please send your suggestions to the support staff.


MORE SUPPORT STAFF

I would like to welcome Todd Nagengast (tsgd) to the staff.  Todd is
a part-timer with extensive Internet experience.  He is active in the
local Macintosh and Internet user groups (and yes, he does Windows).

The official word from the Support Staff Sunday afternoon is they have
caught up with all known requests for support (via phone or e-mail).
So if you are waiting for a message or a call-back please contact
the Support Staff.


ANCHORNET COMMUNITY INFORMATION NETWORK

The AnchorNet organizing committee will meet Feb 20, 7pm, Kaladi Bros 
at 6921 Brayton Dr (Frontage Road between Dimond and Dowling).  Tim 
Cathcart is the Technical Committee Chair and can be reached at

        anet@alaska.net


MORE MODEMS

In Anchorage, we should have 48 more phone lines and at least 28 more
modems installed by the end of Friday.

We are studying utilization at all of our sites, and plan upgrades for 
MatSu, Fairbanks and Anchorage in the very near future.


MORE BANDWIDTH

The line from Soldotna to Anchorage is again being doubled, from 128K
to 256K.  This work should also be completed this Friday. 


gibbidy gibbidy gibbidy that's all folks!

- Lance

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
Lance J. Ahern   Internet Alaska, Inc.
info@alaska.net  907-562-4638   907-562-1677 FAX
unlimited ppp access at 28.8K - $165 for 6 months