|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Us
Table of Contents
About Avalon Networks, Inc.
What is Avalon Networks, Inc.?
Avalon Networks is an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Basically, this
means that we connect your incoming call or dsl from your computer to the Internet.
We are quite a bit different from online services such as AOL or
Compuserve. We don't offer any internal news or entertainment services.
Instead, we offer you a connection to the Internet, which gives you more
choices than any online service in terms of software and operating
system compatibility. We also offer web hosting.
Currently, we're more economical and have better customer service
than most online services.
What geographic areas does Avalon serve?
- Avalon provides local dial-up access in Iowa City, Sioux City,
Williamsburg, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and Des Moines. If you
have local toll-free telephone access to one of these cities, you can use Avalon for your dial-up Internet access.
- Avalon also provides DSL in Iowa City, Sioux City, Cedar Rapids,
Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Davenport, and Des Moines.
Where is Avalon's main office located?
Avalon's main office is located in Iowa City, IA, at 365 E. College St. This is not the postal address for our office.
Avalon Siouxland is located at 1030 5th Ave. in South Sioux City, NE and can receive postal mail there.
Does Avalon provide high-speed Internet connections?
Yes, Avalon provides Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) in Iowa City, Sioux
City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Davenport, and Des Moines. There are many
different types of DSL available, and many different speeds. See iowadsl.net
for more information on pricing and line qualification of business DSL service or visit our Services page for residential pricing.
How much does Avalon's Internet service cost?
Check out the Services section for the latest information.
Billing Questions
When does billing occur, and when is my bill due?
The billing period starts on the first day of every month, and ends on the
last day of every month. We generally try to get bills in the mail by the
3rd of the month following each billing period, which means you should
receive your bill around the 5th. Payments are due at the end of the
month following the billing period. If you pay with a credit card or ACH,
you can expect to see your card or account charged shortly after the 15th of the month.
What happens if I don't pay my bill?
Accounts not paid by the beginning of each accounting cycle will be
considered past due. Accounts that are past-due one (1) month are considered
delinquent and will be deactivated at the beginning of the next accounting cycle.
Reactivation of the account will occur once the account is paid in full, including
the current month, or a total of three months of service.
What choices do I have for payment, other than monthly
billing?
Avalon accepts VISA, Master Card, Discover, checks, money orders,
automated clearinghouse withdrawal from checking or savings accounts, and cash.
You must have a signature form on file for automated clearing-house (ACH)
withdrawals. If you would like to use ACH, just print and fill out this form and mail it to Avalon.
Do you offer any discounts if I pay for a year in
advance?
Yes. If you pay for a year of dial-up accesss in advance, we will
only charge you for ten months. So you'll get two months free.
If I start or end an account in the middle of the month,
do I have to pay for the entire month?
No. Basic accounts opened after the fifteenth day of the accounting cycle
will be prorated to one-half of the monthly fee. Unlimited dial-up accounts opened after the
first week of the accounting cycle will be prorated at a rate of $5.00
per week remaining in that month. Qwest DSL and our apartment ethernet service adhere to the same policy.
Web hosting accounts do not prorate.
How do I change my billing information (address, account
type, etc.)?
- You can send email from your Avalon account to sales@avalon.net specifying the
changes,
- stop by our office at 365 E. College St., Iowa City,
IA between 11 am - 5pm,
- or you can call using your "Security Word" we recorded during enrollement.
- If you'd like to include a note with the change in your next payment, and you aren't a Sioux City customer,
you must use our P.O. Box 2074, Iowa City, IA 52244-2074 address.
- If you are a Sioux City area customer you can contact Avalon Siouxland
via phone or visit our office at 1030 5th Ave., South Sioux City, NE. For up to date contact information please visit the Contact page
How do I cancel my account?
- Send email from your Avalon account to sales@avalon.net, or
- Include a note with your payment, or
- Stop in to one of our offices at 365 E. College St., Iowa City, IA or 1030 5th Ave., South Sioux City, NE.
Technical Questions
How do I configure my computer to connect to Avalon?
Each operating system is a little bit different:
- If you use Windows 3.1, click here
- If you use Windows 95/98/Millenium, click here
- If you use Windows 2000, click here
- If you use Windows NT, click here
- If you use Windows XP, click here
- If you use a Mac with a Mac TCP control panel, click here
- If you use a Mac with a TCP/IP control panel, and are running up
to OS 7.5.5, click here
- If you use a Mac and are running OS 7.6 or later, click here
- If you use a Mac and are running OS X (Oh eS Ten), click here
How do I configure my email software to get mail on my
Avalon account?
You can find setup instructions for Eudora, Internet Mail, Netscape
Navigator, Netspace Communicator, and Outlook Express here
Windows 95/98 keeps asking me for my password, and won't let me log on. Why?
This is a common problem when using Windows Dial-up Networking program.
It is usually solved by a reboot of the computer, or by disabling the "save password" option, and re-entering your
username and password. If none
of this works, or for more information on the password problem, see this
page. You can also explore Dial Up Networking errors here.
What software do you support?
We will assist in setting up any software that we supply, and with logging
into Avalon's host computers. Any additional technical support must be obtained from
the original authors of those programs. We will not assist in any
third-party software setup or technical support. If you have a relevant
question and think we may be able to help, we will try our best to answer
it. However, you may be required to refer to the manufacturer of your
hardware and/or software in order to solve the problem.
How do I change my password?
Two ways:
- You can contact us via phone.
- This is only available to our
dial-up customers. If you're familiar with telnet, you can login to your Avalon
account and use the passwd command. This will prompt you for your
old password and then the new password.
What web browser/email software do you recommend?
We use a variety of web browsers, and we get most of
our email through a text based email program called Pine. All of the
software that we supply or provide setup instructions for has been tested
and works well on the vast majority of computers. As with any software, though, make sure
you check the system requirements before installing any of it on your
computer. The best recommendation we can give is to use software that you
are comfortable with and runs smoothly on your computer.
How do I set up a second (third, fourth) email account for
a family member?
You are entitled to have up to four email accounts with your Avalon
dial-up service. If you would like to set up an additional account, call
our technical support or send an email to support@avalon.net with the desired
username and password.
How do I make a webpage?
You can find a pretty good beginner's tutorial for making a webpage here. Check out WDVL.com for more information.
How do I upload my webpage?
You can find instructions on uploading your webpage to your Avalon account
here.
Can you forward my Avalon email to another
account?
Yes. If you use Avalon's service, but have another email account where
you would like to receive your Avalon email, we can forward your email.
For example, if you have a Hotmail account, and would also like to read your Avalon email there, we can do that. Also,
if you cancel your account, we can forward
your email to another account for a period of one month. If you would
like to set up a forwarding address for your email, send an email
message to support@avalon.net, or
give us a call.
Why doesn't my 56K modem connect at 56K?
There are a few things to consider. First of all, the
maximum speed that a 56K modem can reach is 56,000 kilobits per second (Kbps).
However, in the real world, this will almost never happen. Most 56K users
will see connection speeds slightly less than the maximum. Secondly, the speed displayed in your connection
window is only the initial connect speed. During the Internet session this speed can decrease or increase.
Third, the telephone lines are often not of the best quality so static or "humming" may be present on the line.
This is much more destructive to communication via modem than the average conversation.
Finally, you
may be located at a considerable distance from our modem pools. Over
longer distances, your signal makes more digital-to-analog conversions
(and vice versa) and loses speed each time. The combination of these last
two elements have made for speeds as low as 26,400 kbps in certain areas.
The best thing you can do is to make sure you've got a reliable hardware modem
(non-soft or win modem and generally pricing in at seventy five dollars),
and that its speed is set to twice the maximum speed of the modem.
For more about modems see our 56K FAQ.
Why does my modem drop my connection all the time, even
after just a few seconds?
You probably have a 56K winmodem (or software modem) which is trying to
use the K56Flex protocol. Avalon's modems use V.90 protocol, so you'll
have to turn off K56Flex. Another problem could be that your win modem is
using an old driver. Refer to your modem's documentation for solutions to
these problems, or see our 56K
FAQ.
Can I use AOL software with Avalon?
Yes. However, when setting up your computer to
connect to Avalon, you'll have to remove all of AOL's adapters in the
Network control panel. Otherwise, you will not be able to connect. Once the connection to Avalon is established,
you can start AOL's software to access chat rooms, instant messaging, etc.
I've set up a second email account with Avalon, but I
can't get my Internet connection using it. Why?
You're trying to dial into Avalon with the second email account.
All email accounts after the primary account are just secondary email accounts and
not dial-up accounts. You'll have to dial-up with your primary username
and password, then configure your email program to get mail for the secondary account. Please see the Support page for email setup instructions.
Why is my connection dropped after 5 hours?
For several reasons, we've decided to set up a 5-hour limit on
connections. After you've been on for 5 hours, your connection is dropped.
If you need to keep working, you can dial up again. Also, if there is 30
minutes of inactivity on your line, the system assumes you forgot you
were connected and drops the line. If you need an always-on connection,
we offer DSL at competitive prices. See our Services page or for business-class DSL
click here.
What can I do to avoid getting unsolicited emails?
See our SPAM FAQ
I can get connected, but can't get to any web pages.
Why?
You probably don't have the DNS configuration of your computer set up correctly. Go through the setup
instructions for your operating system and make sure all of your settings are correct. If all the Domain Name Servers are correctly defined you'll need to contact our Technical Support
Do I really have to read the System Announcement emails?
Yes. They contain important information about Avalon's system and system
updates. Occasionally, Avalon will do maintenance on the
system which will make connections impossible for a while. The System
Announcement emails will let you know in advance when we will be
implementing changes that you need to be aware of. You should also read
the What's New section
of our webpage to keep current with Avalon events.
How do I get USENET news from Avalon
Our news server is news.avalon.net. Enter that address into
either
your newsgroup reader on your web browser or your email program.
How do I set up a web counter on my web site?
There are two parts to a web counter. Part you have to do yourself, and
part we have to do for you. Include this line in your page where you want
the counter to go:
<img src="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?ft=0&df=username.dat">
There is documentation at: http://www.fccc.edu/users/muquit/Count2ex.html
After you've added that line to your page, send
email to support@avalon.net with the subject line "Counter Setup Request"
and we'll set it up for you as soon as we can.
What are the guidelines for calling and emailing Avalon
technical support?
In order to give you the fastest, most expedient and thorough answers
to your technical questions, we ask that you observe the
following procedures when you call for technical support:
- Know your 3 to 8 character login/username (it comes before the @ in your
@avalon.net email address) and corresponding password.
- Be at your computer, and have it powered up and ready to go when
you call.
- Please give us the most complete and accurate description of the
problem possible. If the problem involves an error message displayed on
the screen, please write down the error message in its entirety before you
call.
- If you send any email to tech support, please do not send file
attachments unless you are requested to do so; support email is normally
read from a text terminal, so we can't easily view your attachments.
What kind of things do I need to do to keep myself and my
data safe on the Internet?
- Always read the Avalon System Announcements.
- NEVER share your account with anyone else.
- NEVER send your password in an email message, even to tech support.
- Don't give your password out over the phone, especially to someone
who calls you.
- Be smart about software that you download over the net; if it
looks suspicious, it probably is.
- Delete any email sent from someone you don't recognize upon receipt.
- Immediately delete any email with strange attachments from someone you don't recognize.
Will Avalon staff come to my house and fix my computer?
No. In rare cases, if a problem is too involved to work through over
the phone, we will ask you to bring your computer into the office. It is,
however, our belief that the more we help you through problems over the
phone, the more you learn. We will not make housecalls, but there are
people who will. Check your local phone directory for listings of computer
service specialists in your area.
Why do I keep getting a message in my inbox that says "DON'T DELETE THIS MESSAGE -- FOLDER INTERNAL DATA"?
The message, from "Mail System Internal Data" contains the body:
This text is part of the internal format of your mail folder, and is not
a real message. It is created automatically by the mail system software.
If deleted, important folder data will be lost, and it will be re-created
with the data reset to initial values.
Every time you check your mail with our webmail system, it checks for one of
these messages and creates a new one if it does not exist. The message is
invisible to webmail, but to other mail systems it looks like just another
piece of mail in your inbox. If you accessed your mail with "PINE" or
another program like webmail that manipulates your inbox directly, you'd see
that message and NOT delete it.
Outlook, Eudora, and other similar mail clients download your messages from
your inbox to your computer and immediately delete them off our server.
By the time you see the "Do not delete" message, its already been deleted
off the server. Next time you log in to webmail it'll replace it which is
why you'll see more and more come in.
There's nothing in that message that absolutely NEEDS to stay. If you
regularly use webmail, rather than outlook, it would be advantageous to
configure outlook to "leave messages on server" when checking mail so that
this message, as well as the other contents of your inbox, stays put and
saves your webmail settings. If you use webmail as a convenient way to
check that mail when away from home, but primarily use outlook, then don't
worry about a thing. Just delete those messages.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
