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1. My modem
reports no dial tone.
There are a number of possible things that can cause this:
a. If someone else in your household is using the phone line (for
instance, making a voice call) your computer's modem won't be able
to get a dial tone and connect to the Internet.
b. If the phone line to your computer is bad, you won't get a dial
tone. To check the phone connection, look at the back of your computer
(or the back of your modem, if you're using an external modem).
Make sure that the phone cord from the wall is plugged into the
modem jack that is labeled "in" or "line" or
"telco line in" or "jack." If the phone cord
is plugged into the modem jack that is labeled "out" or
"phone," your modem will not work. You should also check
to make sure that the phone line, itself, is working. To check this,
plug the phone line directly into a regular phone and verify that
you can hear a dial tone through the phone, and that you can dial
out successfully.
c. If the phone line is working and it is properly connected to
your modem, check the COM port configuration. Here's how to check
this in Windows 95 or Windows 98:
- Go to the Desktop.
- Double-click on the My Computer icon.
- Double-click on the Control Panel icon.
- Double-click on the Modems icon.
- Select your modem.
- Click on the Properties button.
- For the "Port" field, select a different COM port,
then exit the modem properties box by clicking on the OK button.
Try dialing again, and if you still don't get a dial tone,
repeat this step until you've tested each COM port possibility.
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2. Do I need to leave my computer connected
to the Internet all the time in order to receive e-mail?
No. If someone sends you an e-mail message when your computer is
turned off, the message will be saved on our LISCO server. The next
time you dial up and connect to LISCO, the saved message will be
automatically downloaded to your computer.
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3. Sometimes when I'm connected to
LISCO I get bumped off. Why?
There are a number of possible causes of losing a connection:
a. Make sure that your computer is not set to automatically disconnect
you if you are idle for more than x minutes. Here's how to check
this setting on a Windows computer:
- Double-click on the My Computer icon on the Desktop.
- Double-click on the Dial-up Networking icon.
- Right-click on the LISCO icon.
- Choose Properties.
- Click on the Configure button.
- Click on the Connection tab.
- Under "Call Preferences," make sure that "Disconnect
a call if idle for more than x minutes" is not checked.
b. If you are "idle" for more than approximately 20-25
minutes, our server may automatically bump you off. You are considered
idle if you are not actively requesting or sending information (mouse
clicks or keyboard input). The following type of inactivity can
get you bumped off, provided it goes on for 20-25 minutes: walking
away from your computer; reading e-mail; reading a Website; writing
(but not sending) e-mail; hanging out in a chat room. (Even if you're
participating in chat, the activity may not be sufficient to prevent
being bumped off).
c. If you are downloading a file from a remote site and the remote
site stops responding, our server may think that you are idle, and
therefore, bump you off.
d. If, while you're connected to LISCO, someone else connects to
LISCO using your username and password, both users will be disconnected.
(Neither of you will be immediately disconnected. Instead, it may
take up to five minutes before you both are disconnected. And after
you both have been disconnected, neither of you will be able to
connect during a five-minute period after you have been disconnected.)
e. If you have been disconnected by LISCO for being idle or because
of multiple logons, you should NOT try to immediately reconnect.
Here's why: if you have been disconnected by LISCO, and you try
to immediately log on again, although you will be able to connect
again, you will automatically be disconnected within 3 to 5 minutes.
Therefore, if you have been bumped off by LISCO, it's important
that you wait at least 5 minutes before trying to log on again.
f. If your phone service has call waiting, and while you're connected
to LISCO another call comes in to your phone, your connection may
be broken. To prevent this from happening, call your telephone company
and determine whether your account provides the ability to disable
call waiting (and if it does, find out how to disable it). Then
disable call waiting prior to connecting to LISCO.
g. Check to make sure your computer's port speed isn't set too
high:
- Go to the Desktop
- Double-click on the My Computer icon
- Double-click on Dial-up networking
- Right click on LISCO
- Go to properties
- Click on Configure
- Be sure that the maximum speed is set at 57600 or lower.
h. Make sure your e-mail program isn't set to automatically dial
another dial-up number. If it is, you may get disconnected when
you are receiving e-mail.
i. If you have a large e-mail message (more than approximately
1 MB) to download, you may get disconnected while you are downloading
the message.
j. Noise or static on the telephone line between your house and
your telephone company can cause you to be disconnected. You can
check the condition of your phone line by calling the 3Com line
test telephone number (see the line test question, below).
k. If possible, test for premises problems by disconnecting all
your premises wiring (and equipment) from the incoming telephone
company terminating block, and hooking your modem directly to it.
If your connections are better, you have a premises problem that
you may be able to isolate and fix. Premises problems (faulty wiring
and/or equipment like cheap phones and fax machines, and even other
modems) are a frequent cause of connection problems.
l. If you have an outdated modem driver, you may be disconnected.
See the modem driver question, below.
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4. Is there some way to test the quality
of my phone line?
Yes. U.S. Robotics provides a special telephone line that will
test whether your phone line is capable of high-speed modem transmissions.
(If you don't have a good quality line between your house and your
telephone company, you won't get a high-speed connection, and you
may also be randomly disconnected.)
Using a terminal program, call the U.S. Robotics BBS at (847) 330-2780.
You will see the results relating to 56k compatibility.
The following three links contain detailed instructions on how
to run the line test. Click on the link for the computer type and
operating system that best matches your computer.
Line test
for Windows 95/98/NT/ME
Line test
for Mac OS 7.6+
Line
test for Mac OS 7.1 - 7.5
Please note: Running this line test will
result in a long-distance charge on your phone bill, as the line
test telephone number is not a local call.
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5. How can I tell how new (or old) my
modem driver is?
Here's how to check on a Windows computer to see what the date
of your modem driver is:
a. Go to the Desktop
b. Right-click on the My Computer icon
c. Select Properties
d. Select Device Manager
e. Select Modem
f. (Highlight your modem)
g. Select Properties
h. Select Driver
i. See what the date of your driver is. If the date is earlier
than 6-18-98, then it's an old (Windows 95) driver, and you should
get the latest modem driver from the manufacturer of your modem.
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6. How can I avoid having to enter my
password every time I want to connect to LISCO?
a. From the Desktop, double-click on My Computer.
b. Double-click on Dial-up Networking.
c. Double-click on the LISCO icon.
d. Type in your password.
e. Before you click on "Connect" use the left mouse
button to put a check in the "Save Password" box.
This should enter your password automatically every time you dial
up. If it doesn't work, check out the following link to Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q148/9/25.asp
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7. Can I force my computer to automatically
redial LISCO if I get a busy signal on the first try?
Yes. Here's how to do it:
a. Go to the Desktop.
b. Double-click on the My Computer icon.
c. Double-click on the Dial-up Networking icon.
d. Click on the Connections pull-down menu.
e. Click on Settings.
f. When the configuration box appears, place the mouse arrow over
the "Redial" box and press the left mouse button. This
will put a check in that box.
g. Type in a number for how many times you want your modem to
redial before giving up, and for how many minutes or seconds the
modem should wait between redials.
h. Then click on OK to save your settings.
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8. When I'm connected to LISCO, can
I also receive a voice call over my phone line?
Basic answer, No; but there's a qualified Yes answer.
If, after you've established an Internet connection, someone calls
your telephone number, they'll get a busy signal. The incoming call
won't break your Internet connection (unless you have call waiting,
in which case the connection may or may not be broken).
There are, however, a number of products and services that are
designed to allow you to accept and/or be notified of incoming calls:
-Special Modems:
a. Boca 56K Tidalwave Modem
http://www.bocaresearch.com/products/tidalwave.html
b. Diamond SupraSonic II
http://www.diamondmm.com/products/current/sonic2.cfm
-Add-on Call Waiting Detectors:
a. Call Catcher
http://www.nexuscontrols.com/
b. Call Pending Indicator
http://www.humanelectronics.com/
c. Computer Peripheral Systems
http://www.cpscom.com/cwp.htm
d. HotCall
http://www.command-comm.com/hc2000.html
e. WEBS Call Waiting Detector
http://www.mbay.net/~rsb/
-Services:
a. Busy Buster
http://www.busybuster.com/
b. Internet Call Manager
http://www.internetcallmanager.com/
c. Pagoo
http://www.pagoo.com/
d. Free Voicemail for your home phone
http://www.evoice.com/home.html
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9. How do I change my default home page?
The home page is the first web page that you see when you open
up your browser. Here's how to choose a new home page in Netscape
Communicator:
a. From the Edit menu,
choose Preferences.
b. Click the Navigator
category.
c. In the "Home
page...Location" box, type in the address of the site you'd
like for your home page.
Here's how to choose a new home page in version 3 of Netscape Navigator:
a. From the Options menu,
choose General Preferences.
b. Click the Appearance
tab.
c. Where it says "Startup...Browser
Starts With:," click on the "Home Page Location:"
button.
d. Type in the address
of the site you'd like for your home page.
Here's how to choose a new home page in Internet Explorer:
a. On the View menu,
click Internet Options.
b. Click the General
tab.
c. In the "Home
page...Address" box, type in the address of the site you'd
like for your home page.
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10. Where can I get free e-mail?
LISCO provides one free e-mail account with its regular dial-up
service, and, if you want, you can pay for additional e-mail accounts
from LISCO. However, there are a number of sources of free e-mail
accounts on the web, and a few of these free services have the added
advantage that you can retrieve your e-mail easily through your
web browser from any computer that has Internet access. Here are
some sites that offer free e-mail:
http://www.hotmail.com/
http://www.juno.com/
http://www.rocketmail.com/
http://www.excite.com/Info/mailexcite/welcome.html
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11. I got an error message saying
"404 File Not Found." What does this mean?
You can get this message when a server can't find the URL (the
web site address) that you've typed in. (Alternately, you may get
an error message saying that your browser "is unable to locate
the server....") You may have made a typing mistake when you
entered the address, or you may have the wrong address, or the document
that you're looking for may no longer exist. There are, however,
some things that you can try if you get this error message:
a. If the URL ends in .htm, try entering .html
instead, or vice-versa.
b. If this doesn't work, and you're sure that
the page is still running, try shortening the URL to see if you
can get to an index page. For example, let's say you get the 404
error when you try to go to the following URL:
http://www.eudora.com/pro_email/updaters.html
Try chopping off the end of the URL, leaving:
http://www.eudora.com/pro_email/
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12. Why am I not connecting at the
higher 56k speed?
In order to get a high-speed (56k) connection, the following conditions
must exist:
a. You must live in one of the communities in which LISCO has high
speed, 56k equipment. At present, we have 56k modems in the following
communities:
Albia/Eddyville
Burlington
Centerville
Columbus Junction
Fairfield
Knoxville
Mt. Pleasant
Ottumwa
Oskaloosa
Pella
Washington
If you dial into any of our other locations, you will be able to
connect at no higher than 33.6k.
b. You must have a 56k modem that is V.90 (or x2) compatible. If
you have any question about the type of modem you have, you can
contact the manufacturer of your modem or your computer.
c. Your computer must be using an up-to-date, 56k-modem driver.
(See the question, "How can I tell how new (or old) my modem
driver is," above.)
d. Your phone line must be capable of 56k speeds. If the phone
line that connects your house (or business) to your phone company
is not capable of 56k speeds, you will be limited to lower connection
speeds. (See the question, "Is there some way to test the quality
of my phone line," above.) Even if your phone company tests
your line and reports that there's nothing wrong with it, your line
may still not be capable of 56k speeds. Your phone company is responsible
only for providing you with a voice quality phone line (14.4k);
they are under no obligation to provide you with a high-speed line
capable of 56k-speeds. When the phone company says that a line is
perfectly OK, they mean only that it's OK for voice transmission.
Also, just because a new phone line was recently installed by the
phone company doesn't mean that the line is capable of 56k speeds.
e. It is very unlikely that, even under the most ideal conditions,
you will connect at the "rated" or maximum speed of your
modem. For example, if your modem is rated at 56Kbps, you will probably
never connect at more than about 42Kbps. (The national average for
a 56k modem is 45-48K.) In fact, because of Federal Communications
Commission regulations, it is actually impossible for 56k modems
to communicate at speeds faster than 53k.
f. Your local premise wiring may adversely affect your connection
speed. The following factors can effect the connection speed: the
quality of the electrical ground; the type of wire used in the house;
the number of other phone devices in the house (multiple phones,
portable phones, caller id boxes, multiple extensions, fashion phones
with lights, answering machines, FAXs, etc.).
g. The weather may adversely affect your connection speed. Water
or moisture on one of the cables can cause noise on your line. This
can occur with either underground or aboveground lines.
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13. How do I change the dial-up
telephone number so I can connect to LISCO in another city?
Here's how to change the LISCO dial-up telephone number from within
Windows 95 and Windows 98:
a. Go to the Desktop and double-click on the
My Computer icon.
b. Double-click on the Dial-Up Networking icon.
c. Right-click on the LISCO icon.
d. Choose Properties.
e. When the LISCO ("General") box appears,
enter the new telephone number in the "Telephone number"
field.
f. Click on "OK."
g. From now on, your computer will dial the new
telephone number whenever you want to get on the Internet.
h. If you've changed the dial-up number in order
to temporarily visit another city, make sure and change the setting
back to the original dial-up number when you return home.
Here's how to change the LISCO dial-up telephone number on Macintosh
computers:
a. Click on the Apple pull-down menu.
b. Choose Control Panels.
c. Select "PPP" (or "Remote Access").
d. Replace the existing telephone number that's
in the "Number" field with the new LISCO dial-up telephone
number.
e. If you've changed the dial-up number in order
to temporarily visit another city, make sure and change the setting
back to the original dial-up number when you return home.
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14. What is the LISCO Express Lane?
The LISCO Express Lane is a set of special telephone lines that
users in Columbus Junction can dial into for short periods of time.
Users can stay connected to the LISCO Express Lane for only 5 minutes,
so these lines are especially useful for those times when you want
to connect to the Internet merely to receive your e-mail, or to
browse to a site quickly.
Here is the LISCO Express Lane telephone number:
Columbus Junction = 728-0952
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15. Why do I pay a different monthly
fee than my friend in another town?
Our costs to provide phone lines can vary from community to community,
depending on, among other things, how much we are charged by the
local phone company to bring in lines to a particular area.
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16. My husband and I have two computers
and two telephone lines at home. Can we both connect to the Internet
at the same time?
No, not unless you have two separate dial-up accounts. A LISCO
Internet account allows only one person at a time to be connected
to the Internet. If one person is already logged in to LISCO with
your username, and a second person logs in using the same username
and password, both users will loose their connections. (They won't
loose their connections immediately. Both connections will be terminated
after 3-5 minutes from the time the second user connected.) And
after both users have been disconnected, neither will be able to
re-connect to LISCO for another five minutes. If you need simultaneous
access for more than one user, contact LISCO at (515) 472-5400 and
inquire about getting a second dial-up account (and a second username).
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17. I received an e-mail message
from LISCO saying that "Your last connection to the Internet
got automatically disconnected because more than one party was trying
to use the same username at the same time." But I'm the only
person who ever uses this account. What's going on?
Even if you are convinced that only you know the password to your
account, there must be someone else who also knows your account's
username and password. Inadvertent multi-logons often happen in
a family situation: sons or daughters go over to a friend's house
or the library and use the parents' username and password, not realizing
that there can't be two computers calling into LISCO using the same
username and password at the same time. Alternatively, a user invites
a friend over to his house to show him something on the Internet,
and while looking at the computer the friend sees the username and
password, then goes home and connects to LISCO with his friend's
username and password. Or sometimes there are two computers in a
home, and one person uses one computer to log into the LISCO account,
not realizing that someone else in the house is already using the
other computer to log into the same LISCO account (there would have
to be two phone lines in the house for this to happen). You should
consider changing your password. Contact LISCO at (515) 472-5400.
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18. How can I prevent people from sending
me SPAM (unwanted e-mail)?
LISCO now offers a SPAM-free and virus-free
email filtering system, at no cost to LISCO customers. To learn
more about this service, please go to our SPAM-Free
Email page.
Unsolicited e-mail, which is called SPAM, can consist of unwanted
messages or advertisements, junk mail, chain letters, fraudulent
product or service promotions, or harassing or threatening e-mails
sent to thousands of recipients.
Unfortunately, there is no foolproof way of preventing SPAM from
being sent to you.
Spammers can get your e-mail address in a number of ways. If you
post a message on a Usenet newsgroup, or your e-mail address appears
on a Web page, then your address will be available to anyone on
the Internet. And when you send a private e-mail message to a friend,
your e-mail address may end up on a SPAM mailing list. (Your friend
may forward your message, especially if it contains a joke, to a
number of his friends, and a spammer may be a friend of one of those
friends.)
Spammers sometimes send mail to addresses that have been computer
generated. For example, SPAM can be sent to jdoe@aol.com, jdoe1@aol.com,
jdoe2@aol.com, jdoe3@aol.com, etc. Although the sender has no way
of initially knowing whether any of these computer-generated addresses
are legitimate, he will nonetheless send out messages to these (and
thousands of other potentially viable) addresses.
In the body of the unwanted e-mail message there will probably
be instructions for how to be removed from the spammer’s mailing
list. If you follow these instructions and request to be removed
from the list, you will probably INCREASE your chances of receiving
more SPAM. Here’s why.
By requesting to be removed, you will let the spammer know that
your e-mail address is a legitimate address, as contrasted to one
of the other computer generated addresses that no one uses. Once
the spammer knows that your address is valid, he’ll likely send
you more SPAM. Or worse yet, he’ll add your address to a
mailing list, and sell that list to other spammers.(A mailing list
consisting of "live" addresses is very desirable.)
Therefore, it’s best NOT to request to be removed from a spammer’s
mailing list. (And for the same reason, don’t reply to a spammer
for any reason, even to complain.) Instead, just delete the unwanted
e-mail message.
The following site contains more information about dealing with
SPAM: <http://stopspam.sparklist.com/>
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19. Additional tips about dealing with
SPAM.
SPAM is a form of unwanted junk email. Everyone with an email address
eventually receives SPAM unless you use a few expert techniques.
Our system does not allow us to filter or block email in any way.
The difficulty in filtering legitimate mail vs. SPAM is that there
is no effective way to determine the difference between legitimate
mailings and junk messages. There are applications available that
allow SPAMmers to hide their sending address and send mass mailings.
Some of these applications can also determine the difference between
a legitimate mailing address vs. an invalid email address. Emails
that you have forwarded from your mailbox (or messages you have
sent that have been forwarded by others) also can advertise your
email address to SPAMmers. We currently do not provide SPAM filtering
as a service.
The federal government is currently attempting to pass legislation
known as the Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Act, making SPAM
a punishable crime. For information, see this article:
http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/privacy/story/0,23008,3316647,00.html
Here are a few techniques you can use to prevent yourself from
receiving SPAM:
a) Replying to SPAM to unsubscribe from future mailings is something
you should NOT do, as they can use your replies to verify that your
address is a valid address, which will enable them to further send
more SPAM into your mailbox.
b) Changing your email address is a temporary solution to preventing
SPAM, however it is only a matter of time before your email address
gets circulated or they are able to determine if your address may
be valid.
If you wish to change your email address, you will probably want
to contact us over the phone. You will want to make sure you have
received all your email before you call our support department,
as once the username changes any mail stored on our server will
be lost. You will also need to inform anyone you correspond with
regarding the changes in your email address. Our technicians can
also further answer any questions about reconfiguring your mail
application to reflect any changes in your email address.
c) The easiest way to remove SPAM is to just delete the SPAM email
you download.
d) For an easy to read article regarding SPAM, see the following
URLs for more info:
http://site.lisco.com/lisco/karpentips/karpen_spam262.htm
http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/privacy/jump/0,23009,3316817,00.html
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20. How can I access my
email when I'm on vacation?
There are two ways to access your LISCO email when
you're out of southeast Iowa.
a) The first method involves dialing long-distance
from wherever you are. This will involve changing the dialer settings
so the computer you use will dial our number. This step works easiest
when you are bringing your home computer along with you on your
away-from-home-trip, as no other settings need to be adjusted. Our
Customer Support staff can assist you with creating an easy way
to switch from dialing locally to dialing our service from long-distance.
The downside in accessing the Internet this way is that you will
incur long-distance telephone charges for the duration you are dialed
into LISCO when not in the local calling area.
b) The second method involves using a local Internet
provider from the area you are at (so your computer only has to
make a local call), and accessing your LISCO email by using LISCO
Webmail at http://webmail.lisco.com
. (LISCO's WebMail feature allows you to send and receive email,
anytime, anywhere in the world, using a browser on any computer
that has Internet access. It works similarly to a Hotmail® account.)
Instructions on using LISCO WebMail can be found at http://site.lisco.com/services/webmail.html
.
Alternately, if you take your computer with you on your trip and
subscribe to a local Internet provider for the Internet connection
only, LISCO can assist you with configuring your email software
to retrieve your email into your email program, instead of using
LISCO Webmail.
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