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Basic Frequently Asked Questions: What is Wireless High-Speed Internet Access? SURFSOTA delivers its high-speed Internet access via radio waves. An antenna is installed outside a house or business, either on the building itself or on a pole or post away from the building. A wire is then run from the outdoor antenna into the house. (If trenching is required, the homeowner or business owner will be asked if they would like to do that part of the hook up themselves.) The computer is then directly connected via the wire. If mobility is desired, or if we are dealing with more than one computer, a wireless router may be utilized to provide service. Internet data (or packets) are delivered to the home, business, or other location over the radio waves at very high speeds.
Where are the transmitter locations? We are currently establishing service in the Upsala, Swanville and Holdingford areas. Our goal is to expand our coverage from these areas as demand presents itself.
Can I Get Service at My Home or Business? Yes. This technology has been able to provide service to most of the households within an 8-mile radius of our transmitter locations. “Line of sight” between the antenna of the customer and the servicing transmitting tower is required for proper transmission and service. Trees and other obstructions will affect your ability to receive our service. We will provide you with a free site survey to determine whether you can currently get a signal from our installed transmitter locations. Since it is our objective to provide Internet Anywhere services, we will work with you to present you with connection options.
When is the Service Available? In the Upsala, Swanville St. Rosa and Holdingford area, service should be available on or about the end of October, 2005. We are currently pre-selling our service plans. Signing up now will insure prompt installation at your home or business.
What Are My Service Options? We are currently offering seven standard options for service packages. These packages are based on maximum speed of desired data throughput. Refer to the document entitled “Wireless DSL Packages” for package details. You will need to choose one of the following packages: 64X, 128X, 256X, 512X, 768X, 1000X, or 1500X. See us for custom options if these packages do not meet your needs.
How is This Service Different than Satellite Internet? Our wireless service is much faster than satellite service. Since our typical customer is within 8 miles of our transmitter, your data typically passes through our radios and to Chicago (often considered the “center” of the Internet) from your location in 30 to 50 milliseconds. This is much faster than satellite (1000+ msec) and dialup access. We are often faster than other high-speed providers as we have fewer switches (electronic delays) than the typical provider.
Does Weather Impact My Service? No. This service, AKA terrestrial wireless Internet access is NOT affected by wind, rain, snow, fog, sunspots, or other natural elements. We cannot, however, prevent Mother Nature from causing problems with lightning or tornadoes if she so chooses to attack your installed antenna.
Do I Need a Phone Line? No. Our service does not require access to a phone line. We are not affiliated with our local phone company and attempt to save costs for our customers by eliminating the need for a second phone line or dependency on their services.
How Much Speed Can I Get? A typical rural dialup connection delivers only 28kbps (kilobits per second) of bandwidth to your computer. With radio connectivity, we have virtually no limitations on the amount of bandwidth that can be delivered to your home. Current limitations for this technology allow for delivery of bandwidth up to 1 gigabit per second to a remote location. Our current standard service offering will allow you to choose up to 1500 kbps to your location.
How Much Speed Do I Need? We have provided a Wireless DSL Package Insert for information on what each of our packages offers for speed and other features. We give you the opportunity to experiment with various speeds before determining what package you want.
Will My Web Pages Load Quickly? Yes. Since wireless data packets travel at the speed of light, the time between your mouse click and the website response is minimized. This allows websites to respond quickly to your requests. Once your request is acknowledged, the large wireless “pipe” will allow the data to be transmitted or received very quickly. You will no longer experience long waits for web pages to load or pictures to be sent.
Do I Need to Log In or Turn On My Service Every Day? No. We encourage you to leave your computer on at all times so you are ALWAYS connected to the Internet. This makes it easier for your friends and family to chat with you on instant messenger programs or receive emails within seconds of when they are sent. Your wireless Internet connection does not require login or password authentication. If you turn your computer on, you are connected to the Internet.
What if I Select a Package that is Too Slow for My Needs? We offer the ability for you to change your package on a daily basis. If you would like to increase or decrease your speed for a specific day, you can. We do not charge for these changes and encourage you to select the package that best meets your DAILY needs. This allows you to economically utilize the service that best works for your applications.
What Are My Installation Costs? Depending on where you live and the computer you have, your installation could range from $250.00 to $500.00. Prices will vary, dependent upon what is necessary to establish effective service to each location. We have many options available for installations that will allow you to satisfy your needs and the needs of the location with the least possible cost. We will provide you with a free site survey and installation option estimates for your location. We will find a solution that fits your situation and your budget.
How Many Computers Can I Use With My Connection? Unlimited. We encourage you to connect as many computers as you like to your SURFSOTA broadband connection. We recommend that you install a router/firewall if you are connecting more than one computer so you can properly protect your computers from unauthorized users. Your monthly bandwidth total to your router (or network server) will be measured and provided to you via web access or month-end invoice. There are no additional charges for additional computers that are connected to your broadband connection if a router is being used and it is set to provide a DHCP connection for all of the computers within your local area network. Your monthly bandwidth usage will reflect the bandwidth sum of all the computers.
What Kind of Computer Do I Need? Our service will work with any computer that has a NIC Ethernet interface.
What If I Don’t Have an Ethernet Card or Port? We will evaluate your computer hardware during the site survey and include the installation of a NIC or USB to Ethernet Adaptor as part of the installation package.
What Operating System is Needed for Your System? Our service works with ANY operating system. However, we strongly recommend that if you are operating with Windows 98, ME, or an earlier operating system, you should consider an operating system upgrade. Since Windows 98 is no longer actively supported (with Windows updates) by microsoft, it is wise to utilize a system that is current.
Is There Any Special Software Required? No. Once connected, you will use your favorite browser and email client to surf the Internet and get your email.
Satisfaction Guaranteed—What Does This Mean? We strive to provide premium connectivity, excellent customer service, and reliable Internet access. If you have reported your problem using our customer service system and are not satisfied with your SURFSOTA Internet access, we will issue you a credit for any service interruptions that were SURFSOTA related. This credit will vary according to each customer’s individual situation. If you are not satisfied with your service, please report your issues as soon as possible and we will work quickly to resolve them. If the problems with your service are NOT SURFSOTA related, we will offer you options, if possible, to restore your connection. These problems would not qualify for SURFSOTA service credit.
What is My Estimated Service Availability? We will attempt to provide network availability 100% of the time. We will realistically be able to attain approximately 99.9% uptime on a regular basis. If we are unable to provide 99% or higher uptime, we will issue customer credits for lost service. Planned maintenance and downtime are NOT included in our downtime calculations. We will provide network uptime statistics to our customers on a monthly basis.
Do I Get Credit for Network Downtime? Yes. We expect our network to be available to you 99.9% of the time. This means that you could possibly be down up to 45 minutes each month. We will obviously strive to attain 100% network availability at all times. If we are unable to provide you with 99% or higher uptime, we will issue you a credit on your account for service that does not meet these standards.
What Are My Email Options? We will provide you with an email address of your choice using the format of username@surfsota.com Depending on your package selected, you will be given the following number of free email addresses: 64X-2, 128X-3, 256X-4, 512X-5, 768X-6, 1000X-8, 1500X-12. Additional email addresses will be issued at a cost of $1.00 per email address per month. See us about getting special email addresses with your domain in the format of username@yourdomain.com.
How Can I Access My Email? You can access your email by using an email client (such as Outlook or Outlook Express) or via WebMail. Your email client should be set to mail.surfsota.com (SMTP, POP3, etc.) to access your email. You will need to also provide your client with your username and password (one time setup). You can also access your email on any computer with Internet access using a browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc.). Go to http://webmail.xtratyme.com (type webmail.xtratyme.com without the prefix www) and you will be prompted for your username and password.
What if I Want to Connect to the Internet Using My Laptop? As service is established we will have mobile options for those that wish to access their Internet connection while traveling in Upsala, Swanville and Holdingford areas. This same option would allow a user to access Internet services anywhere our radio signal is available throughout the entire Xtratyme network.
Can I Get Internet Access Anywhere in My House? Yes. If you are interested in roaming throughout your house, property or business without wire, we’d be happy to help you design a home network using our service. Many people are finding that working with a laptop is much more relaxing if you can change your location anytime you want.
Can I Get Internet Access in My Car? Yes. As our network expands your access will expand Absolutely. If you want to surf while you are in many areas throughout central Minnesota, we can get you connected. We will be expanding our network towards the Twin Cities so you can soon access your high-speed Internet during that long, boring drive to Minneapolis (passengers of course).
What Can I Do With My Internet Access? Anything. Use your imagination and put a wireless camera in your car, on your dock, in the tree, by the birdhouse, etc. and allow your friends and family throughout the world to see how nice it is to live and work in rural America. Monitor your home security; control the temperature of your house from work, etc. With a high-speed always-on connection, you will have many opportunities to be innovative and creative in the way you use the Internet.
Does SURFSOTA Offer Spam Protection? We believe that your privacy is sacred. We currently monitor email “attacks”, often called Spam so that you do not receive those annoying emails that can be offensive and often time-consuming. We offer an optional (free) Spam filtering service to prevent Spammers from bothering you. We have been regularly successful in blocking 80% to 90% of the Spam before it can be sent to your PC.
Is My Privacy Protected? Yes. We will not sell your name, nor will we Spam you with advertisements. We respect your time and privacy and will do everything possible to protect both.
What is Surfsota’s Acceptable Use Policy? We require that you do not participate in illegal Internet activity. We also require that you follow the rules associated with our service so you do not impact the quality of service to our other customers.
How Can I Make Money Recommending XTI Services? We market our services by providing customer satisfaction and utilizing an effective word-of-mouth campaign. If you are interested in helping others to “get connected”, you may qualify for an excellent income opportunity; we have developed a program that can generate attractive up-front income and long-term residual income for you if you tell others about our service.
Can SURFSOTA Help Me With My Fundraiser? We’d love to! We have developed a program that will allow organizations to make money while connecting their community. This program features excellent opportunities for your club or organization to generate income every year without the hassle of ongoing sales or promotions. The organization’s accumulative residual income grows each year as its members develop a network of connected customers.
Can I Become an Authorized Representative of SURFSOTA Services? Yes. We are looking for honest, hard working individuals that can tell others about our services. We offer attractive commissions and good residual long-term income for those that would like to represent us on a full-time or part-time basis.
Are There Security Issues With My Service? We suggest that you utilize a home router or firewall to protect your computer from outside intrusion. Our wireless access is very safe and difficult to “hack”. We offer VPN and encryption options for critical data transfers.
Should I Leave My Computer On? Yes. Take advantage of instant messaging and real-time email to minimize your phone costs. Many users have replaced the majority of their phone calls with instant messaging communications to their friends and relatives throughout the world. Your broadband access will finally allow you to experience good quality videoconferencing. Would you like to get rid of your phone? If so, we can provide you with options to utilize phone services over your SURFSOTA Broadband connection.
Does SURFSOTA Offer Virtual Help Desk Services? Yes. We have developed a very efficient system for customer service. We believe that your time is very valuable so we request that when contacting us, you leave a message so you don’t have to waste your time on hold or for the “next available technician”. If you have are having a problem, we will generate a ticket and get back to you when you want us to call. This service is available 24/7 and is designed to meet your schedule. We are also offering a 24/7 Hotline that is designed to deal with the more "urgent" situations. Typical response to our Hotline calls are 15 minutes or less.
Who Can I Contact With My Internet Challenge? Contact SURFSOTA. Someone from our staff or associates will be glad to help you.
What is the SURFSOTA Customer Service Guarantee? If you contact us, we will get back to you in the shortest possible time. We believe that your time is golden and we will do all in our power to meet your needs.
How Can I Determine Service Availability? Contact us and schedule an appointment for a site survey.
Can I Cancel My SURFSOTA Service? We do not require long-term contracts nor do we have early cancellation fees. We believe you will like our service and work with us indefinitely. If you wish to cancel your service, you may contact us any time.
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High Speed / Wireless Internet 
