| Datasync Old News
Shell server maintenance: shell.datasync.com (aka ftp.datasync.com)
is currently unavailable due to a faulty disk. We're in the process
of replacing the disk and restoring the data and will return it to
service shortly.
News server maintenance: news.datasync.com is unavailable as of
this writing for an overviews (article index) rebuild. The overview
method previously in use has proven unstable, so we are switching to
a different method which should be less problematic. The newsgroups
will again be available as soon as this rebuild is complete, which
may take a couple of hours.
World Trade Center Relief Scams - CAUTION: There have been
reports of scam artists using Tuesday's tragedy to solicit
donations via credit card for the Red Cross and other organizations
to aid in the relief efforts. Donation information for the Red Cross
is available from their web site.
Paypal and Amazon.com are also accepting Red Cross donations. Please
report any suspicious solicitations.
New and Improved Mail Filters - The amount of junk email ("spam")
being sent over the Internet continues to spiral higher. In response, we have
set up more and better filters for those who wish to minimize the amount
of junk they receive. These include an Open Relay filter utilizing the
database maintained by ORDB.ORG,
and an Executable Attachment filter which can help protect against
email-borne viruses.
The mail filters may be enabled by going to the E-mail Filter link
in the Account Control Center.
Existing filter users will need to revisit the configuration in order to
enable the new filters. Please read the instructions and caveats for
each filter.
VIRUS ALERT - A new Microsoft Outlook virus is spreading once again. Known
as the SirCam virus, this program infects its hosts and begins distributing random
files from the host's hard drive via e-mail to recipients listed in the user's address
book. Datasync does not recommend any one e-mail program over another, but we
DO NOT recommend using Microsoft Outlook until such time as you have taken all necessary
precautions (security patches, etc..) to prevent further spreading the virus or any
new ones similiar in nature.
More information about this virus and how to remove it, can be found
here.
Mobile Line Down - Due to a fiber cut (again) in New Orleans, our T1 connection
to the Mobile area is currently down. We have temporary circuits in place to provide
a minimum level of service. This affects customers dialing Mobile and Spanish Fort.
The telco is working to get the line back up as quickly as possible.
UPDATE: Service has been restored.
News down - The Datasync news server is currently down again for maintenance due
to an unexpected disk problem. This is unrelated to the earlier problem.
UPDATE: The news server has been returned to normal operations. Due to a disk
failure however, much of the news for today was unrecoverable.
News down - The Datasync news server is currently down for maintenance due
to an unexpected disk problem. We expect to have the server back online sometime
after 2AM.
Voice lines down - The incoming phone lines for the Datasync office are
currently down. We have contacted the telco in order to correct the problem.
This only affects incoming and outcoming voice calls. Customers may dial
the I-55 toll free number (888-670-1170) until the telco has resolved the
problem.
Maintenance scheduled - We will be performing maintenance during
the morning hours (2AM) on Monday, May 28th at our New Orleans SuperPOP.
Downtime is not expected to be any longer than 15 minutes.
News server maintenance - Software upgrades on news.datasync.com
are scheduled for Thursday night/Friday morning, May 17-18.
Inbound feeds will be delayed several hours but will catch up
after the work is done. Disruptions of news reading should
be of short duration. News reading performance over high-speed
connections and from the shell should be noticably better after
this upgrade.
Maintenance scheduled - We will be performing routine maintenance and
upgrades during the morning hours (5AM) on Wednesday, May 9th at our
Mississippi SuperPop. This will affect all Mississippi dialup, DSL,
and dedicated customers. Downtime is not expected to be any longer
than 30 minutes.
Service interruption - Customers in the Picayune, Poplarville, and Delta
dialing areas will experience a brief service interruption during the morning
hours (8AM) on Friday, May 4th. We will be upgrading firmware in dial equipment
servicing these areas.
Free mailboxes now available - Virtually Unlimited ($19.95) and
above dialup accounts, and ADSL accounts, are now eligible for a
limited number of free Mailbox Only secondary accounts, as listed
in the table below. Basic 30 and Economy dialups are not eligible.
- Primary Virtually Unlimited Dialup, including Dual Port:
two additional mailboxes.
- Each secondary Virtually Unlimited Dialup, including Dual Port:
one additional mailbox.
- Single-Host ADSL: two additional mailboxes.
- Multi-Host ADSL: four additional mailboxes.
The free status will begin with statements dated May 1
(charges made earlier will not be prorated). Extra mailboxes
above the number qualified for per the above table will remain
$2.00/month each.
Late charges reduced - Starting today, late payment charges are
$2.00 or 2% of past due balance, whichever is greater, for payments
not received by the due date. This is a reduction from the previous
charge of $5 or 5%. The maximum amount which may be carried forward
without late charge is now $5.00, formerly $9.90.
Mobile Line Down - Due to a fiber cut in New Orleans, our T1 connection
to the Mobile area is currently down. We have temporary circuits
in place to provide a minimum level of service. This affects all Alabama
customers. The telco is working to get the line back up as quickly as possible.
UPDATE: Service has been restored.
Super POP Problems - Due to faulty equipment in our network access servers,
many customers may have experienced difficulty connecting via modem to the
Mississippi Super POP during the morning hours. We have isolated the problem and
all operations have been returned to normal. We will be replacing the suspect
equipment within the next day or two. We apologize for any inconvenience this may
have caused.
Commnet server move - The comm.net mail server and home.comm.net
web server are being moved to a new machine tonight beginning around
2 AM. Expected downtime is 1-2 hours. No configuration changes should
be necessary on the client side.
Voice lines down - The incoming phone lines for the Datasync office are
currently down. We have contacted the telco in order to correct the problem.
This only affects incoming and outcoming voice calls.
UPDATE: Our telco has corrected the problem.
ADSL available in new areas - ADSL service is being added in many new areas
along the Mississippi Gulf Coast over the next few months. This includes
Gautier, Pass Christian and areas surounding Ocean Springs such as Gulf
Hills, Gulf Park Estates and the St. Andrews area. If you are interested in
ADSL please visit the ADSL Information page
and submit your phone number for DSL loop qualification. If it is not currently
available, customers are encouraged to try again every month as new areas are added.
Service interruption - Our New Orleans super pop will experience brief
service interruptions during the early morning hours (2AM) on Tuesday, March 20.
We will be working on our dial equipment. Some customers may experience service interruptions while this work is
being performed. Downtime should be only 30-45 minutes.
Service interruption - Our New Orleans super pop will experience brief
service interruptions during the early morning hours (2AM) on Thursday, March 14.
Our telco provider will be running line tests on one of the digital T3s
comprising 1/3 of the New Orleans dial lines. Any users on the line
being tested will be disconnected but should be able to reconnect immediately without
any problems.
Pascagoula/Gautier line problems - To date, neither BellSouth nor KMC
have been able to determine the cause of the connection problems with customers
in the Pascagoula, Gautier, and Moss Point calling areas. KMC, our local telco,
has asked that customers experiencing these problems call BellSouth to report a
problem calling KMC numbers to Datasync. Please note that this is ONLY for
customers in the Pascagoula, Gautier and Moss Point dialing areas.
Service interruption - We will be working on dial equipment in
our New Orleans super pop during the early AM March 8th.
Some customers may experience service interruptions while this work is
being performed. Downtime should be only a few minutes.
Pascagoula/Gautier line problems - We have been receiving numerous
reports from customers relating to poor connection quality in the
Pascagoula and Gautier calling areas. We are working with the telco
to resolve this issue but thus far have been unable to find any problems.
In order to correct this problem, we are asking customers who are
experiencing the following symptoms (in these calling areas ) to provide as much
information as possible to assist the telco in locating the cause of the
problems and to get it corrected.
Line testing - The Datasync voice lines will be undergoing testing by our
telco between 2 and 5AM tomorrow morning. The testing is not expected to last
more than an hour. During this time, calls into the Datasync phone system
will be unavailable. This only affects voice calls.
Lucedale call problems: Due to the very old phone switch in Lucedale,
BellSouth is limited to routing only 30 calls to our new system from each of
the 766-3282, 766-9775 and 947-1690 numbers. There are no such limitations
on the 363-1300 number. When the BellSouth 30 call limit is reached,
customers will get busy signals. Since there is no such limit on the
363-1300 number it is recommended that all Lucedale customers switch to the
main Datasync number, 363-1300.
Voice line problems - Our phone numbers for technical
and customer service are currently experiencing problems.
Many customers are reporting the lines are ringing with
no answer. We have informed our telco of the problem
and they are working to correct it as quickly as possible.
UPDATE: The problem has been corrected.
Service interruption - We will be working on lines and equipment in our Mississippi
super pop between 2:00 and 6:00 AM Friday, January 19th. This will cause any customers
connected during this period to lose connectivity. This will affect dial up, DSL,
and dedicated customers using the Mississippi Super POP during these hours.
Spam Alert - There are "spam" messages going around entitled "Special 2001 Offer for
all datasync.com, users!" and "Attention All datasync.com, users!". These messages are in
NO way associated with Datasync. If you receive these e-mails, please ignore them.
Sprint problems - Our upstream T3 provider (Sprint) is currently
experiencing problems in their Fort Worth equipment which in turn is
causing high latency in our Biloxi Internet connection. We've opened
a trouble ticket with Sprint and the problem should be corrected shortly.
UPDATE: All Sprint circuits appear to have been returned to normal
operation.
New 601 access numbers - Testing of new access numbers in the
601 area has been completed with reports of improved performance
and stability. These lines support Analog, V.90, and ISDN. Customers
in the following areas are encouraged to begin using the new numbers.
- Hattiesburg - 332-1300
- Lucedale - 363-1300
- Wiggins - 367-1300
- Picayune - 379-1300
- Poplarville - 386-1300
Telco interruption - We will be working on lines coming into our
super pop between 8:00-8:30 AM December 18th. This will cause
some customers to lose connectivity. If you experience a disconnection,
please wait a couple of minutes and then try your call again. This
will affect customers primarily in the Biloxi and Pass Christian areas.
Server move - We will be relocating our web caching server
later today to our KMC colocation space. Users using "cache.datasync.com"
in their browsers will not notice any changes. Any users using the IP address
instead of the host name will need to update their software to use the host
name, otherwise, service will be interrupted when the equipment is moved. This
move will improve caching performance for users dialing into our super POP.
Server replacement scheduled - We will be replacing the authentication
and accounting server with a new machine early next Tuesday, December 12.
This will be done during the 2-5 AM time frame. The Account Control Center
web functions will be unavailable during this period. Also, Tech Support
will be unable to handle account-related requests such as adding or
activating accounts and changing passwords while the work is being done.
Interruption of dialup authentication will be minimal (5-10 minutes)
if at all.
Mobile update - The T1 connecting Mobile back to the
Datasync internetwork has finally been installed and turned up.
Mobile update - Yesterday the Mobile telco servicing our lines experienced
a major outage at their central office, reportedly bringing down nearly half of
all circuits served out of that location. This affected many customers, in addition
to Datasync, in the Mobile and surrounding areas. The telco reports all circuits back
online at this time.
Two T1 circuits into our Mobile POP are scheduled for install this week. One will
connect directly to an Internet backbone and the other will run back into the Datasync
internetwork. As before, we've heard this "any day now" schedule from the telco many
times already without results.
Mail glitch: A communication breakdown between the Datasync SMTP
server and our MX (mail delivery) server Friday night caused delayed
delivery for some locally-originated messages which were sent Friday
evening and early Saturday morning. All messages have now been delivered.
Messages to or from outside addresses were not affected.
Once again, Datasync Internet Services, in cooperation with the U.S.
Marine Corps of Gulfport, will be acting as a drop off
location for toy donations from now until December 15th
for the Toys for Tots program this year. Customers of Datasync
can also contribute on-line with a donation that will be matched
by Datasync for purchasing toys. Visit the
Toys For Tots page
for more information.
Dial number update - All dial numbers are reported by
the telco to be working properly again. Any customers
using the temporary 877 number should switch to the
normal numbers immediately. The 877 number is scheduled
to be disconnected.
New Louisiana numbers - The following list of numbers
should now be used for dialing the respective LA POPS:
- 627-1823 Hammond
- 235-1823 New Orleans
- 445-1823 Slidell
- 377-1823 Mandeville
- 635-1823 Covington
Mobile update - Due to a break in power lines serving
our Mobile office both yesterday and again this morning, our
Alabama users have suffered a severe deficit in service availability.
According to Alabama Power, the lines have been fully repaired and
they do not expect any further problems. Our main T1 connection is
still down and we are currently expecting installation of a new T1
with a different telco provider to be installed this week. Customers
using the 877 number should revert back to the normal numbers.
Datasync DSL - Datasync is proud to announce that
ADSL service through Datasync is now available along
the Mississippi Gulf Coast in addition to the New
Orleans Metro and North Shore areas. For more information see our
DSL Information page
and our ADSL Service Rates and
Descriptions page.
Pascagoula/Gautier update - Connection problems associated
with customers dialing into these areas should be corrected. The
telco has located faulty trunk lines that were being used to
transport calls back to our equipment. Customers have reported
the 497-9496 number is currently providing a better connection than the
372-1300 number. Customers using the temporary 877 number should
switch immediately. Customers are advised against using any of the
Ocean Springs numbers from these areas.
Mobile T1 down - Our T1 connection to Mobile is
currently down. We have temporary circuits and routes
in place for moderate connectivity. We have trouble tickets
in with the telco regarding the problem. This will affect
users in the Mobile, Foley, and Spanish Fort areas.
Datasync DSL - Datasync is proud to announce that
ADSL service through Datasync is currently available
in the New Orleans Metro and North Shore areas and
will soon be available along the Mississippi Gulf
Coast. For more information see our
DSL Information page.
Mail Problems - We are currently experiencing a problem
with our mail server. Our network techs are aware of the
problem, and are working to resolve this issue now. UPDATE:
The mail problem has been resolved as of 11:30 AM.
Mail server replacement - We are replacing another mail
server with a new, faster machine Friday morning, Sep 29,
starting around 2 AM. Web Mail and the filter and
forward configuration forms will be unavailable during
the replacement. Down time is estimated at 30 minutes.
Customer POP and SMTP (mail checking and sending) services
are on a different machine and will not be interrupted.
Additional access numbers -
In a continuing effort to improve network connectivity for customers,
Datasync has added new access numbers for our Mississippi Super POP
provided by KMC Telecom,
a local telco providing business telecommunications along the Gulf Coast.
Previous testing with KMC numbers have been reported to provide better
connections. We welcome any comments on these new numbers. UPDATE:
Pass Christian number added.
395-1300 Bay St. Louis
314-1300 Gulfport
275-1300 Biloxi
382-1300 Ocean Springs
372-1300 Pascagoula
364-1300 Pass Christian
Equipment software upgrades - We will be upgrading software on
dial equipment located at our Biloxi super POP during the early
morning hours on Saturday, September 23. Any customers connected during
the upgrade will be disconnected when the equipment is restarted.
This will affect all customers who dial the Bay St. Louis, Gulfport,
Biloxi, Ocean Springs, and Pascagoula numbers.
Telco interruption - We will be working on lines coming into our
super pop between 8:00-8:30 AM September 8th. This will cause
some customers to lose connectivity. If you experience a disconnection,
please wait a couple of minutes and then try your call again. This
will affect customers primarily in the Ocean Springs, Pascagoula, and
Bay St. Louis areas.
Mail server upgrade - mail.datasync.com and mail.ametro.net are
being moved to a new server Friday morning, Sept. 8th. There will
be no downtime. However, anyone retrieving mail from mail.datasync.com
or mail.ametro.net with the "Leave Mail on Server" setting enabled
will re-download all messages left on the server.
To avoid this, turn off "Leave Mail on Server" in the settings of
your email software, or use our
Web Mail
facility to clean out the old messages. Use of
"Leave Mail on Server" is strongly discouraged unless your
client is able to automatically delete old messages from
the server after a set number of days.
Equipment move - During the early morning hours Friday September 1st, we
will be relocating the last of our equipment from the Ocean Springs
office to Biloxi. This will cause service disruptions for mail,
shell access, and UNIX web sites including personal and commercial webs.
Customers will still be able to connect and access the Internet. Downtime
is expected to be from one to two hours.
American MetroComm Corp files Chapter 11 - Datasync's former parent
company, AMC corp, has filed for Chapter 11 as of this past week. We have
been hearing reports from customers that they have been receiving calls
from other companies claiming that Datasync customers will be forced to
move to another Internet provider. This is entirely untrue. Datasync's
parent company is I-55 Internet Services of Hammond, LA and is no
longer affiliated with, or dependant upon AMC in any way.
Any company making these claims should be reported to Datasync for
action. We ask that any customers receiving calls of this nature
to call or send information to sales@datasync.com.
New Infrastructure - Datasync is proud to announce the near completion
of its carrier class access infrastructure. Utilizing the latest technology
in equipment connected directly to high bandwidth backbones,
Datasync will be able to provide faster and more reliable connections
to the Internet than ever before! Current customers of Gulfport and
Biloxi are already using, and experiencing the benefits of, this new
system, with Ocean Springs expected to be completed today. Testing
for the Bay St. Louis area is currently underway, with the Pass Christian
and Pascagoula areas scheduled for testing within the week, and the
Lucedale, Wiggins, Poplarville, and Picayune areas scheduled for testing
in mid September. Because we value our customer's opinions, we are extending
an invitation to all customers interested in testing and providing feedback
in these areas to do so. Interested parties can send e-mail to
sales@datasync.com for instructions.
As an unfortunate by-product of this expansion, we have experienced
growing pains along the way, which have inconvenienced some of our
customers. We regret these inconveniences and apologize.
Dual Port update - Customers currently using their dual port account as
a semi concurrent account will no longer be able to do so with our new
equipment. The dual port option was never meant to provide users with
the ability to connect twice without bonding the lines. Users wishing
for this type of service will need to add a concurrent secondary account.
See our
secondary account service descriptions for more information.
Lucedale POP - Our Lucedale POP is expected to be without power due to a
faulty breaker box at the building our equipment is located in. The electrian working
at the site as indicated the downtime will be between 45 minutes to an hour. Notification
was given at 12:30 PM that this work would begin soon. UPDATE: Power has been
restored.
Telco problems - We are currently experiencing intermittent reports of customers
dialing into our system and getting an operator message saying "unable to complete
the call as dialed". In most cases a re-dial will be successful. We are seeing failure
rates of 20%, or 1 failure per 5 attempts. The telco has been made aware of the problem
and is working to isolate and repair it. This problem is not specific to Datasync customers,
or users of a specific exchange. The telco has been getting reports of this nature from other
customers as well. UPDATE: The telco has resolved the problem and lines are back to normal.
Web server replacement - During the early morning hours
on Tuesday, July 25, we will be replacing the main Datasync
web server with a new machine. The work is scheduled to begin
around 2:30 AM and expected to take 30-60 minutes. Services
affected will be www.datasync.com, all personal web sites
except those on the Frontpage server, some of the Linux-hosted
virtual webs, and MySQL databases.
News server move - news.datasync.com will be moving to
a new location during the early morning hours Friday, July 14.
This work will be done during the 2-5 AM time frame.
Newsgroups will be unavailable while the move is taking place.
Phone Problems - Datasync is switching to a new phone system, which has caused
a few problems for people trying to reach Tech Support. If you are having problems with the 1-888-DATASYNC number
(ie..keep getting disconnected), then please try our 1-800-332-8279 number as a last resort.
We thank you for understanding.
Mobile POP outage - Our T1 link between New Orleans and
Mobile is currently down. The telco has been notified of the problem and
is working to correct it. Temporary circuits have been established
to maintain basic routing. (UPDATE: This was fixed the same day.)
Datasync Tech Support - Datasync technical support is now being handled by
our parent company, I-55 Internet Services, located in Hammond, LA. Many of the
familiar voices our customers have become accustomed to will be changing. We
apologize for any inconvenience this transition may cause. Customers may
continue to use the same phone numbers for dialing support 24/7.
Mobile POP down - Our Mobile link is currently down. The telco is aware of the
problem and working to correct it as quickly as possible. Temporary circuits have
been established to permit Internet access. UPDATE: The telco has corrected
the problem.
Hattiesburg problems - Our Hattiesburg POP is currently experiencing
telco problems between Hattiesburg and our New Orleans data center.
Datasync internal traffic for the Picayune, Poplarville, Lucedale, and Wiggins
POPs are being re-routed until the telco corrects the problem.
This will only affect internal traffic such as mail, proxy, authentification, etc.
Customers using cache.datasync.com for proxy may wish to temporarily disable this
feature in their browsers.UPDATE: The telco has corrected the problem.
New Affiliates bring new Services - Datasync is proud to announce affiliation
with TUCOWS, TUCOWS Linux, and MindLeaders.com. Services provided on behalf of
TUCOWS include full mirrored sites of both the Windows and Linux software collections
providing customers with instant access to all the latest software. Services provided
on behalf of MindLeaders.com include access to online training and certification
from the comfort of home and office.
Routing problems - The Lucedale and Wiggins POPs are
being affected by a routing problem in the Sprint network.
Access to mail and news is not affected. Users of these
POPs may use our
proxy server
to get to outside web sites until the routing is fixed.
UPDATE: The routing is fixed.
Freeze Lifted - The account freeze on POPs in the state
of Mississippi has been lifted.
Ocean Springs NOC Outage - A powerful storm that
rolled through Ocean Springs around 6:00 PM this
afternoon wreaked havoc throughout the local community
and our NOC (Network Operations Center), knocking power
out for nearly four hours. Although customers were able
to dial into POPs, there was no access to our main
authentification servers to verify
customer access. All services have been restored to normal.
The New Orleans up stream telco providing our UUNet
backbone is currently experiencing sporadic network outages.
The telco is working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.
Browsers configured to use our
proxy server
will be able to reach outside sites.
UPDATE May 22: The telco has resolved the problem and network
connectivity has been restored to normal.
We are currently experiencing problems with our
up stream provider. The telephone company is working on this
issue. We apologize for any down time that this may cause you.
UPDATE May 11: The sporadic outages have ended.
Online Payment form now available - We have added an Online Payment
feature to the
Account Control Center. With it, you may make payments
of arbitrary amounts ($5 minimum) on your account with a
Visa/Mastercard/AmEx credit or debit card.
VIRUS ALERT - Melissa-like e-mail worm, bearing the title
ILOVEYOU, is sweeping through Asia and has been reported in the U.S. and
the UK. Please visit these links for more info.
McAfee,
ZDNet and
CNN.
Datasync it taking steps to limit it's impact for our
customers. Please take appropriate measures to protect yourself including
not opening mail with ILOVEYOU in the subject line. Users of Outlook are
especially vulnerable to this virus.
DESCRIPTION
VBS/LoveLetter.worm arrives via email message with the
subject line "ILOVEYOU". The text reads "kindly check the
attached LOVELETTER coming from me.", and the worm is included
in the attachment, called "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs".
This worm attempts to send copies of itself through
mIRC to the IRC channels and through Outlook to all address
book entries.
VBS/LoveLetter.worm also attempts to download and install an
executable file called WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE, a password stealing
program that will email any cached passwords it finds to the
mail address MAILME@SUPER.NET.PH.
Daylight Savings redefined - Effective with billing
periods beginning today, the
Daylight Savings dialup usage calculations are changing.
Connections from midnight until noon (formerly 5pm) count
one-half toward allotted hours. The afternoon hours are no
longer off-peak, as some POPs are busiest during that time.
UUnet maintenence tonight - UUnet has scheduled another
router upgrade in New Orleans for approximately 3 AM local
time, Tuesday, May 2nd. Outside connectivity for all POPs
may be interrupted during this time.
UUNet connectivity - Currently, our major backbone
to the Internet via the UUNet T3 in New Orleans is
experiencing severe connectivity problems. We have
notified MCI/WorldCom of the problem. This affects
all Datasync customers.
Mobile POP outage - Our T1 to Mobile is currently down. The telco has been notified of the
problem and is working to get the line back up. We are temporarily routing traffic over ISDN
to provide partial connectivity. This affects all customers in Alabama.UPDATE: WorldCom
has corrected the problem and service has been restored to normal.
Ocean Springs Maintenence - We will be replacing a
router in our Ocean Springs data center between 2 and
3 AM on Monday, April 10th. The actual down time should
be limited to no more then 10 minutes. This maintenance
will affect most customers in the Mississippi Gulf Coast
area. Datasync e-mail, news, and web sites will be offline
during this time.
UUnet T3 outage - This morning's scheduled Datasync
maintenence ended around 5 AM, but our main backbone
connection remains down as of 8 AM. UUnet and Telco
engineers are working on it at this time.
Most Louisiana POPs are down at this time; Mississippi
and Alabama have been rerouted through our slower
backup T1s. UPDATE: as of 9:45 AM the T3 is
back up and routing is being returned to normal.
Facilities Maintenance - During the morning hours
between 2 and 6 AM CST Thursday, April 6th, Datasync will
be performing facilities maintenance in the New Orleans Network
Operations center. This maintenance will affect most Datasync
customers. This work was originally scheduled for February 18
but was postponed.
The account freeze has been lifted for POPs in Louisiana.
Effective immediately Datasync is imposing a new account freeze in the
states of Mississippi and Louisiana. The freeze does not affect the state
of Alabama. The freeze is being imposed due to the near capacity condition
of most POPs in Mississippi and Louisiana. Allowing new accounts at this
time causes a degradation of service for current customers. Non-dialup secondary
accounts for existing customers are permitted. The freeze will be removed
on a POP by POP basis as new circuits are installed. This freeze is only
temporary and is to preserve quality of service.
Service Interruption - A blown transformer near the Ocean
Springs NOC caused loss of power for several hours earlier this
morning. This outtage resulted in loss of service for many of our
customers. Power has been restored and all services have been
returned to normal status.
Lucedale 947-1690 number is fixed - The problem with
ring-no-answers on the 947-1690 dialup number was located
and fixed by the phone company. Those who had switched from
this to one of the other Lucedale numbers may wish to
change back.
CAUTION! Datasync Fraudulent E-Mail and Webpage - Any Datasync
customers receiving the following e-mail from the billing department
regarding your account should be considered fraudulent. DO NOT provide
any account information to this individual, they are NOT associated with
Datasync or I-55. This e-mail is forged.
If you have entered any information into www.bdhelp.net you will need to
immediately contact support at 1-888-DATASYNC or 228-435-8888 to have your
password changed and report any card entered into http://www.bdhelp.net/
as stolen.
****************************
Dear Valued Member:
According to our records, the credit card payment
for your Internet access account is two weeks late.
The credit card we have on file presently does
not allow us to automatically bill your account.
If you believe that this message has been sent
to you in error, or wish to update your billing
information, please visit our Customer Care page
at http://www.bdhelp.net/
Datasync is proud to be the South's premiere
Internet Service Provider and we value your business.
Sincerely,
David Celes
Customer Care Department
Datasync Billing
****************************
The Spanish Fort POP is now fully operational. This POP
should improve connect speeds for customers dialing from the
Eastern Shore and downtown Mobile. The number is (334) 626-1669.
The perl binary on our shell and web servers will be
switched to version 5 tomorrow (12/30). The current binary is
Perl version 4. If you are using scripts which use the
#!/usr/local/bin/perl or #!/usr/bin/perl binaries, you will
either need to update your scripts to version 5, or change
the wizbang to use perl4. Customers using the perl5 binary
in their scripts need not make any changes, the script will
still function properly.
Datasync technical support will be unavailable between
the hours of 5:30 PM and 9:30 PM this Saturday as our support
staff takes a quick break from all their hard work to share in
a little holiday cheer at the Datasync Christmas party.
Datasync Internet Services, in cooperation with the U.S.
Marine Corps of Gulfport, will be acting as a drop off
location for toy donations from now until December 20th
for the Toys for Tots program this year. Customers of Datasync
can also contribute on-line with a donation that will be matched
by Datasync for purchasing toys.
An error in the BellSouth frame relay switch caused a connection problem between our
Gulfport and Hattiesburg frame clouds yesterday evening . This caused a network outage in
our Picayune, Poplarville, Lucedale, and Wiggins pops. BellSouth has corrected the problem
and the circuit is operating normally again.
Datasync is back! And as you may have noticed, the web site got quite a face
lift. We may have gotten a little sidetracked over the past year, but we're back
with the old Datasync spirit! With new POP's opening soon across the southeastern
region, more phone lines ordered for existing POP's, and more backbone capacity to
the Internet ordered, Datasync is back on our quest to becoming the South's premier
Internet Service Provider. If you have any questions feel free to call or e-mail us.
IMPORTANT:You DO NOT have to change your e-mail address from ametro.net to datasync.com.
We will be allowed to use this domain for e-mail indefinitely. ALL payments need to be
made out to Datasync and may be sent to the P.O. box listed on your invoice. We will still
continue to handle all accounts as we always have. This change will in no way affect any of
our current services or customers.
UUnet circuit back up: The backbone circuit which was
supposed to be down for 30 minutes for routine upgrades,
but which lasted hours due to a failed router at UUnet,
is finally back in service as of 5:30 PM. The outage
was compounded by an unrelated fiber cut also in
New Orleans.
Improved bandwidth, redundancy on the way:
Several weeks ago we ordered two additional T3 circuits
from different backbone providers, and in two different
cities, to considerably increase available bandwidth.
These circuits are expected to be installed later this
month. These will greatly reduce the effect we feel from
an outage such as that seen today.
We are happy to announce that our Lucedale POP has been upgraded to
v.90 capable phone lines. The dialup number is 766-9775. The new lines
have been successfully tested with connections as high as 50666.
Please note that connect speed varies widely by location and some
areas may not be able to exceed 28800. See our
FAQ Section for more information.
This morning between 5:10 and 7:29 the MCI circuit between Gulfport and
Hattisburg, which carries traffic for Lucedale, Wiggins, Poplarville and
Picayune, was down due to a problem in the Gulfport central office. All circuits are
operating normally now.
Datasync and BellSouth are performing upgrade work in the New Orleans area today
to eliminate the "all circuits busy" message that has been plaguing customers there.
The upgrades will cause some dedicated ISDN lines to be out of service for short
periods throughout the day. These service interruptions should be brief.
New proxy server: We have added a new, faster proxy server
to our network. Use of the proxy server can speed loading of
popular web sites. Information and browser configuration
instructions may be found
here.
Most current proxy users need make no configuration changes,
the exception being those who used the IP address 208.132.72.1
in the configuration. Those should reconfigure to use
cache.datasync.com instead of the IP address.
New Spanish Fort facility is online for testing: The new Spanish
Fort POP is currently in the testing phase. This POP should
improve connect speeds for members dialing from the Eastern Shore
and downtown Mobile. Throughput will be limited at this time
as the high-speed circuit into it is not yet working, but
connect speed tests are encouraged.
The number is (334) 626-1669.
Tech Support Online: Need Help? Try our #Support channel on the
new Datasync Chat Server at http://irc.datasync.com, or point your IRC
client to irc.datasync.com.
Datasync Internet Tech Support will be available here as time permits.
Mail Filtering enhanced: We have added some new features
to our extremely popular junk mail filter. You can now filter
any messages not addressed to you, which is how most junk mail
is sent. This feature requires careful configuration so please
read the directions completely before using it. It is also now
possible to see the filtered messages via Web Mail before
they are purged. More info can be found on the
Mail Filtering page.
New Covington facility is online: The new Covington
POP, supporting V.90, ISDN, and Analog, is now available.
The number is (504) 892-7660.
Limited time offer: Setup fees for dial-up customers in
the new Slidell, Covington, and Baton Rouge areas are being waived.
We will also
be offering double credits ($10.00) for referrals in these areas.
New Slidell facility is online: The new Slidell
POP, supporting V.90, ISDN, and Analog, is now available.
The number is (504) 641-4305.
CommNet Web Mail is now available: The Web Mail interface has been extended
to the CommNet mail servers. Select the "Web Mail" option from the menu on the
right to proceed to the Web Mail page.
New Baton Rouge facility is online: The new Baton Rouge
POP, supporting V.90, ISDN, and Analog, is now available.
The number is (225) 296-5352.
Mail servers moved: The POP (Incoming Mail) and
SMTP (Outgoing Mail) servers were moved today to a different
machine for better performance. The hostnames of these
servers are pop.datasync.com and smtp.datasync.com
respectively. If you still have the old hostname of
mail.datasync.com or mail.datasync.com in
your e-mail software configuration, we recommend changing
to the new values. Configuration help is
available here. NOTE: Users of the comm.net
mail servers should not make any changes.
If you have the "Leave Mail On Server" option enabled
in your mail client, you may download a large amount of old
mail the first time you use the new POP server. To avoid this,
use our
Web Mail facility to delete the old messages. Use
of "Leave Mail on Server" is strongly discouraged unless
your client is able to automatically delete old messages
from the server after a set number of days.
WATS dialup charge lowered: Due to a better deal we've received
from our long distance provider, we're able to reduce the charge
for use of our 1-888 dialup number from 11 to 10 cents per minute.
The new rate will be effective beginning with invoices dated
May 1, 1999. The signup form for 1-888 access is available
here.
Access server testing complete: We have completed our testing of
access servers at the Ocean Springs POP. The results are in and the Lucent
access servers we have been using for several years proved to be the best
for our customers. Those people using the 875-5534 phone number should
change back to using the 875-6520 number as the 875-5534 number is no longer
needed and will not regularly be available. We want to thank all of those
that sent us comments about the test servers.
More expansion news: Additional lines have been added to Biloxi
436-4100 (v.90/k56/ISDN/analog), Bay St. Louis 467-1237
(v.90/k56/ISDN/analog) and Pass Christian 452-0010 (analog). We
will also be adding an additional 4.5Mbps of bandwidth capacity to our
Internet connection in mid to late January.
Lucedale v.90 support info: BellSouth has reported to us that
the switch in Lucedale is an old Strongberg Carlson analog switch that will
not support v.90/56k service. This means the new 947-1690 number
will not support v.90/56k service as we had hoped. We will try to find out
from Bell when they expect to upgrade that switch to be able to support
v.90/56k service.
Access server maintenance: We will be installing new software on
our access serves which should improve the connections for some users. This
upgrade will cause short interuptions in access to Datasync between 3am and 6am
on Thursday Dec. 31st.
In addition, we are testing a new access server in Ocean Springs
on the 875-6520 number. We have set up a temporary dialin number for those
users that have trouble connecting to the test server. This number is
875-5534. This number should only be used as a temporary fix. We will
announce here when the testing is over at which time anyone using the temp
number should switch back to the 875-6520 number.
Picayune POP expanded, new account
freeze lifted: Additional lines have been installed in the Picayune POP and
new accounts are once again being accepted.
Scheduled maintenance: While Santa is making his rounds, some of
his elves at Datasync will be doing some maintenance on the access servers.
This will cause a short "out of service" condition for ALL users connected
during the maintenance period. Each access server will only be out of
service for about 60 seconds so if you are on-line and get disconnected you
should be able to get back on in about a minute. This maintenance will be
conducted between 3AM and 5AM on December 25th.
Lucedale POP expanded, new account
freeze lifted: A new dialup number, 947-1690, is now available for
members in George County. This number will soon support the V.90 and
K56flex protocols. However, Bell South still must work out some configuration
issues at the switch. Use of this new number may begin immediately with
the understanding that it may go down without warning when the
switch work occurs. The 766-3282 number will remain in service for
28.8 connections.
Gulfport POP expanded: Capacity on the
863-6427 dialup number has been doubled. In addition, Lucent commservers have
been re-deployed. Thanks to all who provided feedback about the Cisco
equipment.
Internal network capacity increased:
Bandwidth on the circuits connecting the Ocean Springs NOC to the dialup
sites was beefed up yesterday. This should markedly improve prime time
latency (ping times) for several POPs especially in the 601 and 334
area codes.
Additional capacity was also added to the
Wiggins POP today. New accounts in this area are being accepted.
We hope to have some good news for Lucedale very soon as well.
Picayune line problems - corrected: After about a month of continual errors on our end
and BellSouth not seeing any errors from their end, a class A inspection was conducted on
our lines and problems were found. Bell has corrected the problems and we have run over 24
hours completely error free. This should correct the problems with frequent disconnects
from the Picayune POP.
Pascagoula capacity increased: Dialup capacity on the
Pascagoula (Gautier) 497-9496 number has been increased by 33%.
Quake II is here: Datasync Internet's new Quake II server is online
and offers both a Death Match and a Weapons Factory game for your fragging pleasure. We're
also still running Kali and Quake servers. Details may be found in the MetroCommunity
Gaming Guru column.
October 14, 1998
V.90 support enhanced: New software providing more complete V.90
compatibility has been installed on all Datasync Internet 56K dialup servers. This version
should work with all V.90 modems regardless of chipset. Members who had disabled V.90 due
to incompatibility or other problems are encouraged to retry it.
October 12, 1998
Wiggins POP upgrade: The circuit connecting the Wiggins POP
to the Datasync Internet network was upgraded to a T1 today. This should result in a
significant performance increase for users of the 928-9597 number.
September 30, 1998
Web server disk failure: While Georges thankfully spared our facilities except for
some extended power outages, we were faced with a dead disk drive on the web server upon
bringing up the servers after the storm. This resulted in www.datasync.com,
www.datasync.com, and many member sites being inaccessible for most of the day while lost
files were restored. No member-owned files were lost. We did lose many of our own
documents, however, and are in the process of replacing them from backup sources.
August 3, 1998
FrontPage Update: It has been a long hard road, but all the FrontPage Bots are working
normally now. Front Page webs containing search bots need to either be republished using
FrontPage, or inside the FrontPage client, select the "Re-calculate Hyperlinks"
function under the "Tools" menu to update all Bots within the respective web.
July 25, 1998
New feature available for Front Page users: Perl 5.0 is installed and available for web
designers who use Perl programming in site development.
July 22, 1998
Introducing Datasync Web-Based E-mail: We've now offer an easy way to access your Datasync
mailbox from anywhere using just a web browser as well as the ability to delete huge or
unwanted messages without having to download them. This service is still under development
and subject to frequent revisions, but you're welcome to give it a try at http://www.datasync.com/webmail.shtml.
June 26, 1998
Biloxi capacity problems: BellSouth has informed us that they are unable to add the
additional lines we have ordered for the Biloxi 436-4100 number until after September. We
are currently at capacity on that number. It is requested that users dial the Gulfport
number (863-6427) or the Ocean Springs number (875-6520) as an alternative if you get busy
signals on the Biloxi (436-4100) number. We apologize for any inconvenience this may
cause. Additional lines will be installed as soon as BellSouth increases their capacity to
support us.
June 19, 1998
Introducing the Datasync Account Control Center: We've enhanced our Usage, Balance, and
Password Change forms with SSL (Secure Server) support, and added a new form for updating
your billing or credit card information online, securely. It's all in the new Account Control Center.
June 5, 1998
New Secondary Account type: We've added a new type of secondary account, the Mailbox
Only, priced at only $2.00 per month ($5 one-time setup). This account is just like the
regular Secondary but without the five dialup hours, shell account, or web space. If you
have Secondary accounts which are used only for e-mail and you don't need the five extra
hours, save up to $3/month by changing it to Mailbox Only. You may e-mail billing@datasync.com to request this change.
May 29, 1998
N.O. firm buys Coast access provider: Biloxi - The sale of Internet service provider
Datasync Inc. to New Orleans based Datasync signals the start of lower Internet and
phone costs for business users.
May 7, 1998
Datasync Gulfport POP on-line: The new Gulfport POP is now on-line. The number is
863-6427. This POP supports analog, K56, V.90(non-rockwell) and ISDN.
April 20, 1998
New Foley facility is now online: The new Foley POP supporting K56flex, ISDN, and very
likely better connect speeds for 28.8/33.6 modems is now available. The dialup number is
(334) 971-2378. All Foley users are asked to change to this new number as the old
number, 955-1701, will be disconnected on Friday, April 24th. The new voice support number
for Foley is
(800)599-7962.
April 10, 1998
New Pascagoula facility is now online: The new Pascagoula POP supporting K56flex, ISDN,
and very likely better connect speeds for 28.8/33.6 modems is now available. The dialup
number is
(228) 497-9496.
March 20, 1998
New Picayune facility is now online: The new Picayune POP supporting K56flex, ISDN, and
very likely better connect speeds for 28.8/33.6 modems is now available. The dialup number
is
798-2447. Members in southern Pearl River County are encouraged to switch to this new
number. The old one will be gradually phased out.
March 10, 1998
Tech support hours expanded: Datasync Tech Support is now available 24 hours a day,
Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday hours are now 9 AM to 9 PM, and Monday hours are 8 AM
through midnight.
February 18, 1998
NEW dialup number in Mobile: Dialup access to our new Mobile facility is now available.
The number is
432-4581 and it supports both ISDN and analog, including K56flex, connections. Capacity
on the old 476-8154 and 602-1020 numbers has been reduced, so please switch to the new
number if you get busies on the old ones. Also, those getting poor connection speeds to
the 476-8154 number may have better results on the new one.
February 17, 1998
NEW Safe Surfing program: We at Datasync are proud to offer the premier Internet filtering
service to our subscribers. We have selected Bess Internet filtering service, by N2H2, for
our subscribers to guarantee that you get the most effective, easy-to-use Internet
filtering solution available. For information see our Datasync Safe
Surfing page.
January 28, 1998
Calendar month billing cycles in effect: Starting this year, billing cycles for all
Datasync accounts are one calendar month instead of always 31 days. This eliminates the
forward-shifting billing dates which were a side effect of the uniform 31 day cycle. Many
members have indicated that it would be more convenient for their bill to arrive on the
same day each month.
January 5, 1998
New login requirement for shell users: Effective on the 5th of January, users that
login directly to the shell will be required to add .shell to the end of the loginID. For
instance, if your loginID is joebob, to log directly into the shell you would enter
joebob.shell at the comm server login prompt. This is only for users dialing in with modem
software such as hyperterminal, bananacomm or procomm. This does not affect users that
connect with a PPP dialer then telnet into the shell. The login prompt where the .shell is
required has a notice of that requirement. If you are unsure if you dial into the shell,
you probably do not and this will not affect you.
October 19, 1997
Additional information about K56: We have posted additional information about K56flex including testing data that we have conducted locally,
information on modems that have been tested with the equipment we are using, and
information about firmware versions required. There is also information about upgrading
various modems to be compatible with our equipment. See K56flex
for this information. Visit here often for additional information concerning this new
modem technology.
October 1, 1997
Terms of Service Update: Datasync's Terms Of Service have been
revised, for the first time in over a year. All members are requested to review the
revised document, as it is the basis for your service contract.
June 1, 1997
Daylight Savings Plan Extended: The Datasync Daylight Savings
promotion has been successful in its goal of smoothing out the peaks and valleys of modem
pool utilization. Therefore, it has been extended until further notice. For statements
dated June 2 to July 3, the Daylight Savings period will extend until 5 PM as opposed to 4
PM. We may make further slight adjustments to the Daylight Savings period boundaries in
the future in order to optimize it for the greatest possible benefit.
November 25, 1996
Just say no to unwanted e-mail: Are you getting tired of junk e-mail? Try out our new
mail filtering service! You may block e-mail from a list of known spammer sites maintained
by us, edit your own list of domains and individual addresses to block, or both. Check it
out at mailfilt.shtml.
September 22, 1996
64k at 28.8k prices: For more information on Datasync's ISDN service please visit the Datasync ISDN info page |
