#007, May 16, 1997

		Cruzio Newsletter - Number 7, May 16, 1997

Table of Contents

1. About this newsletter.
2. Cruzio classes beginning!
3. Cruzio opens new, bigger office and expands staff.
4. Many thanks to our users - Cruzio wins awards.
5. Busy signals expunged.
6. Upgrading your system? Please ask us for new instructions.
7. Custom domain names: Cruzio rules on setting them up.
8. Memorial weekend hours.
9. For customers with custom domain names - getting bogus bills.
10. 56K modems.
11. Cruzio replacing hardware.
12. System downtime -- Sunday mornings before 8am.
13. Cruzio Online Support Center .
14. How to reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support).


1. About this Newsletter.
   Cruzio doesn't like to waste bandwidth with extra email, but
   we sometimes have events and announcements that users need
   to know about. This seems like the most efficient way to let
   people know what's happening. Hope it's helpful. Please email
   support@cruzio.com with any comments or questions. 


2. Cruzio classes beginning!
   At last, Cruzio is starting up classes to help folks learn about
   how to buy a computer, get on the Internet, and create web pages.
   The classes begin on June 2nd. Please check out 
	http://www.cruzio.com/classes
   on the World Wide Web to see our schedules and class descriptions,
   and/or call and we will send you a brochure. Of course, Cruzio
   users will get a discount.


3. Cruzio opens new, bigger office and expands staff.
   As of April 1st (April Fools Day? Ahem...) Cruzio opened a spiffy new
   office with lots of room for customer service. Our service hours are
   still 12-6pm Monday through Friday, 10am-2pm on Saturday for the
   time being.
 
   We've added many valuable new members to our highly professional,
   competent staff. Our latest addition is Jay, our new network 
   engineer, who'll be working with Chris. 


4. Many thanks to our users - Cruzio wins awards.
   This year, Cruzio won the Good Times' "Best Local Internet
   Service Provider" award, and our web site (www.cruzio.com) won the
   "Best Web Site" Goldie (first place) award from the Santa Cruz
   Metro. We're very proud to be thought of so highly by the Santa
   Cruz community. Thanks very much for your support and contributions!


5. Busy signals expunged.
   Cruzio's system for avoiding busy signals for dial-in users is working
   very well. We've been able to anticipate modem usage and avoided all
   but a few minutes of occasional busy signals for the last 8 months.
   Hope that you are enjoying it. Many thanks to our esteemed staff member
   Judy for her hard work in this area.

   We've also greatly reduced busy signals on our tech support and sales
   lines. We've added extra staff and more service lines with excellent
   results.


6. Upgrading your system? Please ask us for new instructions.
   If you are upgrading, say from  Windows 3.11 to Windows 95
   or from Macintosh 7.5 to Macintosh 7.6, we have instructions
   for you. The software you will use to connect to the Internet is
   different when you switch from one version of an operating system to
   another, and the latest stuff is usually the best and easiest to
   use.  Please call tech support (459-6301), drop by our spiffy new
   downstairs office at 903 Pacific, or check out our web instructions
   (www.cruzio.com/support and take the link about "Configuring and
   Using Your PPP Account") to get the instructions you need.
      

7. Custom domain names: Cruzio rules on setting them up.
   When you want to register a custom domain name on Cruzio, please
   contact us. There is a form we need you to fill out and procedures
   that we follow. Please do not try to register the name directly
   with the InterNIC -- we will refuse it. Thanks.


8. Memorial weekend hours.
   Cruzio will be closed on Monday, May 26, 1997 for Memorial Day. Our
   downstairs office will be closed on the Saturday before Memorial Day 
   (May 24), but we will be answering tech support calls and, of course,
   monitoring the system 24 hours a day as always.


9. For customers with custom domain names - getting bogus bills.
   The InterNIC has been sending out bogus bills and late notices to
   many -- some in the industry suspect almost all -- domain names
   registered since last summer. Cruzio has been dealing with hundreds
   of double- and triple- notices on accounts already paid. We answer
   the InterNIC promptly with payment information and usually the matter
   is cleared up quickly. If you receive a notice of an unpaid bill, and
   you believe you should not be getting this bill, please forward a 
   copy to nic@cruzio.com. We almost always have our own copy as well,
   but we will double check to make sure your bill has been dealt with.


10. 56K modems.
   There's a lot of buzz these days about 56k modems, which, if all
   circumstances are right, work much faster than the 33.6k models.
   Cruzio is looking forward to supporting these modems some time in
   the future. At the moment, however, there are two competing standards
   (somewhat like the old VHS vs. Beta wars in video players) and no
   clear winner has yet emerged. Also, actual usage reports on these modems
   have been very disappointing. We are waiting to see what happens with 
   this technology before we invest in it.


11. Cruzio replacing hardware.
   No specific news on this front. We just want to let people know that
   we do have new hardware for some of our servers and that we are
   working on replacing equipment. Thanks for your patience.


12. System downtime -- Sunday mornings before 8am
   Just a reminder that Cruzio is down early every Sunday morning
   for system maintenance. Downtime is somewhere between 4 am to 6 am
   most Sundays, but occasionally we have the system down until 8am.


13. Cruzio Online Support Center
   Check out the ever improving Online Support Center by pointing
   your web browser to    http://www.cruzio.com/support

   You'll find information about using your Cruzio account and
   the Internet, publishing your web pages, easy to use web pages
   for diagnosing problems, Cruzio modem pool usage reports, links
   to popular Mac and Windows software archives and more.                


14. How to reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
   To dial in to Cruzio, set your software to dial one of the numbers
   below (note: we've expanded and joined modem pools, so you may be 
   using another number. If so, don't worry, it still works just fine).

   33.6 kbps or 28.8 kbps modems: 459-6230 

   14.4 kbps modems: 459-6200 

   9600 bps modems: 423-1987 

   2400 bps modems: 423-9995 ONLY accessible with a BBS (text-only) account 

	
   To call Cruzio, use one of these numbers:
	423-1162.................Our main number, to leave a message
	423-7529.................Our status line, to report or check on
		                 system problems		    
	459-6301.................Our "human line", from 12-6 Monday through
				 Friday. Talk to a human being.

   To send email to Cruzio, use one of these addresses:
	support@cruzio.com.......for technical support
	office@cruzio.com........for billing and ordering information
	webmaster@cruzio.com.....for questions about Cruzio's World Wide
                                 Web service

   To reach the Cruzio Information Center, for online technical and
   sales information:
	http://www.cruzio.com/support 

Thanks very much from Cruzio:
	Chris, Peggy, John, Deana, Judy, Julianne, PK, Gloria, Holly,
	Alex, Kathy, Mark, Jorge, Georgette, JJ, and Jay (the grownups);
	Jake and Annika (the kids)