Cruzio Newsletter - Number 8, August 8, 1997
Table of Contents
1. Welcome to the new Cruzio Baby: Carolyn Rose
2. Comparing Cruzio to other ISP's
3. Weekly IRC Chat for Santa Cruz locals
4. Saturday Speaker Series FREE to Cruzio users
5. Cruzio Takes Credit Cards
6. New classes added to Cruzio's schedule
7. Hold the Spam, Please
8. About this newsletter.
9. How to reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support).
1. Welcome to the new Cruzio Baby: Carolyn Rose
Chris and Peggy (Mom and Pop Cruzio), family and the Cruzio staff welcome
a wonderful new baby to Cruzio. Her name is Carolyn Rose, she is one month
old, and you may hear her from time to time if you call.
2. Comparing Cruzio to other ISP's
In the news recently: America Online planned to sell their customers'
names and phone numbers to a marketing firm for $50 million. They backed
down from that particular sale, but made it clear that they regularly
sell their users' addresses to marketing firms.
FYI: Cruzio never has sold lists of user names, and never will. Your
information is considered confidential. You will not receive junk mail,
junk email, or junk phone calls that come through us.
Also noted: ZD Internet, a major Internet magazine now on the newsstands
quotes a survey of the 13 largest Internet Service Providers in the country.
The "failure rate" for customers calling in between 6pm and midnight
has been up around 20%. That means that 20% of the time, when users
dial in they can't connect, usually because they get a busy signal.
These ISPs plan to offer a "premium service" where customers can get
through 95% of the time for an additional fee.
FYI: Cruzio has a 100% connect rate for the last several months and close
to 100% rate for the whole year. We have established a system which prevents
busy signals in all but the most unusual situations (for example, when a
shipment of modems is defective).
For more information about Cruzio modem statistics, check out our
modem usage graphs at http://www2.cruzio.com/~modems
3. Weekly Chat for Santa Cruz Locals
Cruzio is hosting a weekly online chat session every
Wednesday night at 8:00 PM. Point your IRC client to:
irc.cruzio.com and then /join the #Santa_Cruz channel.
For more information, check out http://www.cruzio.com/chat
If you'd like to learn how to Chat on the Internet, see "Speaker
series" information below.
4. Speaker series free to Cruzio users
We are starting a series of free events in the Cruzio classroom,
most Saturdays from 1:30 to 4:00 PM. Speakers from the community
will do demonstrations, clinics, Q&A and presentations on items
of interest to Cruzio users (usually the latest on computers and
the Internet).
September 6: Chatting with IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
September 13: Art, 'Zines, and Snazzy Multimedia on the Web
September 20: Spam Avoidance
September 27: A Tour of Local Government and Community Websites
For more information about the Saturday Speakers Series or other
Cruzio Classroom events, check out http://www.cruzio.com/classes
5. Cruzio Takes Credit Cards
Cruzio now accepts Visa and Mastercard for account payments, modem
or software purchases. You can pay with plastic by dropping by our
downtown service center at 903 Pacific Avenue or over the phone at
459-6301 during office hours.
6. New classes added to Cruzio's schedule
Folks have really been enjoying the Cruzio classes, so we are adding
more. In October, an Intro to the World Wide Web and two Business on
the Net classes will be added to the schedule, along with more advanced
classes in Java, CGI scripts, and multimedia on the Web. Please check
out our current schedule at http://www.cruzio.com/classes or call
459-6301 for more information.
7. Hold the Spam, Please
Special thanks to Jay, our new Engineer, for helping in the fight
against spam. Due to his efforts, Cruzio is now rejecting attempts
to "hijack" our mail server by spammers attempting to use it as
a "pass through" relay in sending spam to others on the net. In
addition, Jay has put a filter into place to prevent "spoofing"
of addresses, a common spamming trick.
8. 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.
9. How to reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
To reach the Cruzio Information Center, for online technical and
sales information:
http://www.cruzio.com/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
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
Thanks very much from Cruzio:
Chris, Peggy, John, Deana, Judy, Julianne, PK, Gloria,
Holly, Alex, Kathy, Mark, Jorge, Martine, Georgette, JJ,
Jay and Tapati (the grownups);
Jake and Annika (the kids) and Carolyn Rose (the baby)
