Cruzio/The Internet Store Newsletter - Number 65, June 16, 2003
1. $100 Off Cruzio DSL in July
2. Cruzio's 14th Birthday
3. "Troubleshooting Your Computer," free Brown Bag workshop June 26th
4. Cruzio's TV Show
5. Politics, Business, and the Internet
6. July 4th Holiday
7. Buddy Bucks: Sign Up a Friend for Cruzio Credit
8. Spam News
9. About This Newsletter
10. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. $100 Off Cruzio DSL in July
Coming soon: Cruzio's popular high-speed Internet service at an
extra-low price. Cruzio DSL can normally reach speeds between 5 and 15
times faster than dialup service. Sign up for a year of Cruzio DSL in
the month of July, 2003, and you will get $100 off or a free DSL modem
(value: $99 plus tax.) New Cruzio DSL customers only. The $100 is an
immediate credit -- you don't have to wait or fill out forms.
Cruzio DSL has major advantages over DSL offered by the telephone
company or other companies:
- First, Cruzio takes care of any and all hassles for
the DSL customer. You don't have to wait on hold forever
just to talk to someone without a clue about your service
or your bill. Cruzio's customer service staff are well-trained
local folks who solve problems quickly and keep the customer
informed. We make the calls for you and keep you in the loop.
- Second, Cruzio respects our customers' privacy. We do not
sell your personal information to marketing firms (please
check the fine print if you are considering other companies;
this is a major source of revenue for them.)
- Third, Cruzio's email and Web services, which come with
DSL accounts, are well known for their reliability and
range of added features.
We know you have a choice; we work hard to make every Cruzio service
the best it can be and we think you'll enjoy Cruzio DSL.
2. Cruzio's 14th Birthday
Thanks so much for your business and support over the last 14 years!
To celebrate, you are invited to a birthday celebration:
Thursday, June 26th, 2003, 1:30 to 2:30 pm
At Cruzio's downtown Santa Cruz storefront, 903 Pacific Ave.
The party will immediately follow our June 26th Brown Bag
(see item 3 below.)
We'll have cake. We'll have decorations. We'll have old friends
with whom we will try, as we always do, to figure out which customers
have been with us longest and who has the funniest Internet stories.
Please come, you are most welcome -- and don't forget to wear a
Cruzio tee shirt and be entered to win a $100 coupon towards any
Cruzio service.
3. "Troubleshooting Your Computer" Brown Bag workshop June 26th
Join Cruzio for a free Brown Bag workshop:
June 26th, 2003 from 12-1:30 pm
At the Cruzio storefront, 903 Pacific Ave, downtown Santa Cruz
The Brown Bag will be hosted by Michael Gardner, President and
Owner of Grey Wolf Computers, and by Bhag, a knowledgeable member of
Cruzio's prestigious Technical Support Staff. The event is free of charge,
and an optional Zoccoli's bag lunch can be ordered for $7. To register,
go to http://www.cruzio.com , or call the Cruzio events line at
459-6301 ext. 247 and leave your name, email address, phone number
and lunch preference.
4. Cruzio's TV Show
Cruzio's super-creative Marketing Director, Kathy Bisbee, is also a
video buff and has long wanted to put together a Cruzio TV magazine.
"Cruzio TV" started up a few months ago. It's now on Community TV,
Channel 25, every Thursday night from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. You'll get to
see some familiar Cruzio faces leading discussions and talking with
community leaders about topics like "Marketing Your Web Site" and "The
Digital Divide." Cruzio focuses on topics for and about folks in
our community. We hope you'll enjoy the shows!
5. Politics, Business, and the Internet
Question: What would you charge for Internet access if you
were a huge megacorporation and had little or no competition?
Answer: You'd probably charge a lot.
Question: How many innovative services would you offer?
Answer: Why offer any new services when you can charge top
dollar for the same old services and not spend a dime on
research and development?
That's where the giant telecommunications corporations are heading
now, as mergers reduce the number of firms and the political climate
favors deregulation.
It's nice to think about freedom from regulation -- freedom's a
wonderful thing -- but when a corporation receives government-granted
assets (such as telephone lines or the exclusive right to serve a
community with Cable TV service) doesn't the public have a say on how
those properties are used? Having a say equals regulation.
Where the public interest or public assets are involved -- as they
are in communications and energy, among other things -- regulations,
carefully considered and applied, can be beneficial.
The Internet is wonderful because it is open, with lots of small
players contributing creative ideas. If only a few companies control
access to the Internet, they can control and limit the content.
Cruzio believes we should resist this trend.
Some sites to look at:
http://www.fcc.gov -- FCC is the federal regulatory agency
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/ -- CPUC is on the state level
http://bubl.ac.uk/link/i/internetregulation-law.htm
-- a page of links to lots of information
about the Internet and regulation
6. July 4th Holiday
Cruzio's offices will be closed on Friday, July 4th.
We'll be open as usual on Saturday, July 5th. Throughout
the holiday (and indeed 365 days per year,) our technical
staff will be monitoring all our systems, making sure that
everything is in proper working order.
7. Buddy Bucks: Sign Up a Friend for Cruzio Credit
Recommend us to a friend, family member, colleague: if a new customer
gives us your email address, id number, or full name when they
sign up you'll get $10 credit to your account. If two friends
sign up, $20. Three friends, $30. It just goes on and on.
8. Spam News
Last month's newsletter was full of information about avoiding
spam. Since then there is just a little news on the spam front:
we're working to make our filter more intelligent, resilient, and
faster. We'll let you know when significant new features are installed.
In the meantime, if you haven't already done so and are bothered by
junk email, please turn on your Cruzio Spam filter. It's a powerful
tool, to which we frequently add options. Just go to your Cruzio
Control Panel to start it working. Please contact Technical Support
(support@cruzio.com) if you have questions or need help.
Last month's all-spam newsletter (#64) can be found at
http://www.cruzio.com/about_us/newsletters.html
9. 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.
By the way, we would love to have a regular, predictable schedule
for this newsletter...but we simply do not send it unless there is real
news enclosed. Thus the haphazard datelines.
10. 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.
56k: 459-9408
33.6 kbps and under: 459-6230
To call Cruzio:
459-6301............Use this number to check Cruzio's system status,
pay your Cruzio bill, find out more about our hours and location,
or to reach someone in customer service and technical support.
To send email to Cruzio, use one of these addresses:
support@cruzio.com ......For technical support
office@cruzio.com .......For billing and ordering information
Cruzio's location:
903 Pacific Avenue, Suite 101, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Cruzio's hours:
Sales hours: 10am-6pm, Monday through Friday; 10 am - 2 pm Saturday
Technical support: 10-6 pm, Monday through Friday, 10am - 2pm Saturday
System monitoring, including customer-alerted emergencies, 24 hours
per day, 365 days per year (leap years, 366 days)
Thanks very much from Cruzio:
Chris, Peggy, Julianne, Kathy, Mark, Martin, Georgette,
Tapati, Pedro, Brittany, Alec, Stephen, Paul, Gershom,
Jessi, Edgar, Michael, another Kathy, Bhag, another Chris,
Maria, Ezra, James, Juana, Krissie, Nikkie, Mike,
and our new fabulous intern, Jason (the grownups);
Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids);
Carly, age 5, found two dead bees in a bucket of water.
"I am going to take care of them," she told me, holding one
in her hand. "I will make a bed for them. They can sleep right
next to my bed."
I asked her what good would that do since they were already dead?
(I was not looking forward to having them in the house.) She told
me that dead things can come back to life as ghosts. "I know there
are ghosts," she said. "I saw one at school."
How did this happen, I asked? "I dug up a dead person." Her teacher
let her dig up a dead person? "I found it by mistake. I was digging
in the sandbox...it was a bad guy. Good thing it was under the dirt.
We covered it back up."
Good thing.
