Cruzio Newsletter - Number 81, December 7, 2004
1. Coming Soon: Faster Dialup -- Free
2. Cruzio DSL and Dialup Customers Can Get Our Sale DSL Price!
3. Anti-Spyware CD Available at Cruzio
4. Free Workshop Next Thursday: "Exploring High Speed Internet"
5. Changes to 33.6 Connections
6. Gift Idea: Cruzio, a Ribbon, and You're Done
7. Cruzio's Holiday Schedule
8. $50 off equipment with Cruzio DSL 3.0 or 6.0
9. Feeding the Hungry: "Feed the Kitty"
10. There Will Always Be a Kitty
11. Small Business Fair: A Fine Time for All
12. From the Finance Department
13. Buddy Bucks
14. Bring in Food, Avoid Late Fees
15. About This Newsletter
16. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. Coming Soon: Faster Dialup -- Free
Cruzio Dialup customers will soon have access to an Internet
accelerator to be available, free of charge, early next year.
The accelerator will speed Web browsing up to 5 times as fast
as a normal dialup connection. Please watch this space next
month for more details.
Cruzio is not just a broadband company. Many of our customers use
our dialup service, and we offer a great value which keeps
getting better. You can use Cruzio Dialup just about anywhere
in the United States, and soon it will be faster.
2. Cruzio DSL and Dialup Customers Can Get Our Sale DSL Price!
Cruzio DSL customers are welcome to sign up for a one-year term
of low-priced, $29.95/month DSL at any time, so long as our
current special continues. Your year term at the low price will
start on your next bill date. Please go to
//signup.cruzio.com/dsl_sale.html
and fill out the form for the low price. If you're currently paying
a higher price, we will be happy to switch you to the sale rate.
Of course, DSL is also available at this low price to folks who
are just getting it for the first time, too.
3. Anti-Spyware CD Available at Cruzio
Spyware is background software installed on your computer, usually
by an advertiser who'd like to know more about you and your viewing
habits. Spyware enters your computer without notice, perhaps after
clicking a confusing button in a popup window, perhaps as an
unannounced piece of a shareware program, perhaps in a virus. It
then runs unseen, tracking your activities.
If you have spyware on your computer, you are probably unaware
of it. The information gathered is supposedly harmless, anonymous
marketing information forwarded to a central server over your
Internet connection.
Spyware is generally not illegal.
Doesn't it sound a bit creepy, though? Spyware slows computers down,
uses personal Internet connections for corporate profit, and you may
consider it an invasion of privacy. And that's just when it's used as
intended -- to report anonymous, innocuous information. Unfortunately,
there is also a potential for abuse, as we cannot see or control what
information is gathered.
How do we cope with spyware? Some of us live with it and don't really
notice it. Others of us remove it. At Cruzio, we can supply you with a CD
for $2 which will check for and remove spyware. Please feel free to come
down to our office to get a copy.
4. Free Workshop Next Thursday: "Exploring High Speed Internet"
Brown Bag Workshop Thursday, December 16, 12-1:30 PM
Cruzio, 903 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz
All high speed Internet options are not the same. Come to this
free workshop to learn about the benefits of DSL and dispel the
myths of different broadband technologies. Learn what your options
are in understandable terms and whether you will need additional
equipment.
To sign up, please go to:
http://www.cruzio.com/brownbags
5. Changes to 33.6 Connections
If you still use a 33.6 bps modem (they're about 6 years old
or more), you've got company. Hundreds of Cruzio members are
still connecting contentedly at the old speed. To make sure your
Internet experience remains optimal at 33.6, Cruzio recently
connected the older lines to new modem servers. If you're having
trouble with your connection since last month's switch, please let
us know. We have some spare 33.6 modems on hand and if yours is
incompatible we can swap it, free of charge.
6. Gift Idea: Cruzio, a Ribbon, and You're Done
Not to blow our own horn, but Cruzio is a great gift idea. Who
wouldn't like a high-speed connection? Who'd turn up their nose
when presented with an eponymous domain name (so their email
address can look like johndoe@johndoe.com or mary@marysmith.com
-- very chic)?
Every new Cruzio account comes with a free, stylish tee-shirt (we
have a wide range of sizes and colors) or a shiny metallic travel
mug or a sturdy coffee cup. Add a ribbon and the certificate for
a domain name or Internet service or both and you are done. Cruzio
is open every weekday and Saturday until the end of the year, with
the exception of the holidays listed below, for last-minute gifts.
7. Cruzio's Holiday Schedule
Cruzio Sales and Support offices will be closed on Friday December
24th, Saturday, December 25th, Friday, December 31st and Saturday,
January 1st. As always, our technical staff will be monitoring
our systems and keeping everything copacetic throughout the holidays.
8. $50 off equipment with Cruzio DSL 3.0 or 6.0
To encourage the speediest Internet possible, we're offering $50
off a new modem or router when you sign up for a year of DSL 3.0
or 6.0. A great gift. Imagine:
"What'd you get for Christmas, Ed? I got socks."
"I got the fastest DSL connection available.
Care to watch a video clip on my computer?"
(This offer is good until December 30th, requires a one-year term,
and isn't good with any other offers.)
9. Feeding the Hungry: "Feed the Kitty"
Cruzio staff and customers can participate in the Second Harvest
Food Drive this year by "feeding the kitty." Until December 27th,
Cruzio will match contributions up to a combined total of $2,000.
In the last couple of years, our customers were so generous that
we were inspired to donate even more than our target, so please
challenge us!
Not only that: this year Cruzio is holding a raffle to encourage
donations to Second Harvest. Each Cruzio customer who donates one
full bag of food or a cash donation of over $25 at Cruzio before
December 11th, 2004, will be entered to win a raffle prize of $200
in free Cruzio services.
To contribute, just give us your check made out to Second Harvest
Food Bank. Get the check to us before December 27th, 2004, and we'll
match the donation and pass the check along. Remember that the raffle
ends on December 11th, but the matching offer goes on until December
27th.
For more information about the Second Harvest Food Bank -- a worthy
organization -- please visit:
http://www.thefoodbank.org
10. There Will Always Be a Kitty
An apology to fans of the Cruzio Kitty, our logo since 1989.
Normally, every Cruzio printed ad has at least one Cruzio Kitty
in it. We often hide the kitty in ads so that readers have to look
for it -- it may be tiny, or partially disguised, or in some
unexpected form or place. We know readers get a kick out of finding the
kitty when it's hidden. But last month, we made an error and there
was no kitty in two of our ads! Several people registered unhappiness
("Where is the KITTY?" emailed one disgruntled feline fan) and we
apologize and vow to do better. Never again. There will always be
a kitty.
11. Small Business Fair: A Fine Time for All
We've had some great feedback from participants about last month's
Small Business Fair and just wanted to say thank you, especially
to Kathy, Westi and Jhonee' from the Cruzio Marketing Department.
They put a lot of work into a smooth-running and informative
event. And many thanks to those of you who joined us -- both
nights sold out! See you next year.
12. From the Finance Department
Tapati, our able representative in the Finance office at Cruzio,
has some tips and reminders to report. First, banks are now clearing
checks much faster than they used to and we've seen more checks
rejected for insufficient funds as a result. Beware! Also, a reminder
that the number Cruzio wants to see on your check is the account number
from the top of your bill, not the strange, random "ref #" our billing
software inserts into the line-item text. We are working on making the
"ref #" go away, but it is one of those things. Thanks for helping
us out.
13. Buddy Bucks
This is Cruzio's most popular promotion, and our members save
money all the time by doing what comes naturally: recommending
Cruzio to friends, family, or even people they barely know.
You'll get $10 credit on your Cruzio account every time a new
customer gives us your email address, registration number, or full
name when they sign on and stay for 30 days or more.
Since Cruzio dialup is available nationwide, you can even reap rewards
from recommending us to distant friends and relations. So if your
friend Fred from Freedom needs a reliable connection, or your cousin
Cheryl from Chicago would like the friendly feeling of Cruzio, send
them to us and we'll award you a $10 credit for each one.
14. Bring in Food, Avoid Late Fees
If you're late on a payment to Cruzio, turn it into a donation
to hungry folks in our community. We will waive your late
fee if you bring 3 cans into our office for our Second Harvest
Food Bank barrel. Learn more about this charity at
http://www.thefoodbank.org
15. 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.
16. 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).
Dialup: 459-9408
Nationwide Dialup: Look up local number on our Web page:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/dialup_isdn/nationwide_numbers.html
or call Cruzio toll free, 1.800.303.3302
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, Tapati, Alec, Stephen,
Paul, Gershom, Jessi, Michael, another Chris, Maria, James,
Jhonee', Derrick and Westi; Tiffany (our fabulous intern);
Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids)
Tall tales from the schoolyard: Carly, age 7, reports.
Carly: "I found a lizard at recess. But no one could touch it,
because it is a deadly poisonous lizard!"
Mommy: "That sounds like a story, Carly."
Carly: "No, it is true."
Mommy: "But there aren't any deadly lizards that live around
here. The only poisonous animals around here are
rattlesnakes and..."
Carly: "It was a rattle-lizard!"
Mommy: "A rattle-lizard?"
Carly: "One bite and you are dead!"
Mommy: "Carly, even with a rattlesnake you don't die right
away after one bite. You go to the doctor, and they
can help you."
Carly: "I know that. I made a mistake."
Mommy: "Okay then."
Carly: "Two bites and you are dead!"
