Iowatelecom.net

Operating System:

Microsoft Windows 2000 or higher, Macintosh OS X or higher:
DSL will work with Windows 95 / Windows 98 or Windows ME however Microsoft no longer supports these Operating Systems. Macintosh OS X, (pronounced OS Ten) is the only operating system supported by Apple. Older versions of the Macintosh software will work however they contain old versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer & Microsoft Outlook Express that are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

PC Processors:

Pentium II 233 MHz or higher AMD Duron or higher
One available Ethernet or USB port is required:
Ethernet connection with 64MB RAM or higher is recommended. USB connection requires a minimum of 128MB RAM. USB Drivers are included but will only work with Windows 98 SE or newer Windows Operating Systems. Macintosh computers must use an Ethernet connection. USB Drivers will not work.

20 MB of free hard-drive space:

Computers with less free space could have issues with e-mail, picture movement, loading of updates, and other software programs.
All Windows updates should be completed.
Anti-virus and Spy-ware protection on PC machines are highly recommended.

1. Right click on the My Computer icon, typically located in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This may also be located on the Start menu.
2. On the menu that appears, left click on Properties.
3. Under the General tab of the new window that appears, your Operating System will be the first entry under the System listing. You will also find other important information such as processor Speed and amount of RAM.

1. Click on the Apple menu in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
2. Click on About This Computer or (About this Mac).

1. Right click on the My Computer icon, typically located in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This may also be located on the Start menu.
2. On the menu that appears, left click on Properties.
3. If your computer is Windows XP, click on the Hardware tab, then click the Device Manager button. If your computer is Windows 98 or ME, click on the Device Manager tab.
4. In your Device Manager, look for Network Adapters, which will show you all networking devices installed in your system. If you see a device with the label Ether or 10/100, you have an Ethernet port on your computer.

1. Right click on the My Computer icon, typically located in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This may also be located on the Start menu.
2. On the menu that appears, left click on Properties.
3. The amount of RAM your computer has will be the last thing listed under the General tab.

1. Double click on the My Computer icon, typically located in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This may also be located on the Start menu.
2. Right click on the drive labeled C:
3. On the menu that appears, left click on Properties.
4. Under the General tab of the new window that appears you will find the amount of free space on your hard-drive.

NO COMPANY SHOULD EVER ASK FOR YOUR PASSWORD VIA EMAIL.

These types of emails are known as "Phishing Scams", and are designed to get you to give up your password so that the scammer can use your account.

PLEASE NEVER PROVIDE YOUR PASSWORD VIA EMAIL!!!!!

Iowa Telecom will never ask you for your password via e-mail. If you receive an e-mail asking you for this information, please forward it to abuse@iowatelecom.net for investigation.

All e-mail not filtered as spam by Iowa Telecom's Premium SPAM Control that you wish to report as spam should be sent to spamtrap@iowatelecom.net

Do not reply or bounce back the spam to the sending e-mail address. More than likely it is a fake address and you will just be adding to the already high volume of junk mail.

Do not forward the e-mail to technical support.

Also, using the so called "opt-out" or "remove me" from most junk e-mail is really just a way for the spammer to know that yours is a valid e-mail address. This will most often cause your e-mail address to be harvested and sold to other spammers.

The best thing to do is to forward the junk e-mail to spamtrap@iowatelecom.net. so that our spam filters can learn about it, then you should just delete it.

Spammers harvest e-mail addresses in many ways. For example:

• By searching. They use specialized search engines (Spambots) to collect e-mail addresses from web pages, newsgroups, bulletin boards, discussion forums, white & yellow pages, mailing lists, ... etc. automatically.
• By guessing. They can generate a random sequence of characters, hoping to match a few valid addresses.
• By purchasing. They can buy or exchange e-mail addresses from other spammers.
• By having access to some persons' computers through Trojan viruses.
• By social engineering. Spammers use a hoax to convince people into giving their e-mail addresses.
• People may be required to submit their e-mail addresses on the Internet (e.g. before downloading some software), and these e-mail addresses may be released to unknown persons.
• People may leave their e-mail addresses in some dubious questionnaire that are found on the Internet, on the street or on telephone.

Try searching for your e-mail address in a search engine, such as Yahoo.com or Google.com. If you get some results, then there is a good chance that spammers can get your e-mail address the same way.

Premium SPAM Control can be accessed two ways. 1) By clicking the link sent to you in the quarantine reminders sent daily via e-mail, or 2) By logging into webmail (webmail.iowatelecom.net) and clicking on the Spam Control button.

If you are having trouble logging into Premium SPAM Control, please make sure that your e-mail address and password are correct. Premium SPAM Control uses the same e-mail address and password as all other Iowa Telecom services.

Outlook error 0x800CCC0F

Outlook and Outlook Express sometimes present the error 0x800CCC0F.

Anti-virus and firewall software

Anti-virus and firewall software is a common cause of this problem. Follow your anti-virus/firewall provider's instructions to allow internet access, including email.

Warning: We do not recommend that you disable virus and firewall software.

his error means that the connection between your computer and the server has been interrupted. It is usually caused by a faulty network connection or an overly protective firewall.

Check your internet connection. You may be able to resolve the problem by checking your:

1. LAN connection (if applicable) - ensure your router/switch is correctly sending traffic to your PC.

2. Hardware firewall - ensure your firewall is configured to allow traffic through ports 110, 25 and any other ports your email software uses.

3. Wireless connection (if applicable).

4. Internet connection - check your ISP's status page.

5. Modem/router - rebooting or reconnecting may solve the problem.

Other possible solutions

1. Remove your email account from your software, then set it up again. Remember: back up your email and contacts first.

2. Reduce the frequency that your email software checks your mailbox.

3. Check that your MTU size is correct.

4. Reboot your machine.

Help from MicrosoftMicrosoft's knowledge base has further information on Outlook (Express) errors and possible solutions:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=813514

Occasionally, you'll get a piece of e-mail, generally spam, not addressed to you. You are not accidentally receiving someone else's e-mail. What you're seeing is known as BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) spam. What this means is that someone will send spam to an e-mail address similar to yours (ie, if your address is abc@iowatelecom.net, you may see spam sent to abb@iowatelecom.net), and BCC your address on it, so you won't see that it was also sent to you.

This can happen quite often, and unfortunately cannot be stopped on its own. Your best bet is subscribe to Premium SPAM Control from Iowa Telecom, or use a third party software package that allows you to set your own security filters based on you levels of comfort.

This is a spammer technique known as "spoofing the from address". They hide the name of the actual sender using someone elses address, and they have generally chosen to use the same address they are sending to.

Iowa Telecom blocks millions of unsolicited e-mails per day. We use a variety of techniques including:

Greylisting (http://www.greylisting.org/)
Real Time Black Lists (http://www.spamhaus.org)
E-mail spam filtering and virus scanning

Unfortunately, this type of e-mail is becoming increasingly hard to detect, and some amount may not be filtered via our automated processes.

Log into Iowa Telecom's webmail at http://webmail.iowatelecom.net

1. Click on the "Options" button.
2. Click on "Folder Preferences"
3. Change the "Trash Folder" menu to "[Do not use trash]"
4. Click on "Submit"
5. Click on "Inbox"

You will be able to delete messages at this point. However, please realize that when you click "Delete" those messages are gone and unrecoverable.

It is a common feature of the many e-mail viruses currently populating the Internet to forge their identities and send themselves out to every e-mail address (and everything that even looks like an e-mail address) that it can find -- in order to insure maximum infection. Viruses get these e-mail addresses from a variety of sources, including an infected person's address book and their e-mail/browser cache.

If an infected computer has any trace of your e-mail address on it, there is now a chance that the virus will mail itself to a third party using your address as the Sender. If that third-party e-mail address doesn't actually exist, or if there are virus protections in place, the message will be rejected and will bounce back -- to you -- even though you are not infected with a virus.

It's still a good idea to keep your virus software and definitions up to date, so that you don't get infected (Iowa Telecom automatically scans incoming messages for viruses, but it's a good idea to use your own protection as well); just because you are receiving bounces doesn't mean you actually sent the original message. In fact, it's almost a sure sign that you didn't.

Some junk e-mail/spam is also sent in this manner to avoid detection -- with randomized sender addresses. You might even get an angry reply from someone who thinks you sent them the junk e-mail, even though you didn't.

Problems sending and receiving e-mail are rarely related.

If the problem affects one particular service, then it's possible that there is a communications block between that service and Iowa Telecom. Try contacting that service's Postmaster to see if they are aware of problems both sending e-mail to and receiving e-mail from.

Iowa Telecom will make every effort to deliver a message to your recipient, but does not have any control over a message once it leaves the Iowa Telecom service. If your recipient is not with Iowa Telecom, have them check with their provider in an effort to figure out what happened to your message.

If you are receiving some type of error message in response to your e-mail, look at it carefully for an explanation for what happened. Your recipient might have changed their address or you might be spelling it wrong.

Iowa Telecom suggests that you set your email client to check email every 5 minutes.

The following is a list of settings for sending and receiving e-mail using Iowa Telecom Internet Services:

Incoming mail server (POP3): pop3.iowatelecom.net
Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.iowatelecom.net
Account: Your account name is your username (i.e. if your e-mail address is jim@iowatelecom.net then your account is jim)

There are three commmon reasons why you might not be getting an e-mail that someone is sending to you.

1. First, check your Premium SPAM Control to make sure you are not blocking the person (or blocking everyone). If you are, the person trying to send you e-mail should be receiving an error message saying that you are not accepting e-mail from them.
2. Second, check your Spam Folder to see if messages from your correspondent are being tagged by Iowa Telecom as being junk e-mail. If they are, try adding your correspondent to your whitelist so that future messages will be delivered straight to you.
3. Third, it's possible that Iowa Telecom is blocking your correspondent's provider from sending e-mail because there have been complaints of abuse. If this is the problem, they would be unable to get e-mail through to any Iowa Telecom members -- not just you.

Iowa Telecom <-> Internet

E-mail usually travels from one service to another in a matter of mere minutes over the Internet, but there are a number of reasons why it could take longer. Various servers along the path the e-mail takes could be overloaded or malfunctioning, which will slow things down.

There isn't much that can be done to prevent this, just as one cannot reduce the impact of harsh weather on traffic. If you have chronic problems with one particular Internet provider, you may want to contact them to see if there is a more efficient way e-mail could be routed between them and Iowa Telecom.

Iowa Telecom <-> Iowa Telecom

E-mail from one Iowa Telecom customer to another is generally instantaneous. If you experience delays, it could be caused by temporary problems with the Iowa Telecom e-mail system. Try again in a few hours.

Iowa Telecom's outbound SMTP servers are:

DNS is what translates website addresses, such as http://www.iowatelecom.net, into the numbered address that the Internet uses. It also translates those numbers back into addresses as well. When you put www.iowatelecom.net into a browser and hit GO, your browser looks to a DNS server for the numbered address associated with www.iowatelecom.net. When it gets that address, it will direct your browser to our website using the numbered address.

When you connect to Iowa Telecom Internet Services your computer is told by our service where to look for a DNS server. You should always leave the DNS area of your connection and browser empty so you can receive this information from our servers for your current connection. If you feel that you need the static information for a DNS service, contact our Technical Support team.

Choosing a web browser is very much a matter of opinion and personal preference. Some people prefer to stay with the default browser that came with their system. Often times this is Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Macintosh's Safari. Others choose to try other browsers that offer unique features. Iowa Telecom Internet Service can be used with almost any browser software.

Almost all browsers will use Iowa Telecom Internet Service with the default install settings they contain, provided your connection to our service is working. If you are having issues connecting to the World Wide Web using a specific browser, but other browsers are working fine, try setting that browser back to default settings and see if that helps. If you still have issues, contact the manufacturer of the browser or attempt to reinstall that particular browser.

In reality, analog throughput is limited to a maximum of 53.333kbps per FCC regulations. Although 53.333kbps is the maximum speed, some operating systems may incorrectly report a higher speed.

The connection speed is very dependent on the phone line quality, the hardware/software, and environmental conditions. It can fluctuate.

To make sure you connect at the maximum speed, you can verify that you have the latest update of your software programs and modem drivers (check your hardware and software vendors' web sites) and unplug any other equipment using the same phone line as your modem.

You should try different dial-up access numbers in your area (using a different path through the phone network might deliver a better connection). You should try again and see if you get a better speed at a different time (this may fluctuate during the day and over time).

In data communications, a kilobit is a thousand bits. It's commonly used for measuring the amount of data that is transferred in a second between two telecommunication points. Kilobits per second is usually shortened to Kbps

Dial-up Networking is only available for Window 98 users and above. Simply put, a dial-up networking connection allows an Internet user to connect to the Internet without the floppy start up disks or software from an ISP. All you need is an access number and a service you can connect to the Internet instantly.

You can start Dial-Up Networking by clicking Start, pointing to Programs, pointing to Accessories, pointing to Communications, and then clicking Dial-Up Networking.

For a list, please visit http://numbers.iowatelecom.net

You want to use local access numbers to avoid paying long distance charges. If an access number is in your local calling area, a modem will connect at a local call rate, just as if you were dialing the number via a phone.

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line and is an always on connection to the Internet. DSL service is placed on your existing telephone line, running over standard copper telephone lines. It allows you to have high-speed Internet access with a minimum of specialized equipment and cost. A DSL connection allows you to use the same Internet resources you have used in the past with dial-up service, but now you can use them without having to "dial in". This also means there are no worries about disconnections and waiting during a login to access the Internet. The most prominent feature of DSL, however, is the speed. DSL often has connection speeds that will download in seconds what used to take minutes over a dial-up connection.

DSL service comes in a variety of speeds and there are a lot of factors that can affect your DSL speed.

A DSL line has 2 different speeds: download and upload. Download is traffic (ie. information) coming to your machine. Upload is a request for information or traffic leaving your machine. Upload speed is usually around one half of download speed. Iowa Telecom has four different packages for DSL service. You can see those packages on our Products pages.

If we offer DSL service in your community you can probably get DSL service if your phone line is not more than three miles from the central telephone office in your area. DSL signal becomes less functional the longer the phone line is.

A DSL line with 768k service is going to download information more than ten times faster than your old 56k service.

DSL service is a signal traveling over copper telephone line. This signal gets weaker and degrades the further it travels over the wire. Signal on a line less than 5,000 feet from the central office is very strong and usually error free. Signal on a line over 18,000 feet from the central office is almost non-existant. The longer your telephone line is from the central office to your house, the weaker your signal, and therefore your service, is going to be.

It is possible to extend service over the 18,000 feet limit, but it requires special equipment that may not be available in your area and service is not guaranteed even if the special equipment is used.

Here are the steps to get started using your Personal Webspace:

1. Create a "Starting page" for your website using any HTML editor. When you save the file, make sure you name it "index.html" or "index.htm".
2. To upload your web page to the Iowa Telecom web server, you will need an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program such as WS_FTP (Windows) or Fetch (Macintosh). Many HTML editors have FTP built in (sometimes referred to as the "Publish" function - refer to your HTML editor's documentation for more information on how to set this up).
3. Once you have selected which FTP program you wish to use, open it and use the following information to set up your Iowa Telecom web server connection:
   1. Connect to (remote host): ftp.iowatelecom.net
   2. The username (or login name) is the same as your dial-up username (the part of your e-mail address before the "@")
4. The password is the same as your e-mail password
5. Once you have typed in this information in, click Connect. Your FTP program will show the contents of your "Home" directory.
6. Select the "index.html" file on your PC and then click the "Upload" button.
7. You should now see "index.html" listed in the "Web" directory.
8. Now, open your web browser and put in the following URL: http://www.iowatelecom.net/~/ ( is the same username you used to login in step 3 above. i.e.: If your username is "its", your URL would be http://www.iowatelecom.net/~its/
9. Click the Enter key and your web page (index.html) will appear!
10. Edit and upload as many web pages as you would like using the same steps. When you are happy with the way your page looks (hit "reload" or "refresh" on your web browser to see your changes after you upload them), you can send your Personal Webspace address (http://www.iowatelecom.net/~/) to your friends, family and colleagues. Congratulations! You've got a website of your own!

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1. Who do I contact with abuse questions/concerns?
   

   All e-mail not filtered as spam by Iowa Telecom's Premium SPAM Control that you wish to report as spam should be sent to spamtrap@iowatelecom.net.

   abuse@iowatelecom.net is available for customers and administrators outside of Iowa Telecom to report abuse generated by our network. (DO NOT forward your spam to this address)

   
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1. What IP addresses does Iowa Telecom use to send e-mail?
   

   Iowa Telecom's outbound SMTP servers are:

   69.66.0.11
   69.66.0.87
   69.66.1.16
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