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Service FAQ
Signing Up
- How do
I sign up?
-
Signing up with Mother Lode Internet, is
as easy as dropping by our office at 301 South Shepherd Street
in Sonora or calling us at 209-536-5800.
- Do I
need a dedicated phone line?
-
No, you do not need a dedicated phone line
to access the Internet. However, keep in mind that when you are on
the Internet, no one can call you and you cannot make any outgoing
calls on the line the computer is using to connect to the
Internet.
Hardware/Software
- What
are the requirements for my computer?
-
To get on the Internet you need to have a
computer that is either an IBM PC compatible or a Macintosh.
For IBM PC based platforms you need to be using either Microsoft
Windows 95 or higher. To run today's Internet software your
computer should also have a 486 or better processor and 16 MB or
more of RAM. You need to have a modem in your computer
and that modem must be 14.4 bps or faster. For Macintosh users you
need to have a 68020 processor or better and a minimum of
8 MB RAM. Your modem also must be of at least 14.4
bps.
- What
kind of software do I need?
-
For IBM PC compatible machines running Windows 95
or higher, you need to have either Netscape Communicator 4.7 or
Higher, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5 or Higher. For
Macintosh users you need either the Netscape Communicator 4 or
Higher, Internet Explorer 4 or Higher.
Mother Lode Internet can provide
Microsoft Internet Explorer and also Netscape Communicator.
- What
if I can't or don't want to attempt to set up my software?
-
We will do it for free. If you do not want
to install or setup your Internet software we can do it for you. If
you drop your computer off at our office, one of our Internet
technicians will install and configure your Internet email and
browser software for you. Call us at 209-536-5800 for details and
drop off times.
Newsgroups
- What are newsgroups?
-
Newsgroups are kind of like giant bulletin boards that you
can post messages to and read messages on. Currently Mother
Lode Internet provides access to over 40,000+ newsgroups. Each
one of these newsgroups covers a different subject. Participants of
a newsgroup can post questions or answers to other peoples
questions that pertain to the newsgroup. These newsgroups can be
seen by people worldwide. Newsgroups do not cost anything and are a
part of your subscription to Mother Lode Internet.
- What do I need to read the newsgroups?
-
You need a program that can access the newsgroups. Some
programs that do this are are Netscape Communicator, Microsoft
Outlook Express.
- What does it mean to subscribe to a
newsgroup?
-
You subscribe to one or several newsgroups that interest you.
This only tells your own news reader that you want to track that or
those newsgroups. Most news readers will move subscribed newsgroups
to the top of the list of newsgroups so that you can access them
easier. Also, most readers will allow you to hide (don't
display) all newsgroups that you aren't subscribed to. That way you
don't have to wade through the thousands of available newsgroups to
find your favorites. Don't worry, you won't be charged for
subscribing. Also, you don't have to subscribe to any newsgroups in
order to read them.
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E-mail
General E-mail
- What is my
E-mail address?
-
Your E-mail address is composed of your user
name (sometimes called login name) the "@" sign and the domain
name. An example of a Mother Lode Internet E-mail
address might be username@mlode.com. In that example
username is the user name and mlode.com is our domain
name.
- What do I
need to send and receive E-mail?
-
In order to send and receive E-mail you need
some sort of E-mail program. Some commonly used E-mail programs
are Eudora
Mail, Netscape Mail (integrated into Netscape
Navigator 4.7 and higher), Outlook Express (integrated into
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and up), Pegasus Mail, and
Apple's Mail.
- What are
the proper settings for my E-mail program?
-
The proper E-mail program settings would be as
follows:
- POP3 server - mail.mlode.com
- POP3 user account - your E-mail address ex.
username@mlode.com
- POP3 user name - your user name ex. username
- SMTP server - mail.mlode.com
- Password - same password that you use for logging into
your account
- Reply to address - your E-mail address
ex.username@mlode.com
For more information about setting up your E-mail and
troubleshooting tips, see the Technical
Support pages.
- How do I
save my password in E-mail?
-
In your E-mail program there should be a setting
to save your password. It is different for every E-mail program.
Here are a few examples:
- Outlook Express: Under Mail choose
Options. Next go to the Server tab and make sure that
your password is entered in. Click OK to save the
changes.
- Netscape Composer: Under Options choose Mail
and News Preferences. Then go to the General tab under
Mail Servers and there you will see a box to check that says
"Remember Mail Password". Click OK to save the changes.
- Eudora Light: Under Special choose
Settings (or under Tools choose Options). Then
in the category Checking Mail there should be a box to check
that says Save Password. Click OK to save the
changes.
- How do I
check/receive my E-mail?
-
Every E-mail program has a different way of
telling it to go retrieve your mail. Here are some example of ways
to check your E-mail:
- Netscape Messenger: Click on the button that says Get
Mail or under File select Get New Mail.
- Outlook Express: Click on the Send and Receive
button or under Mail select Send and Receive.
- Eudora Mail: Click on File and select Check
Mail.
- Can I
E-mail someone in another country?
-
Yes, once you are connected to Mother
Lode Internet you can E-mail anyone in any other country as
long as they have an E-mail address and they have given it to
you.
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Hosting FAQ
Web Design
-
Ok, I want to put up my own web page, what do I do first?
-
Step 1 - You will need an account on our
web server. Send an E-mail to our webmaster and let him know that
you would like a web account.
Step 2 - Our webmaster will send you your account
information after setting up your web space.
Step 3 - Your web pages are now under your control. You
are responsible for creating, uploading, and maintaining your own
web pages.
- Where can I get some design help?
-
Mother Lode Internet has a talented team
of web designers, if you would like to contact the sales department
(209-536-5800 x1) to schedule a time when you can work with out web team to help you build the site that
you have always wanted. If you need help in uploading the website
you can contact our Technical Support Department at
209-536-5800 and press 2 for technical support.
- How do I get in touch with the
webmaster?
-
Webmaster is a common World Wide Web
title. The person or persons who receive mail sent to webmaster@mlode.com have
other duties here at Mother Lode Internet and generally
respond when they can. Therefore, the best way to contact the
webmaster is via E-mail. In fact most questions have been
quickly and easily handled via E-mail.
Out calls or office appointments are made when
necessary but are generally on a consulting basis at $70 per
hour.
- Can I have cgi scripts in my web page?
-
You may submit cgi scripts for review. If
approved, the scripts will be placed in a common cgi-bin directory
that is controlled by Mother Lode Internet staff.
- Can I use server side includes?
-
Server Side Includes are not available for
personal WebPages but for Virtual Domain hosting contact webmaster@mlode.com to find
out details on this feature.
- Does your web server support Microsoft's
Front Page Extensions?
-
FrontPage Extensions are supported on Virtual
Domain Server Space only. If you have a free web space, Front
Page Extensions are not supported.
- How do I let the world know where my web
page is?
-
Mother Lode Internet can assist you with web page submissions for a
fee.
FTP
- What is
FTP?
-
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It
is the protocol that the Internet uses to transfer files to and
from different computers that are on the Internet.
- What software
do I need?
-
To transfer files between computers via the
Internet you need a program that supports FTP. Many World Wide Web
browsers now support downloading files using FTP and some support
limited uploading via FTP.
Most programs designed to perform only FTP
functions can upload and download files as well as change file
attributes, create and delete directories, and let you set login
and password information.
Some commonly used programs would be WS-FTP and CuteFTP
which are Microsoft Windows programs and Fetch and Interarchy,
which are Macintosh programs. These files can be obtained from the
many software archives on the net such as Tucows and
Downloads.com.
Posting Web Sites
-
- Using an FTP program - Recommended
- Open your FTP Program and put in the information
that was given to you by the Webmaster
- Use your login name and the password that you
received from the Webmaster. Do not use an anonymous login.
- Upload your webpage
into the directory that the Webmaster told you to in the e-mail
that you received
- * Remember to name your main page index.shtml
(all lower case) so that it will display properly.
- Where can I
get an FTP program?
See "FTP" section of this FAQ for more
details.
- When I try to
upload my web page I get an invalid password error. Why?
-
If you are sure that you are entering your
password correctly, check to see that you are trying to access the
proper server. Also check to make sure that you are typing the
correct password and user name.
If you continue to get an invalid password error,
E-mail the webmaster.
- When I try to
upload my web page my program says that my
public_html
directory doesn't exist. Where did it go?
-
You may have successfully logged in to mlode.com
instead of www.mlode.com. You wouldn't have a
public_html directory on mlode.com.
- Why do I get
a directory listing whenever I access my web page?
-
Our web server looks for a file called index.shtml
in every directory that it is told to access. If an index.shtml
file doesn't exist, the server returns the content of the directory
instead.
This can be a handy feature. If you want to place
pages on our server while you are developing them and don't want
anyone else to have access to them, create a directory under your
public_html directory and then place a blank page called index.shtml
in it. Then you can upload your work in progress to that directory.
If someone accesses your new directory, the server will
automatically show them the blank page. You, however, will be able
to access your other page(s) since you are the only one who knows
that they are in that directory and what their names are.
- My page is
named index.shtml but it doesn't load when I access my directory.
Why?
-
Unix, the operating system that our web server
uses, is case sensitive. To the server index.shtml is a
different file than index.shtml or index.shtml. Be sure that you have
named your main page index.shtml (all lower case).
- All my files are on the server but my images
won't load and some of my links don't work. Why?
Again, Unix is case sensitive. Make sure that
when you are calling your images and links from within your page,
that the file names and links are the same case. For example,
MY_PICTURE.GIF is not the same as my_picture.gif.
Server Space
- What am I
allowed to do with Mother Lode Internet 10MB of Web Space that is
given with my Unlimited Access Account?
-
Mother Lode Internet has the most liberal web
space policy around. While conforming to the restrictions
listed below, our subscribers can use up to 10 megabytes of hard
drive space for their web pages, their web pages can generate up to
100 megabytes of traffic per month, and they can place commercial
information in their pages.
- 10 megabytes
Subscribers are allowed to place up to 10 megabytes of files on
Mother Lode Internet computers. This includes all E-mail,
web pages and files, and shell files.
Subscribers who exceed this allotment will be contacted and given
the option to purchase more space in 10 megabyte lots at $10 per
month or remove excess files.
- 100 Megabytes of traffic
Every time your web page is accessed, the files associated to your
web page(s) are transferred to the person accessing the page. This
outgoing traffic is logged and each month a total is produced for
each web account. If a web account's traffic exceeds 100 megabytes
in a month, a surcharge of 10¢ per megabyte will be added to
that customer's access account bill. If you are concerned about
your traffic, keep an eye on the size and number of files that you
upload and present.
- Commercial Information
Our subscribers can advertise businesses that they themselves own
on their web page. Reselling web space or advertising another
person's business, product, or service is not permitted.
Virtual Domain Names
- What is
a Virtual Domain?
-
A less than technical description of a Virtual
Domain is: a Domain whose web site is served from someone else's
web server.
Normally you would register a Domain and then
setup your own web server, E-mail server, and ftp server to respond
as that Domain. In the case of a Virtual Domains, one computer can
be configured to host hundreds of different Domains without anyone
realizing that they all live on the same computer. Since they don't
actually have their own individual hosts, they are considered
Virtual Domains rather than real Domains.
- How do
I get a Virtual Domain?
-
If you would like us to register a Domain for
yourself or your company, please visit the hosting section of our web site, or E-mail our webmaster.
Unless you know that the Domain that you will be
requesting is available, please include a list of 5 acceptable
domain names with your request.
Also include a short description of how you
intend to use the Domain as well as your name, your company's name,
a mailing address, phone number and E-mail address.
Our domains are registered with Verisign. The
domain registration fee is $35/yr. and must be sold in conjunction
with either a Hosting Package, Point or Park of the domain.
- Can I
get a static IP address?
-
Static IP addresses are reserved for our
internal computers and Virtual Domains. Therefore, you will be
charged the Virtual Domain rate for your own IP address.
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