HELPNET NEWS
AUGUST 2001
********NEXT HELPNET MEETING********
WHEN: 12:00 - 1:30, Thursday, August 16(Bring Your Lunch)
WHERE: Peace and Justice Center, 170 Park St., Bangor
AGENDA: This will be a meeting of HelpNet's Steering Committee,
the advisory group which helps direct our project. Everyone is invited to
attend and join.
********************************
IN THIS ISSUE:
**STAYING ONLINE AND STAYING SANE - YOUR ORGANIZATION'S INTERNET
CONNECTION AND INTERNET PRESENCE
**MULTIPLE TASKS, MULTIPLE PROVIDERS
**YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION
**A PLACE FOR YOUR WEB SITE
*****************************
STAYING ONLINE AND STAYING SANE - YOUR ORGANIZATION'S INTERNET CONNECTION
AND INTERNET PRESENCE:
In the last few months, I've spent a fair amount of time helping
organizations deal with their connections to the Internet -- what ISP's are
good and bad, how to set up a domain name, etc. -- and there have been a
number of posts on this subject. With all the ongoing changes in the
Internet economy -- dot.com collapses, ISP mergers and buyouts,
disappearance of "free" services -- it can be a real pain keeping up and
keeping connected. So I decided to try to pull some information
together,into this month's and next month's newsletters.
MULTIPLE TASKS, MULTIPLE PROVIDERS:
When we think of a small organization's Internet use, there is actually a
number of different things that the organization needs to do:
(1) connect to the Internet, either through dial-up or some form
of broadband connection (cable, DSL, etc.)
(2) be able to send and receive E-mail, and perhaps manage mailing
lists
(3) have a Web site
(4) have a unique "domain name" (e.g. ournamehere.org) for their
Web site and E-mail. This is not necessary, but is very helpful in
establishing your on-line identity.
While it is possible to get all 4 of these through the same provider, it is
not necessary, and some groups may not need all 4. For instance, a small
organization with no offices of its own, whose work is carried by people in
their own homes or offices, won't need its own Internet connection (#1),
but may still want items 2, 3 and 4. For many organizations, the best
strategy will be to shop around for a combination of providers of these
different services. We'll deal with #'s 1 and 3 (Internet connection and
Web sites) this month.
YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION:
Unless you already have an Internet connection available to you (for
instance, if you are affiliated with the University), you need to find some
way to connect to the University. A year or 2 ago, the choices included
local and national ISP's, as well as a number of free services. Most of
these free services required you to look at ads. With the return of the
dot.com economy, these have either been converting to paid services, or
have been going under. Bluelight.com, K-Mart's Internet service, is one of
the ISP's that has eliminated its free service recently. Juno.com still
has a free service, but I don't know how long it will be there. In
general, I'm wary of any company that uses the economic model of giving
away its product, and paying for it with Web advertising. (This includes
Topica, the free host of this mailing list -- more on this next month.)
So the choice is between local and national companies. I prefer to deal
with local Maine businesses, but I worry that small companies may be more
likely to be swallowed up by bigger companies, with negative effects on
service (as happened with MINT, in my opinion). Two local companies that
I've heard good things about are GWI (www.gwi.net) and MidMaine
Communications (www.midmaine.com), and I'm sure there are number of others
list members can suggest.
As for national ISP's, PC Magazine's August 2001 issue has ratings of 8
national ISP's, based on a reader survey. AT&T WorldNet was the top-rated
dial-up ISP, with Excite@Home and RoadRunner getting top ratings for
broadband (cable) access. AOL was in last place, with MSN not much better.
The question of dial-up vs. DSL vs. cable is something we should take up in
a separate newsletter. For dial-up access, expect to pay $10-20+/month,
depending on whether you need limited unlimited access, multiple E-mail
accounts, etc. For instance, I'm now paying MidMaine $15.95/month for
unlimited access, 4 E-mail mailboxes, and 5 Mb of Web space.
A PLACE FOR YOUR WEB SITE:
In the last paragraph, I mentioned that 5 MB of Web space came with my
MidMaine dial-up account. However, I'm not using this space, and there is
no requirement to house your Web site on the servers of the ISP that is
provides your Internet connection. The Web site can be anywhere, so long
as it is on a server with a permanent Internet Connection. Web hosting is
a specialized line of business, quite different from providing Internet
access. Depending what Web services you need, your organization may be
better off using one company for your Internet access, and another to house
your Web site. A separate Web hosting company may be less expensive, and/or
they may provide services that are not available from the company that
provides your Internet connection.
For instance, PICA (www.pica.ws) has recently moved its site to Interland
(www.interland.com), a leading national hosting company, with headquarters
in Atlanta. PICA did this because it is embarking on a project involving a
database-driven Web site, which local ISP's could not support. I'm
planning to move the www.ptfolkschool.org site to another national host
soon -- I'll report on the experience.
In the next issue, I'll take up E-mail, domain names, and E-mail aliasing,
forwarding, and mailing lists.
Jon
Jonathan Falk
Pine Tree Folk School
RR 2, Box 7162
Carmel, ME 04419
(207)848-2433
<http://www.ptfolkschool.org>
**Folkschool-list archives are at:
<http://www.mint.net/folkschool/helpnet/archives.htm>
Sponsored by Pine Tree Folk School
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