July 8, 2008 Prairienet will be discontinuing email and dialup services as of 12/31/08 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- We regret to announce that Prairienet will be discontinuing the following services as of December 31, 2008: - all email - mailing lists (listservs) - modem dialup service (dialup Internet access) Organizational Web hosting (aka Information Provider) accounts will continue to be available, although they will no longer offer email. (Listowners and Web Hosting account holders, please watch for a separate email with additional details.) Final Score: Spam 1, Prairienet 0 ================================= As you know, we have been battling the relentless global increase in spam volume for some time now. Spam now accounts for 99% of all email and the two Proofpoint spam filter servers that were put into service in 2006 are routinely running at 10-15 times their rated loads, resulting in intermittent crashes and delivery outages. Other options did not pan out and we could not afford the necessary Proofpoint server upgrades, leaving us with no alternative but to discontinue email services altogether. Discontinuing Modem Dialup Service ================================== We've seen a steady decline in demand for dialup Internet access. While usage of the modems has declined, the cost of offering the service has not and it is no longer financially feasible for us to continue offering it. Expect Delivery Lags ==================== We have extended the license on our current Proofpoint equipment through the end of the year. However, since spam volume continues to climb, we anticipate more and possibly longer delivery lags. If you depend on your email for important or time-sensitive information, we strongly recommend that you find an alternative as soon as possible. Forwarding Your Email ===================== Once you have switched to a new email service, you can forward your Prairienet email via this form: https://ldap2.prairienet.org/forward.pl Log in with your username and password. Email forwarding will work through the end of the year. Keeping Your Homepage ===================== You will be able to keep your Prairienet homepage by switching your account to a Basic Web Hosting account. Please see FAQ (link below) for details. NetNeighbors and low-income Seniors =================================== If your needs are modest, Juno offers FreeISP with 10 hours of dialup per month: http://account.juno.com/s/landing?action=viewProduct&productId=free We may have some funds available to assist qualifying low-income individuals and families and low-income seniors over 65 living in rural Champaign County with dialup Internet access. To put your name on the list to receive information as it becomes available, please email netneighbors@gmail.com. Please include a phone number. Answering Your Questions ======================== We realize that members will have more questions and concerns. We obviously cannot address them all in this message. Please keep in mind that although we will do everything we can to ease the transition for our members, our staff resources are extremely limited. So, before you call or email us, please take a few minutes to visit our online FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and see if your question has already been answered: http://www.prairienet.org/faq If our online information leaves any questions unanswered, please email: prairienet.support@gmail.com Please note our new tech support address. Since we will be losing our in-house email addresses along with all other email, we are switching accounts now in order to assure continuity of email tech support for Web hosting accounts. The old tech support address will forward to this address through the end of the year.