2. Why do I sometimes have trouble connecting?

If you have been able to connect before, and suddenly find that you can't, the first thing that you should try is resetting your modem. If your modem is external, you can simply turn it off and on again. If you modem is internal, you have to shut your computer down and turn the whole thing off to properly reset it. You can also print out the instructions for checking your settings from our support website, which will enable you to ensure that your computer matches our recommended settings. If this does not resolve the problem, please contact our "Support Team" by phone.

Our more confident customers may try changing the modem's initialization string. Specific instructions on changing modem init strings can be found by directly visiting your modem manufacturer's web site or modemhelp.org.

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3. How can I check my account status and usage online?

MyCybernet enables you to check all of your account information through a secure web-based interface. Please click on "Account Manager" under "Client Login". A new Page will open and you will be asked to enter your Login ID and Password, and then choose "Login". Your account information will be displayed.

This window will now present you with the ability to check and manage all of your account information online. You can add email addresses, examine your monthly time usage, check your account expiry/signup dates and much, much more. 

4. My e-mail program is not working properly. What should I do?

Email programs can sometimes be quite frustrating. The error messages they display aren’t always concise, and can often be misleading. The first thing to do when you encounter a problem receiving your e-mail is to check your e-mail settings. You may do this yourself by visiting our Technical Support pages. 

If you are still having trouble, try retyping your username and password. Check to see if your "Caps Lock" key is off (it should be off). On the Internet, small letters and capital letters are read as different characters - meaning that 'john' and 'JOHN' are completely different. Also, make sure your username and password are typed exactly as they were given to you - pay special attention to special characters and upper and lowercase letters.

MyCybernet enables you to protect your email from Junk mail & Virus. To activate you "POSTINI" service Please click on "Account Manager" under "Client Login". A new page will open and you will be asked to enter your Login ID and Password, and then choose "Login". Then click on the email tab this will give you the option to activate your Postini Mail filter.

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6. How do I check my emails online?

MyCybernet enables you to check your emails online through a web-based interface. Please click on "Web Mail" under "Client Login". A new Page will open and you will be asked to enter your Login ID and Password, and then choose "Login". Your emails will be displayed in the browser.

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7. How do I cancel my service?

To cancel or make changes to any service you need to send a written notice via email (accounts@mycybernet.net) or Fax (905-947-1802) 7 days prior to your renewal date.

Service will be automatically renewed if notice is not sent on time.

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9. When will it be available in my area?

We are unable to provide specific dates for the inclusion of new areas that can support the High Speed service as this is entirely dependent on the infrastructure of Bell Canada's telephone network. It is recommended that you either contact your local Bell Telephone Business Centre by dialing 310-BELL (310-2355) to inquire about the availability of ADSL service to your neighbourhood, or check back with us from time to time to see if this service is available to you. E-mail inquiries should be addressed to sales@mycybernet.net, or you may call our sales department for more information.

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10. What could prevent me from getting the High Speed service right now?

There are many factors that prevent us from delivering this service to some customers; these include:

• The length of wire that connects your residential phone line to the Bell Canada Central Office may be too long. It is the measurement of the wire that determines whether a customer is inside or outside the boundry of availability. The range for high speed ADSL service must be within a loop length of 4.5 km from the Central Office. This distance may not always appear far, but telephone lines do not follow straight lines to a house and a considerable distance may have been added to the wire in order to reach your home.

   

• There are two telephone lines installed in the house that share the same physical copper wire. This telephone line configuration is referred to as Added Main Line(AML) and is not compatible with the High Speed ADSL service.

   

• The technology required to provide the High Speed ADSL service has not been installed in the Bell Canada Central Office to which your phone line is connected. Although this technology is currently accessible to more than 2 million households in Ontario and Quebec, not all of Bell's Central Offices in the serving areas have been equipped.

   

• Unfortunately,if your telephone line connects to the Central Office via a 'remote office' which does not use copper wire then the line will not be compatible with our High Speed ADSL service. This particular technology was devised to provide telephone service to developing areas; research is being performed to determine a solution to this short coming.

   

• The telephone network was developed in stages, over a great period of time, to meet increased demands in expanding geographic areas. Due to demographic growth and various technological methods used at different times, some of the distribution patterns that were utilized to provide telephone service to neibourhoods may have resulted in line conditions that are not compatible with the High Speed ADSL service.

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11. Will I need a second telephone line?

No. In fact, if you have two phone lines that share the same physical copper wire, referred to as Added Main Line (AML), your telephone line will not be compatible with the High Speed ADSL service.

The High Speed ADSL service uses a 1-Meg Modem; this allows simultaneous transmission of voice and data over one phone line. You can surf the Internet and talk on the phone, or surf the Intenet and send/receive faxes at the same time.

If you already have a second telephone line installed in your home that is compatible with the High Speed ADSL service, you do not need to cancel the service on your second phone line if you do not wish to do so.

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12. Does High Speed affect the way I currently use my phone line?

No. Anything that you can do with your phone line now will still be possible when the SPEEDe service is installed, since it does not affect calling services or normal voice/data communications.

For example, if you currently subscribe to any of Bell's SmartTouch services such as Call Waiting or Call Answer, use the fax or voice capabilities of your regular dial-up modem, or have an answering machine, they will continue to work the same as they always have.

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13. Can the ADSL Modem send and receive fax messages?

No. The 1-Meg Modem does not provide any faxing capabilities. If you currently send faxes through your dial-up fax modem then you will be able to continue doing so through that device.

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14. Is the ADSL Modem portable?

In order for line related services like High Speed ADSL to work, a phone line that has been specifically programmed for this service, and an attached ADSL Modem are required. If both components are not used together then the service will not work. The ADSL Modem is therefore not portable outside your home if the phone line that you would like to connect it to does not already have the High Speed ADSL service enabled.

The ADSL Modem does not have the ability to dial into an Internet Service Provider (ISP) like a regular modem does.

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15. How long does it take to have the service activated?

Approximately 6 to 10 business days are required to activate the service on your phone line. If you choose to self-install, the starter kit will be delivered to you before or on the date that the service is activated by Bell. If you choose to have a technician install it for you, they will bring it with them on the date that has been arranged for their visitation.

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16. Do I get an e-mail address with a High Speed account?

Yes. All MyCybernet accounts come with 9 POP3 Email accounts with Anti-Spam & Virus Filter, and 25 MB personal Website space.

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17. What kind of speed can I expect from MyCybernet High Speed?

The hardware that supports the MyCybernet High Speed service is rated for 8 Mbps downstream, and 1 Mbps upstream data transfers. Downstream refers to data that is delivered to your computer from the Internet while upstream refers to data that is sent from your computer to the Internet. For the majority of Internet users, downstream data transfers are much greater, and more important than upstream; this is why the High Speed ADSL service may provide Internet access speeds that are as much as 100 times faster than the speed of a 28 kbps modem.

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18. How do I move my ADSL service to a new number or address?

Please login to your account and use the online form provided if you are moving to a new address and/or changing phone numbers for your ADSL service.

Note:
1. The application must be submited 10 days in advance for your changes to take effect
without any downtime.
2. The application must be complete.
3. Your service may be delayed if your new phone number is not active.
4. If your new line is not through Bell, please provide a Circuit Number for the line.

19. I forgot my password. What can I do?

If you have forgotten your password please contact our Support Team. We require some form of identification (address, postal code, or phone number) before we can provide the information. Only the person who is listed as the contact for the account may request for the password.

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20. I share my PC with other people and I don't want them getting on-line using my account. How can I set this up?

The best way of ensuring that no one else can access your account is to not tell anyone your password. You should also ensure that your password is not saved in your "Connect to" window or in your email program.

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21. How do I add additional mailboxes for family members?

MyCybernet provides you 9 additional mailboxes with your account. To activate additional mail accounts, Please click on "Account Manager" under "Client Login". A new Page will open and you will be asked to enter your Login ID and Password, and then choose "Login". Your account information will be displayed.

Click the "SERVICES TAB" this window will now show you the button add more email boxes to your account.

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22. When I try to connect I get an error saying "Check your password and try again". What should I do?

This error indicates that either your password OR userid is typed in incorrectly to rectify this problem simply restart your computer and retype both your user name and your password.

Your password is case sensitive so verify that your CAPS LOCK button is NOT on. If the problem is not fixed, call our Support team for assistance.

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23. When I try to check my email I get a message saying "Poplock Busy". How do I get my mail?

This problem usually occurs when your connection was unexpectedly terminated while you were downloading your email. The best fix for this problem is to disconnect from the internet and close your email program Do not attempt to retrieve your email for at least 15 minutes. The problem should have fixed itself.

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24. How do I reduce Junk & Spam to my Email address?

MyCybernet enables you to protect your email from Junk mail " Viruses. To activate your "POSTINI" service, please click on "Account Manager" under "Client Login". A new page will open and you will be asked to enter your Login ID and Password, and then choose "Login".

Then click on the email tab this will give you the option to activate your Postini Mail filter.

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25. What is the difference between the different dial-up plans?

GTA Access	Access all across Toronto and areas local to "416"
Canada Wide Access	Access to all Major Cities across Canada
North America Access	Access to all Major Cities in Canada & USA

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26. What is my access user name?

DIAL-UP USER NAME GTA Access	"username"
Canada Wide Access User	"idm/login/username@mycybernet.net"
Canada Wide & USA Access	"username@mycybernet.net"
HIGH SPEED Residential /Business user	mycybernet.username@speede.com

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27. Do I have to be connected to MyCybernet to send e-mail?

Yes. If you are not connected to MyCybernet, then there will be no path for your message to follow in order to reach its intended recipient. You must be logged into MyCybernet to be able to send e-mail through our Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server.

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28. What is an e-mail signature?

E-mail signatures are a few lines of text that are added to the end of the e-mail messages that you send. Typically, a signature would consist of information such as your name, position, company name, phone number, and your personal e-mail address. You could also customize your signature by adding a favourite quote or your company's mission statement. An e-mail signature should be limited to no more than five lines of text.

For specific instructions on how to add a signature to your e-mail messages, please refer to the documentation, 'help' files, or 'read me' files that came with your e-mail program for details. If you cannot locate these instructions, contact the product vendor for further assistance.

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29. How Do I set up my email?

Most email programs have a start-up wizard that walks you through the process, like Outlook Express. Make sure to have your server settings handy to enter into the program.

Incoming Server: pop.mycybernet.net
Outoing Server: smtp.mycybernet.net

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30. What are the MyCybernet DNS server names for ADSL Users

When you install and setup some Internet software on your computer (such as web browsers, e-mail applications, or FTP clients), you will likely need to enter some server information before the program will function properly. Provided here is a list of the most commonly used servers at SwitchWorks and the correct server names and/or IP addresses that should be specified.

Server Type Server Name or IP Address   Domain Name Servers Primary DNS 209.222.63.130 Secondary DNS 206.186.81.2 Misc. Servers FTP ftp.mycybernet.net Personal  Website home.mycybernet.net

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31. What is a "cache"?

The cache is a folder on your hard drive that contains copies of web pages and their images so that they may be loaded from your hard drive rather than being downloaded from the Internet every single time you return to a page that you had previously viewed. Browsers will typically save the data and images from the web pages that you have most recently vistited.

Some browsers will refer to this folder as 'Cache' while Internet Explorer uses the name 'Temporary Internet Files'. A regular maintenance routine of your computer should include the clearing of the cache folder on a monthly basis

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32.How do I clear the cache folder?

If your computer is becoming low on free hard disk space or system resources, it may be beneficial to clear the browser's cache by removing the files that have accumulated in the 'Cache' or 'Temporary Internet Files' folder

Please view your programs help file by clicking on the help button in the Toolbar.

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33. How do I change the size of the cache folder?

The size of your cache folder is usually limited to either a specific number of kilobytes or a percentage of the free space on your hard disk. Typically, cache sizes are set to around 5000 kilobytes (5 Megabytes), but the actual size can be adjusted in the preferences section of your web browser. You may want to decrease the size of your cache if your free disk space is low, or if you have a surplus of disk space, increasing your cache will enhance your web browsing speeds.

Your web browser may also have a "Memory Cache" which will keep some files in memory before they go into the folder on the hard disk. Memory cache is faster than disk cache but shouldn't be over used.

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34. What is a "cookie"?

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your hard drive by a web page to be used in a subsequent page.

Typically, a cookie is used as a convenient way of telling a subsequent web page what information you have done on a previous page. Examples of where a cookie is used are to remember a login name and password entered on a previous page or a "shopping cart" feature on a retail site. They are also sometimes used by advertisers to keep track of which pages from which a particular user is viewing their advertisements.

Do cookies affect my privacy?
Not really. A cookie can not scan your hard disk or read your files. Cookies are limited to information that you voluntarily enter into forms on web pages. Also, if one web site creates a cookie on your hard drive, it can not be read by a different site.

Can I disable cookie use in my web browser?
Certainly. Most web browsers that support cookies have an option in their settings to disable or disallow them. You should be aware that if you disable cookies in your browser, features such as "shopping carts" will not function normally.

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35. Why do I sometimes see "Error 404: File Not Found" on the net?

Error 404 simply means that the URL that you entered (or the link you clicked) points to a file that no longer exists. The site you are looking for has either been removed from the server it was on, or moved to another location. This is not an error that has happened on your computer. Simply click the "BACK" button on your browser to restore the previous page.

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36. How do I keep crawlers and spam bots away from my web page?

A crawler, robot (or "bot"), spider or wanderer is a computer program that searches the Internet and records information about web pages. For example, a "spam bot" will search the pages in web  sites and record the e-mail addresses linked in home pages.

Using robots.txt
Although you can't keep away all robots, you can give instructions to certain ones that follow the "Robot Exclusion Protocol". This method requires that you create a plain text file called robots.txt and place it in your site's root directory. For example, if your web  site URL is http://www.mycompanydomain.com/, then the file robots.txt must be accessible from http://www.mycompanydomain.com/robots.txt in order to restrict your site. It is important to note that the file must be in your root directory (ie. ~/public_html/) and no other.

The contents of robots.txt consists of mainly two commands: "User-agent" and "Disallow".

The "User-agent" command allows you to set restrictions on a robot with a particular name (or signature). You can set this to the asterisk (*) to specify that restrictions apply to all robots that aren't identified elsewhere in the file.

The "Disallow" command allows you to deny access to certain directories in your web site.

Example of robots.txt
Say your URL is http://www.mysite.com. If you put a robots.txt file into your ~/public_html/ directory containing the following:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /neat_stuff/
Disallow: /my_pvt_stuff/
User-agent: WebCrawler
Disallow: /

In the example, all robots would have free access to the web  site except for files contained in the /neat_stuff/ and /my_pvt_stuff/ directories, but the WebCrawler robot is denied all access to the site.

NOTE: Since not all robot authors acknowledge the "Robots  Exclusion Protocol", it is not possible to stop all robots using this method. However, most search engine robots do follow this protocol. Please refer to documentation on their sites for more information on this.

Using the "ROBOTS" META tag
Using the META tag method, you can specify restrictions in your web pages individually. Unfortunately, this method is less recognized by robots than the robots.txt method. The META tag has two parameters in its content. They are INDEX or NOINDEX. and FOLLOW or NOFOLLOW. See the following examples:

<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">

In this example, the robot is instructed to neither index the current page, nor to follow links in the page for indexing.

<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, FOLLOW">

In this example, the robot is instructed not to index the current page, but allows it to follow links in the page for indexing. The structure of the META tag should be clear by now.

NOTE: All META tags should be specified within the <HEAD></HEAD> block of your HTML document.

Additional Notes

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