FastNet USA

An ISP (Internet Service Provider) is a company or institution that provide dial-up connections to the Internet.

You browse the Internet by using browser software that lets you retrieve and view files from different web sites. Sort of like a word processing program that can load files from any other computer in the Internet, not just your computer.

Not exactly. The World Wide Web is the most well-known and visible part of the Internet - the part that you see through your Web browser. It's a global series of interconnected pages (hence the word "web") containing text, graphics, and multimedia.

Simply type the site's address (known as the URL) into the address blank on your Web browser and hit the Return or Enter key on your keyboard. FastNet USA's Web site URL is or simply www.fast-net-usa.com (you can usually leave off the "http://" portion of a URL when you type it in).

Not without your consent. Some Web sites require you to pay a fee to access some or all of the site's content. The site will tell you whether you need to pay, and you can agree or simply decline and leave the site.

A number of factors affect the loading speed of Web pages: the amount of text and graphics on the page, the quality of your connection, the traffic on the Internet and at the site you're visiting, and so on.

Yes. You can surf the Net during off-peak hours or upgrade your modem. You can also change your browser settings, particularly the size of your cache.

A plug-in is a piece of software that you add to your Web browser to allow it to display content that the browser can't display on its own. Plug-ins allow your browser to show video and animation, play audio, and perform other functions.

Some of the more popular plug-ins includes QuickTime, Shockwave, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Real Player, and ichat.

It's possible that you opened a new browser window without realizing it. Sometimes when you click a Web page link, the page instructs your browser to display the new page in a completely new browser window. This new window sometimes covers the previous window. Try minimizing or closing the browser window you're viewing to see whether the other window appears.

Make sure the page is currently displayed in your browser. Then go to your browser's File menu and select Save As. Choose a place on your hard disk where you would like to save the page and click OK or Save. You can also just bookmark the page in your browser to make it easy to get back to without actually saving it.

Yes. Make sure the page is currently displayed in your browser. Then go to your browser's File menu and select Print.

Yes. Position your mouse cursor on the page, click and hold down your mouse button, and drag the mouse to highlight the text you want to copy (to select all the text on a page quickly, go to the Edit menu and choose Select All). Then go to the Edit menu and select Copy. Switch to your word processor and choose Paste from the word processor's Edit menu.

Links change color to show you which links you've already clicked. The color change helps you keep track of where you've been.

HTML is the language used to create Web pages. It's a series of codes inserted within the Web page defining the page's layout and appearance.

No, your 2MB of free web space is for personal use only. However, if you want to use your site to carry out monetary transactions over the Net, or if you want your own domain name (e.g., www.yourbusiness.com), call our sales department at (248) 334.7885 to inquire about a FastNet USA commercial Web site.

URL stands for Universal Resource Locator. A URL is the equivalent of a Web address; it tells you "where" a Web page is located, just as a street address in the real world tells you where a house or business is located. Every page on the Web has a unique URL, so the URL is all you need to find any page. Type the URL into your Web browser's Location or Address blank (depending on which browser you use), hit the Return or Enter key on your keyboard, and your browser will find that page for you. (You can also get to a page without knowing its URL by clicking to it from a link on another page.) With a little experience, you can learn to read URL's just as easily as you read street addresses.

Most URL's look something like this: http://www.fast-net-usa.com/ The first part, http:// (which stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol) indicates that this address points to a standard Web page. Some publications omit this section of the web address.

The second part, www.fast-net-usa.com is the Web page's hostname - the name of the computer that houses this page. It consists of a prefix, a domain, and a suffix. Most host addresses begin with www, which stands for World Wide Web, but you will also see home (your personal Web space), or any number of other words. The final part, /faq/urls.html, tells your browser where the Web page is stored on its host computer. The final part of the URL is the actual name of the Web page file. In this case, the page is named urls.html and it is stored inside a folder named faq.

A domain name is the core of any Web address. fast-net-usa.com is a domain name, so are lycos.com and yahoo.com. Businesses and organizations generally try to get a domain name that matches their name. This makes their URL easy to remember and their site easy to find. A company called Network Solutions, which keeps track of what names are registered to what organizations or individuals, controls domain names in the U.S.. If a domain name is not taken, you can register it for your own use. You must pay $70 for two years, and renew it for $35 per year after that. FastNet USA can help you register your domain and will host your domain web site.

Why do most Web site addresses end in .com but others end in .net, .org, or .edu?

The final part of the hostname tells you what kind of host the page is on and where the server is located. In the case of EarthLink's homepage, .net stands for "network." This indicates that www.fast-net-usa.com is owned by an Internet service provider, or network. Other common suffixes include:

A domain's suffix can also tell you what country a host is in. Sites in the United States do not have any additional suffixes, but other countries have unique designations. Some of the most commonly seen are:

* .au: Australia

Most Web page names end in .html or .htm because the pages are written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language). If the URL does not end in .htm or .html, it likely points to a folder, or directory.

Why do I see some URL's written starting with "http://" and others with "www?"

Most Web addresses begin with http://. This stands for HyperText Transport Protocol, the standard method of sending information on the Web. Anytime you see http://, you can be sure the address points to a Web page. (You may occasionally see addresses that begin with ftp://. These are FTP or File Transfer Protocol sites.) Since almost every URL begins with http://, they are often listed without the http ://. If you enter a URL without the http:// into the Address/Location blank, your browser will "assume" that you have typed a URL and add the http:// automatically.

The main part of the URL, the hostname, can be written in either lowercase or capital letters. So, you could write either www.earthlink.net or WWW.EARTHLINK.NET. But individual directory or file names (essentially anything that comes after the .com or .net) ARE case-sensitive. You can't, for instance, get to www.fast-net-usa.com/blink/ if you type www.fast-net-usa.com/Blink/ or www.gsta.net/bLink/. For this reason, you will most often encounter lowercase URL's. If you do see file names written in some combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, be sure you've typed them into your browser exactly as they appear.

As a FastNet USA member, the URL for your free 2MB homepage is determined by your username (email ID). So, if your email address is username@fast-net-usa.com your homepage URL will be home.fast-net-usa.com/~username. If you change your username, your email address and homepage URL will need to change. If you would like a more personal URL, one that wasn't in the form of home.fast-net-usa.com/~ then you'll need to register for a domain name, something like www.myname.com or www.company.com.

You will find that many of the simplest, most common names are taken, especially those ending in .com Try your selection in .net if the .com is taken, and try alternate versions of the name you want. For instance, www.golfclubs.com might already be taken, but www.golfclubs.net or www.best-golf-clubs.com might be available.

To connect at 56k you have to have a dial-up service capable of handling 56k transmissions. You will also need a 56K capable modem. Both the modem and your dial-in service need to have the same protocol (V.90). Most phone systems are 'analog' rather than 'digital', which means that the phone signal can deteriorate and slow down your speed.

The way the Internet works, it is like a chain that passes information from one link to another. Your speed is limited by the slowest link in the chain. To figure out what is making things slow, you have to look at the speed of your modem, the speed with which you are connected, the speed of the web site server you are viewing, the number of people who may be using the same line, and so on. The most likely cause is a slow web site server. Try several other web sites and compare how they load. If the other web sites tend to be faster, then it is probably just a slow web site you were viewing.

Generally speaking, the 56k modems manufactured since late 1997 have been shipped with one of three protocols. The original two were 'flex' and 'x2'. Both of these protocols were replaced by the new 'v.90' protocol. If you are not running the 'v.90' protocol, you will still be able to connect, but you may be limited to 28.8k speed. Even if your modem is not 'v.90' then it may be possible to upgrade it with a software patch. You should identify your modem model number and visit the manufacturer's web site for more information.

Yes, there are several options for people who wish greater speed. A growing solution for the business community is to purchase a dedicated access line. This allows you to connect at speeds all the way up to a full T-1. The prices for these connections have been dropping and this may be an excellent solution for those companies with networked computers who need Internet access. Please contact us for more information.

The speed at which you connect to the Internet is determined by a number of factors:

The factors mentioned above will affect your connection speed. Again, you should not expect to connect at exactly the same speed as is listed on your modem.

Aside from the factors mentioned above, other circumstances prevent 56K modems from actually connecting at 56K. That is actually only the theoretical speed of the modem; in practice, the Federal Communications Commission capped the connection speed at 53K, and real-world access is generally in the 35-45K range for these modems. Despite these limitations, 56K modems still attain the fastest standard modem speeds currently available on the market.

v.34 (pronounced "V-dot-thirty-four") is the name of the international standard established for modems connecting between 28.8Kbps and 33.6Kbps.

v.90 (pronounced "V-dot-ninety") is the name of the international standard agreed on for all 56K modems. Before that standard was reached, there were two different proprietary standards for 56K modems: one called x2 and supported by 3Com/U.S. Robotics; the other called K56flex and supported by Rockwell and Lucent.

Bandwidth is the amount of information (usually measured in bits-per-second) that can be sent through an Internet connection. Bandwidth is commonly compared to a water pipe - a large pipe (a high-bandwidth connection) can carry more water (information) than a small pipe (a low-bandwidth connection).

Yes. FastNet USA offers a range of services for high-speed Internet access options, including ISDN and DSL. (see DSL).

Integrated Services Digital Network. A special kind of high-speed phone service that allows simultaneous voice and data transmission over the same phone line. ISDN lines provide transmission speeds of around 128Kbps, or double the fastest modems.

It's easy to connect to FastNet USA . If you installed our FastNet USA Software, an Internet dialer was automatically installed. All you need to do is click on the dialer to connect. If you don't want to wait for the software, after signing on with FastNet USA, we will give you a local access number, then complete the following steps:

Upon your request, we will send an Technician to your home to install FastNet USA Software and show you some internet basics, for a minimal charge..

You can either launch your Web browser (Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer) or your email program or both. Many people actually use the email program built into their browser, so that launching your browser is all you need to do initially.

FastNet USA works hard to eliminate busy signals, but they are still an occasional fact of life on the Internet. This happens infrequently for FastNet USA members because we have more dial-up Internet access numbers than any other Internet service provider. More numbers mean fewer busy signals. While FastNet USA will not try to limit your use or prompt you to get offline (as AOL does), you should try to be considerate of other members and not remain logged on longer than you need to. Rather than staying connected while you take a break from your surfing, please log off and back on again. That way, busy signals may become a thing of the past.

Your FastNet USA account gives you truly UNLIMITED USAGE to the Internet. You will not be charged extra, no matter how long you stay online. Common courtesy, however, dictates that you not abuse that privilege and interfere with other FastNet USA members' ability to get online. So only remain connected as long as you are actively surfing the Net.

Absolutely not. Your account entitles you to unlimited access, so FastNet USA will never try to disconnect you. As was mentioned above, though, it is expected that you will not remain connected longer than you need to, that you will be mindful of not preventing someone else from connecting because you remained connected when you were not at your computer surfing the Net.

Disconnecting is very similar to connecting. You click on the Disconnect button on you dialer to disconnect, just as you clicked on the Connect button to connect. Please wait for verification that you are disconnected before you close your program.

Almost any computer is capable of connecting to the Internet, as long as it's equipped with a modem and the right software. Mac and Windows computers both work well for Internet access. Computers with faster processors tend to display Web pages more quickly than slower computers, and a color monitor is very helpful for viewing Web page graphics.

Aside from a computer with a modem installed, you don't need anything more (aside from a phone line to plug the modem into) to connect to the Net.

If you use a well-established browser like Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, you'll be able to access almost any page on the Web. These browsers can display text, graphics, sound, animation, video, and almost every other feature you're likely to find on a Web page. Some other browsers sacrifice some of these features in the name of speed. It's important to keep in mind that most Web pages are designed to work best with Netscape's and Microsoft's browsers. So, try both, and use the one you like best.

Everybody's Web browser crashes or locks up once in a while, so it doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong with your computer. If you experience a crash but you still have control of your mouse, close all of your programs, disconnect from the Internet, and restart your computer. Then reconnect to the Net and restart your browser. If you're system has locked up completely, turn off the power switch, wait a few seconds, and then turn it back on. Keep in mind that you will lose any information you didn't save prior to the lockup.

Many online vendors allow you to download programs and try them out before you buy them. Many of these programs that you can download from the Internet are totally free of charge, while others require small payments if you keep them. A very nice place to download shareware and freeware programs is at http://gfn.tucows.com . Here you can download FTP programs, browsers, utilities, etc.

Shareware and freeware are two different classifications of software that you can download from the Internet. A shareware program is one that you can use free of charge for a certain number of days; after that, you must either pay a fee to register it or remove it from your computer. A freeware program is one that you can use as much as you want without ever paying anything.

The following are terms for a number of different kinds of computer programs; many of them are kinds of shareware, differentiated primarily by how (or if) you pay for them:

When you joined FastNet USA, you received an email ID, or username. Your email ID is a unique name you use to log on to EarthLink and receive email. Your email address is emailID@e-mich.com. Make sure your friends, family, and business associates know your email ID and email address, but DO NOT tell others what your password is.

If you use your browser to read email, open your Inbox and click Send and Receive or Get Msg (depending on your browser). Your browser checks the FastNet USA mail server for new messages and saves them in your Inbox.

After you read an email message, it remains in your inbox until you delete it. When you delete the message, it is sent to your Trash folder. Depending on your email program, the message will either be deleted immediately or will remain in the trash until you empty it. You can also save a copy of the message as a text file on your hard drive or sort it into a special email folder. To save the message, choose Save or Save As from the File menu, name the file, then press the return or enter key.

There are several online phonebooks that let you look up phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses for people and businesses.

To send messages to more than one person, simply enter additional email addresses, separated by commas, in the To, CC, or BCC fields of the email message window. Be careful when sending to many people at once, many users do not like to receive large amounts of unsolicited email.

You can send Word documents, spreadsheets, graphics files, and even small applications as email attachments. When you attach a file to an email message, a copy of the file is sent inside the email message. The file is automatically downloaded to your recipient's hard drive when he or she checks for new email.

No, but it's a good idea to limit your attachments to documents or files smaller than 1,000 Kilobytes (1MB). Large attachments increase the size of your email messages and make it more likely that the message will be rejected or mangled during its voyage to your recipient.

Your email program automatically saves email attachments on your hard drive and notifies you with a special paperclip icon. If someone sends you an email message with an attached file, you can open and use the file by opening the message and clicking the paperclip icon in the message window. If your computer can open the file, it will launch the appropriate program (or ask you which program you want to use to open the file.

When someone sends you an email message, it is stored on FastNet USA mail servers until you check for your mail. Then it is downloaded to the inbox on your hard drive. Your inbox can store as much mail as you have room on your hard drive, but each FastNet USA member has a 10MB limit for mail on our servers. If you exceed this amount, your mailbox may be transferred to a temporary compressed file. If this happens, you will be notified and given the chance to decrease the size of your email box. Sixty days after this notification, we may delete the temporary file from the server.

Additional mailboxes are an inexpensive way to let multiple people share one FastNet USA dial-up account. Your account contains 5 mailboxes at no additional charge.

Yes. But only dial up numbers for Michigan are available at that this time. You just change your dial up number to one that is local to the area you are dialing from. The list of numbers is on the first page as well as the "Services" page of this site. You will be able to access your email account.

Unsolicited commercial email, or "spam," is a big problem for the Internet. FastNet USA has a zero-tolerance policy for spam - we forbid our members from sending spam, and we work zealously to ensure that our members do not receive it. If you get a junk email, DO NOT REPLY to the sender. Many spammers send email blindly, so your response tells them that they found an active email box. Instead, report unsolicited email to our Webmaster Security team.

To subscribe to most email newsletters and mailing lists, you must send a message containing your name and email address to a central computer. This computer adds you to the list. Most email newsletters and mailing lists publish a Web page with subscription information, and many let you subscribe directly from the Web page.

When you subscribe to most email newsletters or mailing lists, you will receive an email that includes information on how to leave the list. Generally, this involves sending an email containing the word "unsubscribe" to the list's central computer, but the exact process varies from list to list. If you did not receive an email explaining how to unsubscribe, you may be able to get the information from the mailing list's Web site or from the list's owner or publisher. Read any messages you may have received from the owner for more information.

You can receive email from people around the world - no matter what Internet service provider they use. Tell your friends to address their messages to your username@fast-net-usa.com Replace the words your username with your actual @fast-net-usa.com username.

Some FastNet USA members - and users on other Internet service providers have reported trouble when sending messages to America Online. Apparently, AOL's mail servers (the computers used to route email to the appropriate users) occasionally lose or misdirect email messages sent from outside AOL. This problem is especially noticeable if you send an email attachment. If you have an important message that MUST be delivered in a timely fashion, you should follow up the message with a phone call to the recipient.

If you have a good question that we don't have posted, please let us know we will post the question on our FAQ Page. Please send your question to Tech Support.