3 Rivers Internet has an excellent technical support team. We encourage you to use them whenever you experience Internet difficulties.

Sometimes though, the problem you are having can be fixed easily and quickly right from your computer without calling technical support. To save you time, here are some common problems to check before calling our Internet Technical Support:

• Having trouble getting connected? Make sure your telephone line is plugged into the line port (The line port looks like a regular phone jack, but is usually labeled "line". Sometimes it will have a picture of a fax machine beside it.) on the back of your computer. Do not use the one labeled "phone" or with a picture of a phone beside it. Using the wrong port means your modem will not have a dial tone and will not be able to dial out. Also, it's best not to use a "splitter" or "line extender" on the phone line or jack into which your computer is connected.

• Every now and then someone sends out an e-mail that may be too large for you to download. When this happens your mailbox will become clogged and you will not be able to download the rest of your e-mail. To get around this, you can use travelers e-mail to read and delete the large message. This will then allow the remainder of your e-mail to download onto your computer.

• If you are trying to send an e-mail and it returns to you unsent, check the address. Just one deviation in typing the address can make it incorrect.

• When you get an error message that says you have performed an illegal operation, it is coming from your computer's operating system. Chances are it is a computer error, not an Internet error. You will need to contact technical support from the computer manufacturer or dealer from whom you purchased the computer, or a computer technician in your area.

• Do you want to improve your present connection speed? Modem software (called "modem drivers") is being upgraded all the time. To keep up with these upgrades and maximize your connection speed, you will have to regularly upgrade your own modem software. There are many web sites offering current modem drivers for almost every modem. The modem drivers available at these sites can generally be downloaded free, and installed by you. One of the sites that we have found very helpful is www.modemsite.com. It has very extensive and reliable information. One thing to keep in mind is that this is a computer upgrade, not an Internet upgrade. If your knowledge of computers is minimal, we suggest that you obtain the help of a computer technician before attempting the upgrade. We also recommend a 56k hardware modem over a software modem.

• Have you been traveling or plan to travel? Check our Travelers Email at www.webmail.3rivers.net. If you can get access to the Internet, you will have access to your 3 Rivers e-mail.

• Do you need help publishing your web site to the Internet? Click on the "Web Hosting " link button on the left bar to follow the instructions to upload your web site to the Internet.

• We appreciate hearing from our customers. If you are experiencing disconnects or trouble getting connected, please keep a log of the date and time. If you were disconnected, how long had you been on line before it happened? What exactly were you doing when you were disconnected? What, if any, error message did you get? The more information you can share with us, the faster we can have a solution for you. To help our technicians look into and help solve your problem, you may fill out and submit our Ask For Help form.

For system requirements and answers to more commonly asked questions please check out the following pages.