Editorial
Welcome to the fifth edition of iiNet's newsletter, which now comes out every two months! As usual, nearly one third of the people reading this newsletter were not here for the last one, but that's indicative of the industry. Copies of our previous newsletters are available on the Web, by clicking on the Bell (News link) from our home page. If nothing else, they make nostalgic reading.

The last two months have seen iiNet undergo many changes:

• Our training room has been opened;
• new look to our web pages;
• several new products;
• our old Padbury rotary has been officially reopened;
• new staff;
• upgrades to several parts of our network;

and much more. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Internet is undergoing constant explosive growth, and iiNet has to change to keep up with it.

As in the past, this newsletter sees several new additions to our Staff. We welcome Moira and Daniel to our full time staff and Martin, Paul and Shayne join us as part timers. Further details about all these people can be found at

http://www.iinet.net.au/iinet/staff/

If you don't have a chance to read this entire newsletter, please read the section about the closure of the 322 7331 phone number, which will affect everyone.

Extended Support Hours
In our last newsletter, we announced an extension of support hours, and yes, we've extended a little more this month as well. Current telephone support hours are now:

Monday to Friday          8AM to 10PM
Weekends                  9AM to 5PM

During these times, you may call 9214-2222 to discuss any iiNet related problems. Outside of these hours, calls are diverted to a paging system, which may be used to report problems with the system.

Email support is always available, and preferred, by sending email to

support@iinet.net.au

Software products
iiNet is proud to have signed as a distributor for several Internet software products. Members of iiNet, and others, may purchase fully registered versions of:

Trumpet Winsock 2.1f $ 25.00

Trumpet Winsock, as currently supplied by iiNet, has a 30 day evaluation license. After this time, clients are required to either cease using the product, or purchase a license for it. This applies to all users of Trumpet Winsock, whether private or corporate. By purchasing this product, an upgraded, registered copy is obtained and may be used indefinitely.

Netscape is freely available to students and non profit organisations. Others may use it for evaluation only. Commercial and Government bodies may evaluate Netscape for a maximum of 90 days before being required to purchase it. There is no limit to the period of time that others may evaluate for. As with Trumpet, clients may now purchase a legal license for Netscape from iiNet, allowing unlimited usage.

Most iiNet clients use Eudora Lite to read their email. This is a free package, and you may continue using it without a guilty conscience. Eudora Pro is a professional version of Eudora, that comes with several new features and documentation.

We are now accepting orders for this software, which may be placed by faxing us on (09) 3226660 or via email to

iinet@iinet.net.au

http://www.iinet.net.au/iinet/products/

A recent member, Brian Poleykett, has put considerable effort into changing this. He is developing and maintaining an archive of Macintosh software. This may be accessed on the WWW at

ftp://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/mac/

        Machine:        ftp.iinet.net.au
        Path:           /pub/mac
        Username:
        Password:

Brian has also suggested (and succeeded in) the implementation of a Mailing List for Macintosh users. This will be designed as a "self help" group, to discuss problems with using Macs on the Internet, and telling others about new tips and services. It is probably going to have a lot of material that is specific to iiNet, but is by no means limited to iiNet members only.

If you wish to join this list use your World Wide Web browser to go to

macintosh@gospel.iinet.net.au

What's a Rotary?
I know that most publications place their glossaries at the end, but in the case of the Internet, it may be worthwhile putting it first in order for this entire newsletter to make sense!

rotary

A rotary is a group of telephone lines that can be accessed by dialling a single phone number. For instance, when you call our modem number, you may dial 3225432. There are actually 64 modems attached to 322 5432, and each will be tried until an empty one is found.

This is a standard Telstra service, putting individual telephone numbers into a "rotary group". You probably use one every time you call any non residential number.

At the moment, it appears that it will be early May before new lines can be added, although our representative at Telstra is fighting to have them done earlier.

As an interim measure, we have rebuilt the old Padbury rotary, replacing all the old modems with newer 14.4K modems. After rearrangements, there are now 54 lines available on

307 5801

Multiple Rotaries
Most people are aware that we have more than one phone number, although not everyone knows why. Our main rotaries are:

322 5432	64 Vortex modems, all 28.8K, located in Perth city.
322 7123	64 Netcomm modems, also 28.8K, located in Perth city.
307 5801	54 Motorola modems, all 14.4K, located in Padbury.

The first two of these rotary groups are both in the same geographical location. We put them on different phone numbers simply because the modems are different brands.

Your modem may not work with both Perth rotaries. This is not unusual. Despite the fact that all modems are supposed to use a "standard" language, quite often some brands just won't communicate.

If your modem works with one rotary, and not with another, the answer is simple: use the one that works all the time. Closure of 322-7331
A fourth rotary is also available at the moment on the telephone number

322 7331

The rotary will be dropped to 16 modems by early May. In late May, it will be changed so that you will only be able to log in on this number for fifteen or twenty minutes.

The object of this exercise is to provide a small group of numbers that will be available for checking email, or for a quick check of some important detail, even during busy times. It is not intended for general use, and the modems in 3225432 will be substantially built up to counter the loss of these lines.

In summary: 3227331 is to be closed down as a general use rotary. It will later be reopened as a very short duration access rotary.

Training Room
In March, iiNet opened a Training Room, and in cooperation with Net Training, corporate training courses are now being offered. Currently, courses are available in

Introduction to the Internet      (Full Day)            $195.00
Web Page Design                   (Half Day)            $ 95.00
Web Page Design (Advanced)        (Half Day)            $ 95.00

http://www.calypso.com.au/nettrain/

iinet@iinet.net.au