Happy 4th Birthday for iiNet!
On October 23rd, 1993, iiNet was born. From humble beginnings - a small handful of machines and a 19.2K connection to the Internet - iiNet has grown into one of the largest and most influential ISPs in Western Australia. On October 23rd, 1997, iiNet celebrated its fourth birthday. No cake eventuated, but pizza was enjoyed by all and sundry.

Our very sincere thanks to all those who emailed to wish us a happy birthday - we even got some virtual cards!

Discovery Goes Digital
Starting from the 1st of November, Discovery accounts will only be able to dial in to the digital rotaries. The digital rotaries provide optimum performance and dialin speeds for Discovery accounts. The configuration of the servers on these lines will also allow iiNet to more accurately track dialin usage and will allow us to present a more accurate invoice to Discovery customers. The exceptions are clients living in Mandurah and surrounding areas, who will still be able to dial in to the Mandurah node.

The digital lines are:

        Perth:          (08) 9278 0999
        Bunbury:        (08) 9780 6000

The main thing to note is that Perth Discovery account holders who are dialling into 9461-4000, or any rotary other than 9278-0999, will need to change their dialup number accordingly. Details on how to do this are below.

New Phone Numbers from November 8th
This is just a final reminder to all our users that they must change the phone numbers that they're dialling, as we move into the new Australian numbering plan. We let our users know about this six months ago, with a web page and an email, but in case you haven't changed over, after November 8th the eight digit phone numbering system will be enforced, so if your modem is still dialling a seven digit number, it will simply stop working. So now is definitely the time to change over.

Below are our rotary numbers, both old and new:

PLEASE NOTE - The following numbers are located in the Perth CBD. If you're more than 10km from the Perth CBD and are worried that dialling may not be a local call for you, you might like to check with Telstra on 14111222.

OLD			NEW			LOCATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------
N/A		      	(08) 9278-0999		Perth, digital 33.6K/K56Flex
(09) 461-4000    ->   	(08) 9461-4000		Perth, 33.6K
(09) 322-5432    ->   	No longer in use	Perth, 28.8K
(09) 322-4449	 ->	(08) 9322-4449		Perth, 28.8K, 15 min

PLEASE NOTE - The following numbers are NOT located in the Perth CBD. Please ensure that they are a local call before using them, checking with Telstra if necessary on 14111222.

OLD			NEW			LOCATION
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(09) 307-5801    ->  	(08) 9307-5801		Padbury, 14.4K
(09) 586-1866	 ->	(08) 9586-1866		Mandurah, 28.8K
(097) 806 000	 ->	(08) 9780 6000		Bunbury, 33.6K

If your dialler is dialling some other number (for example, a permanent number or diverter), just add the 9 to the front of it, and change the area code to (08) if necessary.

As always, and as we've stated previously, if you have any questions on the costs of calls, they should be directed to Telstra by dialling 14111222. Also, please note iiNet's revised voice and fax numbers, all Perth CBD:

    iiNet Sales and General Enquiries    (08) 9214-2222
    iiNet Customer Support               (08) 9214-2222
    iiNet Fax                            (08) 9322-6660

We've put together some brief instructions on how to accomplish this change in your software for the most commonly used computer operating systems:

Windows 3.11	http://www.iinet.net.au/support/win16/changenumbers/
Windows 95	http://www.iinet.net.au/support/win95/changenumbers/
Macintosh	http://www.iinet.net.au/support/macintosh/changenumbers/

If you have any problems or queries regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact iiNet Support by phone on (08) 9322-7773, or via email at:

	support@iinet.net.au 

And for those interested in how the new Australian numbering plan works, please point your browser towards:

	http://lobby.austel.gov.au/NUMBER/numplan/GEOCHANG.html 

56K - Better, Stronger, Faster?
As many of our users will be aware, we now have 120 56K modems on our 9278-0999 digital rotary. With the 360 33.6K modems on there as well, this gives users a one in four chance of getting a 56K modem. This is purely in the testing stage at the moment, but once the necessary hardware upgrades arrive, all modems on the 9278-0999 rotary will be 56K, using the K56Flex protocol.

Here are some frequently asked questions about 56K technology:

WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT K56FLEX AND X2? WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

K56Flex and X2 are two different 56K protocols. They are completely incompatible with one another. X2 is chiefly used by U.S. Robotics, while K56Flex is used by a wider range of modems. After many discussions, it was decided that K56Flex modems would be used by most Perth ISPs, including iiNet.

SO, CAN I USE MY X2 MODEM WITH IINET?

No. Or, more accurately, not at 56K. You will still be able to connect to iiNet with your X2 modem, generally at 33.6K. But you won't be able to make higher speed connections.

OKAY, I HAVE A K56FLEX MODEM. NOW WILL I BE CONNECTING AT 56K?

Probably not. On average, over Australian telephone lines, 56K modems will generally connect at somewhere between 44K and 48K. The quality of the lines can't maintain much more. The closer you live to a telephone exchange, the better your connection will be.

MY OLD 28.8K MODEM HAS STOPPED WORKING ON 9278-0999!

Your modem may be using the old V.Fast or V.FC protocols to make a 28.8K connection. These are completely incompatible with 56K technology, and will result in an unsuccessful connection. If using an older 28.8K modem, you may have to move over to our analogue rotary, on 9461-4000.

Accounts - Help Us to Help You
We are pleased to announce the successful transfer to a new accounting system. Although most operations will appear to be the same, there are a few differences you may like to be aware of.

Those of you who make payments by credit card have probably already noticed that we now send full invoices to you, instead of the old 'reminder' message. You do not need to take further action, unless you wish to change your arrangements, as your credit card is automatically scheduled to be debited.

The invoices are sent out 14 days in advance of the account falling due (as for all customers), however the debit now goes through 5 days in advance of the account falling due. This is to ensure that if there are any problems with the debit, we have time to contact you and have everything sorted out before the account actually falls due, to save you possible inconvenience.

Another change is that we now have a policy of issuing only one invoice per month to each customer. This means that if you pay an invoice early in the month, and then purchase further services or products later on in that month, you will not be invoiced until the following month for those services. This is just to make things simpler for you, as it also means that all products purchased in a month will appear on one invoice.

We aim to offer a very high level of service. To facilitate this, we do ask that you let us know if you are unable to make payment by the due date of an invoice. We have a fairly strict suspension program, and if an account falls due and hasn't been paid then the account is suspended unless you make other arrangements with us. Please also note that unless payment is made in full, the account is still considered to be in debit by the system, and thus will be suspended, even if partial payment is made. If you're wishing to change your payment periods, please let us know.

We would also appreciate it if payments were forwarded with your customer identification (user name or email address) and/or invoice number attached, as this can make our processing much smoother - after all, we can't credit your account if we can't work out where your payments should go!

Should you have any queries regarding these changes, and what their implications may be for you, please do not hesitate to contact our accounts department, at:

	accounts@iinet.net.au

Multiplayer Online Gaming
As you're probably aware, iiNet has been running a Kali server and several Quake servers for some time. These have proved to be immensely popular with our users and during the coming weeks we plan to be upgrading the services.

iiNet Technologies is also selling registration keys for Kali - necessary if you want to play games for more than the 15 minutes that the demo allows. Keys cost $30 - you can obtain an application form by ringing iiNet Support on 9322 7773.

Our Quake servers have been a huge hit, and with Quake II being released in the coming months, it looks like their popularity will only increase. Plans are being made to support all the most popular Quake modifications, and Quake II when it is released.

More information on these services and others can be found at:

	http://games.iinet.net.au/

or by emailing games@iinet.net.au

News on News - Why the Fat Lady Doesn't Sing
We recently moved our news server to a new machine, in order to improve news performance for our users. This change should be transparent for almost everyone, as our standard addresses for news ("news.m.iinet.net.au" or "news.iinet.net.au") will still work fine. However, if using "opera.iinet.net.au" for your news server, this will no longer work. Simply changing this to "news.m.iinet.net.au" if a dialup user, or "news.iinet.net.au" if a network user, will fix this.

The relocation our news server will result in a faster and more complete news feed for all our clients.

Credits
Thanks to the contributors to this newsletter - Patrick D'Cruze, Kim Davies, Martin Livings, Michael Malone, Moira Paul, and Niall Young.

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