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AN ON-LINE OLYMPUSNET NEWSLETTER

January, 1997

Welcome to our OlympusNet January 1997 newsletter! Topics included this issue are:

-Thanks to all our users!
-Digital Modems for Sequim and Port Townsend
-Plans for the future
-User Feedback
-Information on Newsgroups and Unlimited Access
-Changes in our Terms & Conditions
-Enhanced Areas of Support
-Cooperative Efforts with Wind's Eye Design
-New WWW Server coming Online
-Class Schedule
-User Survey (Please fill out and email back to us)

THANKS TO ALL OUR USERS!
We have thanked you in the past for your loyalty, but in these days of newcomers rapidly entering a complex and volatile industry, we especially appreciate that loyalty. As you all probably realize, our **only** focus has been and continues to be the Internet and providing reliable, top-drawer service to our users.

It means a great deal to us that you have confidence in OlympusNet and that you value the quality of our services. Your consistent support means that we can bring you services going far beyond what is typically offered by a provider of our size. Our staff and equipment continue to grow to meet the needs of our users, allowing us to invest further in supporting the growth of the community we all share.

DIGITAL MODEMS FOR SEQUIM & PORT TOWNSEND
Because of recent high growth rates in Sequim and Port Angeles we're quickly reaching the end of our existing phone line supply at the Sequim site. We are pleased to announce that OlympusNet will be the first Internet Service Provider on the Peninsula to offer digital modems. The first of those modems will be installed in Sequim at the end of the week (Jan 24th) when US West will install the new lines. We won't bring the modems on-line until the middle of next week when we receive a software upgrade. We a pologize to those who get busy signals during the evening rush hour during the next few days.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
Our exciting plans for 1997 include expanding our local business services further to help fuel economic growth on the Olympic Peninsula. We are opening our focus to include the enhanced connection, web and database storage available from the new Sun SPARC Web Server as well as support for Microsoft NT.

We have brought you in 1996:

Coming in February will be:

USER FEEDBACK
Thanks to all our users who give us feedback; it helps us serve you better to know what it is you value in an ISP and how we can continue to serve you best. Here is a representative letter from Dave Snow who recently moved to Colorado...

"I'd like to express my appreciation to Ned Schumann and the extended Townsend Communications family. I don't know if the Olympian community fully realizes how lucky we all are to have this caliber of Internet service right here on the Peninsula. Some o f my clients in Gig Harbor and Seattle work with the two big Internet providers in Seattle, and I can tell you that the quality of service we receive here with Olympus is head and shoulders above what the Big Boys offer. From no busy signals to high band width thru-put to no line-drops without warning to speed-speed-speed, Olympus is the best. My hat is off to you, olympus.net!" Dave Snow

NEWSGROUPS and OLYMPUSNET
After much reflection, we have decided not to carry the bulk of the 300 alt.sex picture and text newsgroups, but will continue to carry newsgroups dealing with sexuality. If a person is known by the company he or she keeps, surely a corporation is known by the products it carries.

One of our competitors pointedly advertises that they carry an 'uncensored' newsfeed. Book sellers decide what books they want to sell, but that does not imply that they are censors if they choose not to carry certain titles. Likewise we are not saying th at the over 300 alt.sex.binary/text newsgroups should be banned, just that we don't carry them. We also don't carry newsgroups such as 'alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk' or alt.duke.basketball.sucks.sucks.sucks'. With the 7000 newsgroups offered by OlympusNet there is a huge spectrum from which to choose. For those interested in newsgroups not offered on OlympusNet, point your WWW browser to www.dejanews.com for the full panoply. By using Dejanews' 'power search' you can focus your news queries precisely.

UNLIMITED ACCESS and OLYMPUSNET
Several customers have asked if we are going to adopt unlimited access at $19.95 a month.

The national Internet service provider, Netcom, was the first to promote $19.95 unlimited access. A month ago they abandoned that price structure saying it was not financially feasible; CompuServe soon followed suit. AOL, not reading the trend, recently s witched to unlimited access which resulted in a flood of busy signals and thousands of unhappy customers.

When Internet consumers realize the convenience of being on-line all the time (for example, receiving mail as it arrives) they will be connected all the time if it's unlimited. Sites that have declared themselves to be "unlimited access providers" then ha ve two choices - lose money by providing a modem, phone line and bandwidth for everyone who wants it, or provide access to a few at the expense of the rest (ie. busy signals)

We believe that offering unlimited access at low prices is a way to attract customers, but we doubt the sustainability of such a system and thus do not offer it. Our commitment remains to provide consistently reliable Internet access at a fair price allow ing us to maintain and improve high quality equipment, continue to offer terrific seven-day-a week support and develop the products our customers need in this rapidly changing environment.

NEW AREAS OF SUPPORT--EXPANDED WEEKEND HOURS
We have expanded weekend hours of Technical Support to 1:00pm both Saturday and Sunday. In addition we are delighted to announce that as of February 15th we will offer support for Windows NT and MS Exchange. In our search to support the products our user s need for productivity on the Web, these are at the top of the list. For offices networked using NT and connected to OlympusNet via 56k, we can offer our services as system administrators with a direct feed, thus reducing the technical demands on in-hou se staff. This allows businesses to manage mailboxes and news access as if connected by modem but less expensively and with a faster connection.

CREDIT CARD ALERT
Please note that if you are set up for auto credit card billing, you MAY need to provide us with a new card number if yours has expired or you are now using a different card. Please call Traci in Accounts at 385-7278 to update your information. We are trying to avoid charging for declined cards, which are typically a result of obsolete credit card information.

NEW TERMS & CONDITIONS POLICIES
We have expanded our Terms & Conditions, now called "Charges, Terms & Conditions" This is available in our FAQs (www.olympus.net/olympusnet/charges/terms.html) for your perusal. The changes and additions are specifically directed to provide more clarity in outlining the services we offer. There is a particular note regarding "Spamming" and the efforts we will make to prevent this from impacting our users. Please take a look and let us know your comments. These Charges, Terms & Conditions are in effect as of January 16 and we assume your acceptance of them unless we hear from you otherwise.

NEW WEB SERVER
Wind's Eye Design is pleased to announce that they'll be bringing a powerful new web server on line in February. OlympusNet Business and Virtual Domain web storage accounts will be moving onto the Sun SPARC in mid-February to take advantage of faster pro cessing speed, excellent web traffic statistics and several other new features. This move is the first step in being able to offer our web storage clients secure transactions, bulletin boards, shopping baskets and more-- we'll let you know as these items become available. We will notify our web storage clients the day we switch servers but the move will be transparent, we don't anticipate being offline for more than a few minutes. All Business and Virtual Domain account questions should be directed to Wind's Eye Design (web@windseye.com or 385-7756/800-291-6370).

DROP IN RATES FOR VIRTUAL DOMAIN
Wind's Eye Design is delighted to announce that Virtual Domain prices have dropped by 20%. The addition of the Sun SPARC allows us to handle more accounts more efficiently. All part of our commitment to effectively service our business community. (Virtual Domain accounts are for www.yourCompanyName.com)

WIND'S EYE DESIGN & OLYMPUSNET COMBINE BILLING
Despite the fact that web storage clients will be hosted on the new Wind's Eye Design server, Townsend Communications Inc will continue to invoice for web storage, and will assume billing responsibilty for all Wind's Eye Design clients. This means one invoice instead of two for clients with web site design/maintenance, web storage and/or dialup accounts through Wind's Eye Design and OlympusNet. We hope that streamlining our invoicing process makes life a little easier for our customers! Please contact Traci in accounting at 385-7278 with billing questions for either service.

PICKUP & DROPOFFS AT WIND'S EYE DESIGN
With our growing cooperative activities, Wind's Eye Design is now a site for dropping off payments or picking up signup forms. Wind's Eye Design is located in the Old Templars building in Port Townsend, at 280 Quincy Street, Suite E (next door to Bread & Roses Bakery, lower level, at the far end of the courtyard). Wind's Eye Design is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please note that all technical support will continue to be handled through OlympusNet.

FREE CLASSES--NOTE SCHEDULE CHANGE!!
After a tremendous response to our classes offered in January, we have decided to add another session in February and offer more in-depth tutorials. Following is our February Schedule of classes, taught by computer coach Sindee Colbert at the Port Townsend Community Center.

Please Note: Feb 1st classes have been cancelled due to overwhelming demand. Classes have been rescheduled as follows. Please note times, dates, and skill levels.

Call us at 385-0464 or 1-800-896-1751 and speak to Elizabeth to sign up, as classroom size is limited!

USER SURVEY
Please give us feedback on what we are doing and how you would like to see us improve! Your thoughts and ideas are important to us, we depend on your feedback to make sure we are giving you the best possible service. To return this survey to us, please highlight the survey only, copy and paste it into a new email message and return to xxx@olympus.net

1. What services or improvements would you like to see on OlympusNet?
2. What is most important to you in an Internet Service Provider?
3. Which WWW browser do your prefer?
4. Would you like to see more classes offered?
5. Covering which topics?
6. Would you be willing to pay for smaller, more in-depth classes?
7. Do you find the FAQs useful ? How could they be improved?
8. Are you considering connecting an office network to the Net?
9. Do you use Newsgroups?
10. Do the FAQs on Newsgroups help you in subscribing to Newsgroups?
11. Are there any Newsgroups we don't carry that you would like to have?

Thank You!

Your support and input make it possible to provide the services you need.

Fran O'Connor
General Manager
Townsend Communications, Inc.
xxx@olympus.net

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