Questions and Answers
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How long will it take to process my application?

Accounts are set up most weekdays .  We then use regular postal mail to send you set-up instructions.

What are the machine requirements to get on the Internet?

Almost any computer made within the last ten years will be powerful enough to access the Internet.  We provide technical support for Windows 95 and later.  Several members use Macintosh systems, and a few have reported good results using Linux.  Your computer must have a modem.

Does my membership include e-mail?

Yes.  Show-Me Net membership provides one email address for an individual account.  Additional e-mail addresses are available for $20/year.  Note:  The $20 e-mail address does not give you an additional dial-in account.

Does my membership include newsgroups?

We recommend that you access newsgroups through Google at: http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q=

Are there any other charges?

Show-Me Net does not charge any other fees.  We provide local numbers in Benton, Jackson, Oran,  Perryville, Pocahontas, Marble Hill, Leopold, Advance, Zalma, Patton, and Ste. Genevieve.  Therefore, if you can call any of these locations using a local call, there will be no long distance telephone charge.  Depending upon the computer you are using and its operating system, you will probably need no other software.  However, many programs are freely available for download on the Internet, including Netscape, Pegasus, Eudora, etc.  See our Bookmarks/Favorites page.

Is the $100 individual fee a onetime charge?

Your membership must be renewed on the anniversary of when you became a member.  It is not a one-time charge.  See our convenient Renewal Form.

What happens at the end of a year?

When a member joins or renews his/her membership, the system enables or extends that member's account for one year.  At the end of the time period, the account is AUTOMATICALLY DISABLED.  If you forget to send in your yearly dues, just call Show-Me Net's Help Desk, 573/204-1097.  We will promptly enable your account for a few days until your check arrives.  When we receive your dues, the account will be enabled for the remainder of the year.

Can I pay monthly?

Show-Me Net currently has only a few employees.  We cannot offer such low-priced memberships if we have to create a billing department.  Therefore we are not able to allow our users to pay their membership any other way than annually.

Can I pay with a credit card or debit card?

No, one of the ways we keep our expenses lower is to only take checks, money orders, or cash.

What if I need help?

We have found that our members have more trouble at the beginning--especially with setting up the connection or e-mail.  We find that most of our users can either do this themselves (they may need to enlist the assistance of their children, though) or they have a friend who can help them.   Show-Me Net's Help Desk, 573/204-1097, is open from 8:00am until 8:00pm weekdays, 9:00am to 2:00pm Saturday.

How many modems does Show-Me Net have?

The number of modems we have has been steadily increasing.  As our usage increases, we have added additional modems so our users will not get frustrated with the busy signals.  We have to have a separate telephone line and modem for each simultaneous user.

Most commercial ISP's have about one modem for each eight to ten users.  Instead of using such an arbitrary guideline, we monitor our usage and try to add more phone lines before the lines get too busy.  In order to provide such low cost membership, we will not try to guarantee that you will never get a busy signal.  Our goal is to keep them within reason.  That means that during our busiest times (typically around 9:00pm) you may get a busy signal.  However, if you keep trying you should be able to connect within a few minutes.

What do you mean by limits on usage?  I thought Show-Me Net provided unlimited Internet access.

We never use the words unlimited access.  We cannot provide an individual with access 24 hours a day, seven days a week for $100 per year when a phone line alone costs nearly $40 per month.  In order to be fair to everyone, we need our members to be reasonable in their usage.  After a discussion with our users, we decided to try the following limits: We have a session length limit of two hours.   Members may immediately reconnect.  We ask that you not leave your computer connected when you are not using the Internet.  Please do not set your computer to auto re-dial. We have also imposed a restriction on multiple logins.  That is, two computers cannot be connected at the same time using the same account. While we have no problem with you using your account at home and at work, you cannot use both at the same time. It is not reasonable or fair to other members to use programs which either maintain a connection to Show-Me Net when no one is using it, or that re-connect automatically.   Accounts of members who are unreasonable in their usage may be cancelled at any time.

For Show-Me Net top member problems/questions click HERE.

This page was last modified August 4, 2006 .

http://www.showme.net/mem-faq.htm