Dialup account services & prices

Enough modems

Our policy is to have no more than 10 minutes of busy signals each day.

Fast modems

We use digital modems connected though digital phone lines. There is no analog component on our end and thus no noise. The modems currently support 33.6kpbs using V.34+ and 56kbps using V.90 and Lucent's K56Flex technology.

ISDN Modems

Idiom uses some channelized T1 circuits to provide ISDN connectivity. This lowers the raw link speed to 56kbps per "B" channel for those lines but allows us to offer ISDN throughout our extensive dialup network. See the detailed information about each individual access number on the points of presence web page to see if that number supports 56kbps/B-channel ISDN or 64kbps/B-channel ISDN.

PPP

• Choose a fixed IP address
  You get the same IP address every time you log in. This means that if your connection is disrupted, when you reconnect any programs you had running will pick up where they left off.
  Along with your static IP address, you are assigned a real hostname. It will look like YOUR-LOGIN.dial.idiom.com.
  You can run Internet servers on your computer.

• Choose a dynamic IP address
  With the right account type, you can log in multiple times simultaneously.

• Blocks of IP addresses available
  If you need a block of IP addresses for your network, we will provide them at no additional charge.

Unix Shell

• Telnet
• Internet Relay Chat
• Web clients
• Mail User Agents
• News readers
• Programming Languages
• Over 1,500 programs in all!

Internet Publishing

Using your Unix Shell account, or just plain old ftp, you can publish on the Internet.

WWW publishing features:

• Normal html;
• Hit counters
• CGI scripting with perl, tcl, scheme, etc;
• Embedded HTML programming with Miva, Meta-HTML, and/or PHP/FI;
• Image maps;
• Password-protection;
• Private search engine;
• Content negotiation;
• Self-service updates.

You can put files up for ftp in your own directory.

Email and Netnews

Read your mail with a unix shell or by using Eudora or Netscape.

Extra email accounts are available.

Idiom carries all newsgroups except binaries, pictures, and warez.

Reliable Service

We are commited to installing only the most reliable equipment. Any failures will be dealt with promptly and permanently.

Backups are performed almost every night. We will perform restores of files accidentally deleted. This service isn't free: $50 the first time, $200 thereafter.

Dialup account types

Basic Account

The basic account includes PPP and Unix Shell access. It includes an email mailbox, an ftp directory, and a WWW home page. It costs $20 to setup and $20 per month to keep it. The basic account may have a static or dynamic IP address. The basic account may be used for business purposes. The following usage fees apply:
• Dialup modem usage
  60 hours included. 35 cents per hour after that. Multiple simultaneous dialup will be charged at $0.70/hour for each extra connection.
• Disk storage
  20 MB included. 25 cents per MB per month beyond that.
• WWW and FTP bytes served on your behalf
  500 MB / month included. 2 cents per MB beyond that. Usage spikes are free (see policies page for details).

"Unlimited" Account

The "unlimited" account includes PPP dialup access and an email mailbox. It costs $20 to setup and $20 per month to keep it. The "unlimited" account may have a static or dynamic IP address. The "unlimited" account may be used for business purposes. The following usage fees apply:
• Dialup modem usage
  240 hours included. 35 cents per hour after that. Multiple simultaneous dialup will be charged at $1.00/hour for each extra connection.
• Disk storage (for email)
  10 MB included. 25 cents per MB per month beyond that.

Full Account

The full account includes PPP and Unix Shell access. It includes an email mailbox, an ftp directory, and a WWW home page. It costs $30 to setup and $30 per month to keep it. The full account may have a static or dynamic IP address. The full account may be used for business purposes. The following usage fees apply:
• Dialup modem usage
  240 hours included. 25 cents per hour after that. Multiple simultaneous dialup will be charged at $0.70/hour for each extra connection.
• Disk storage
  25 MB included. 25 cents per MB per month beyond that.
• WWW and FTP bytes served on your behalf
  750 MB / month included. 2 cents per MB beyond that. Usage spikes are free (see policies page for details).

Fulltime Account

The fulltime account includes PPP and Unix Shell access. It includes an email mailbox, an ftp directory, and a WWW home page. It costs $100 to setup and $100 per month to keep it. Extra IP addresses will be provided as needed. The following usage fees apply:
• Dialup modem usage
  744 hours included. 35 cents per hour after that. Multiple simultaneous dialup will be charged at $0.70/hour for each extra connection.
• Disk storage
  20 MB included. 25 cents per MB per month beyond that.
• WWW and FTP bytes served on your behalf
  500 MB / month included. 2 cents per MB beyond that. Usage spikes are free (see policies page for details).

Dialup account extras

Extra mailboxes

Are you sharing your account? If so, please consider using separate email mailboxes for each person using your account.

An extra mailbox can be accessed if you are using a POP-based Mail User Agent like Eudora.

An extra, POP-only email mailbox is $20 to setup and $5 per month to keep. If multiple POP accounts are needed the setup fees quickly drop off to zero: $10 each for the 2nd and 3rd and then $0 for any more.

Virtual Hosting

Do you want your own domain?
With Virtual Hosting, you can have your own domain. Idiom's Virtual Hosting service includes everything that you need:
• Incoming email
  Email sent to your domain will come to your account. If you need multiple mailboxes in your domain, then an extra mailbox is in order. If you want some of the mail that comes to your domain to be sent to another site, it can be done for free using our web interface. Set up as many virtual email addresses as you want.
• Outgoing email
  When you send mail through Idiom, the return address is automatically rewritten so that it appears that the mail came from YOUR-DOMAIN.
• WWW server
  Your new web address is simply your domain name. www.YOUR-DOMAIN also works.
• FTP server
  Your new ftp address is simply ftp.YOUR-DOMAIN
• NIC registration
  The Network Information Center (NIC) is now charging $70 to register a domain. There is a further charge of $35 per year to keep it beyond the second year.
  
  Is the domain you want available? Please check using the whois command on the shell or with our domain checker at http://cgi.idiom.com/testdomain.

  Virtual hosting costs $50 to setup and $8 per month to keep. This charge does not include the fee paid to the NIC. You are responsible for paying the NIC yourself. They charge $70 setup and $35 per year after the second year.

  If you wish to have Idiom to pay the NIC, we charge $100 extra setup (total $150) and $2 extra per month (total $10).

Extras

In addition to the base accounts, the following additional features and fees may be of interest: extra disk space; secure web server; packet filtering; file restores; account renaming; database hosting; domain reservation;