Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Internet Service:

• Q.:  Who do I contact if I'm having trouble with one of my Internet applications?
  A.:  Dial the BOCES Help Desk at 456-9099 or if possible, send an E-mail message to Steve Janover.

• Q.:  What does a district receive for the $3,330 fee?
  A.:  This fee includes 50 Internet E-mail accounts on the NERIC server.  In addition, it also includes help desk support, coordinator support via E-mail and phone, and storage space (3 Mb per account) for E-mail, files and web pages on the NERIC Server.

Note: Only 3 Mb of disk space is allocated per district for a "district wide" or building home page.  Extra space can be purchased at $6 per Mb per year.

• Q.:  How do I receive training on using the Internet?
  A.:  Attend a Centralized Training Workshop at the NERIC or contact your building/district computer coordinator to determine if your district subscribes to the NERIC Model Schools or Onsite Training programs.

• Q.:  Can I dial into the NERIC Server from home?
  A.:  Accessing our dial-up connection from other than a school setting is not supported.  We reserve dial-up access for districts paying for this service and will not support users dialing into our server from home.  It should also be noted that many users already have an Internet connection at home and don't need access through the NERIC.

• Q.:  How do I read my NERIC Internet E-mail from home or on a remote Internet workstation?
  A.:  Configure your E-mail application with your mum E-mail address and the following settings:

Outgoing Mail (SMTP)  - mail.neric.org
Incoming Mail (POP3)  - mail.neric.org

• Q.:  Can I store a personal web page on the NERIC server?
  A.:  Yes, every user with a NERIC Internet E-mail account has 3 Mb of disk storage space.  This space is utilized for E-mail messages, files, and web pages.  The actual process for uploading pages to the NERIC server is covered in several
  NERIC Centralized Training Sessions.   (See Creating Your Home Page in HTML and FrontPage98.)  If you have FTP software or Microsoft FrontPage you can upload your pages to your personal web space.   If you are familiar with either software package and need assistance with the upload process please call Steve Janover at 456-9217.  
  
  
• Q.:  What is the procedure for setting up a school district or building web page?
  A.:  If a school district or organization purchases Internet E-mail from the NERIC we will set up web space for that entity.  Unlike personal web space, school districts or organizations will get a virtual domain name, i.e., ekcs.neric.org.  There is no charge for the virtual domain name as long as it is xxxxxxx.neric.org.  If a school district or organization desires a domain name other than xxxxxxx.neric.org,  i.e., www.sashcenter.org, then there is a charge of $70 for registration (for 2 years) of the domain name through InterNIC.  Please contact Steve Janover at 456-9217 for more information.
  
  
• Q.:  Does the NERIC filter its Internet connection?
  A.: The NERIC currently has a "hands-off" policy when it comes to filtering Internet Web content. Software filtering technology is not endorsed or advocated by the NERIC. However, subscribing districts may install filtering software programs and proxy servers as long as they do not affect the functionality of any NERIC maintained equipment.
  
  For the record, the NERIC has deliberatedly chosen to selectively omit certain newsgroups from our Usenet newsfeed. We chose to carry only six Usenet Newsgroup hierarchies: comp, K12, bit, misc, news, sci, and not carry the alt and rec hierarchies. We also chose not to host a Chat Server. These omissions were made several years ago for technical considerations (lack of adequate bandwidth and server capacity) beside the obvious intention of avoiding inappropriate material. It should also be noted that full Usenet access can be found at several sites on the Web, in addition to many Chat Servers.
  
  It is not anticipated that our "hands-off" filtering policy will change unless punitive legislation is passed that deems Internet Service Providers legally liable for carrying obscene or inappropriate material originating elsewhere (passthru traffic). Another factor that could change our present policy would be numerous district requests to filter our end of the connection or create a filtered connection in addition to the non-filtered feed.
  
  The NERIC does have a fairly comprehensive Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for adult and student users of our system and a Web Home Page Acceptable Content Policy (http://www.neric.org/aup.htm) for pages residing on our server.  We also encourage every district accessing the Internet through the NERIC to develop their own AUP for Internet usage.