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NorthNet News
Issue ## 42
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GREETINGS - Michael Forcier, a member of the Forcier family who owns and operates the Chazy and Westport Telephone
Company, has stepped in as the operations manager of the NorthNet office.
The Forcier family business started with Michael's father, Gerald Forcier, purchasing the phone company in 1952 so
it wouldn't become a monopoly-owned company. Gerald is now the CEO, and his eldest son, James, is the president of
the company.
The following is a letter of greeting to all our NorthNet customers:
Dear NorthNet customers,
We are very excited to be part of the Westelcom Family of Companies and share a common vision for our company. Our
employees are working very hard to make the service continue to be the best, and the transition very customer
oriented to surpass our current level of quality service. We are looking at circuit improvement, improved line
quality, continued help desk support, and are receiving positive reactions from our customers. Circuit analysis is
currently taking place to improve the quality of lines to our systems. We've also recently hired an operations
manager and are well on the path to building continued quality relationships with our customers. We continue to
grow each month.
NorthNet was established in 1993 and has operated primarily in the markets of Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin,
Clinton and Essex counties, where there are now over 18,000 customers in NorthNet's territories.
The Westelcom Family of Companies' mission has been to provide an array of comprehensive communications services
packages to create "one-stop shopping" for it's targeted customer's telecommunications needs. Particularly, to
assist small and medium-sized businesses and residential consumers that prefer a full service Communications Service
Provider who can be trusted as a local family business.
The Company's Canton operation is located at 7 Commerce Lane, Canton, N.Y. The building is a telecommunications
facility and call center, strategically situated in our customer area. Canton is the St. Lawrence County seat, and
the NorthNet building off Route 11 is only a short distance from the County offices. The building was designed to
promote the efficient operations of the NorthNet/Westelcom Center.
Again, we are excited and proud to be part of the Westelcom Family of Companies and look forward to establishing
Westelcom as the Communications Provider of Choice throughout Northern New York.
Sincerely,
Michael Forcier
Operations Manager
SECOND ANNUAL WEBSITE CONTEST - NorthNet is proud to announce it is hosting its second annual web site development
contest for Northern New York high school students.
Entry - Entries will be accepted only via the Website Contest online entry form available at
https://secure.northnet.org/webcontest.html
Once we receive your entry, we will supply you with information to upload
your web page.
The deadline for entries is 5 p.m. March 11, 2002. There is no cost to participate, but schools are responsible for
providing their own computer equipment and Internet access.
Eligibility - This year there will be two separate categories: public/private high schools and home school.
High School - Only public and private high schools within NorthNet's northern local access region are eligible.
NorthNet's northern region consists of Clinton, Franklin, Essex, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego and St. Lawrence counties
in New York state. (For a complete listing of local access towns, go to www.northnet.org/northnet/hservice.html)
Each high school may enter one team - a team consists of no less than two students, but no more than six students.
Each team must be supervised by a faculty member. All contact between NorthNet and the school is to be through the
advisor.
Home School - Students who are being home schooled at the high school level and reside within NorthNet's northern
region (see high school rules) are eligible.
A home school team will consist of at least one student and a supervisor. All contact between NorthNet and the team
will be through the supervisor.
Both - In the high school and home school categories, we suggest the advisors and supervisors be skilled at the
technical level so they may encourage their teams to perform at their top most level.
General Rules:
Content - The theme of the web site is open. Topics could include, but are not limited to, such ideas as school or
community issues, music, arts or sports. Content must be largely original and produced for this contest. Use of
copyrighted material is prohibited unless permission is granted and the source is listed.
Content must be suitable for viewing by high school students. The spirit of these rules is to be decided by
NorthNet. We reserve the right to deem any site inappropriate and to disqualify it from the contest.
Technical Rules - The sites cannot exceed 10MB of space. There is no other limit on the number of pages, graphics or directories. All links within the site must be relative links.
CGI is permitted, however, ASP and DHTML are not allowed. Java, Javascript and Flash are acceptable. The site must
be sent to NorthNet via FTP, email or on disc. (Discs will not be returned.) The sites should be compatible with a
variety of browsers, including Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer (versions 4.0).
General Rules - Each team will provide their own software, hardware and Internet access. Each team will be responsible for their own web-building skills. No training will be available from NorthNet or
contest judges. Limited technical assistance will be available only to help teams in uploading their sites. The sites must be ready to slide into place. NorthNet will not rename files, correct links or fix the sites
in any other way.
Disclaimer - All information entered for the NorthNet Website Contest becomes the property of NorthNet Internet
Service.
Judging - The websites will be judged by three business and academic professionals who are non-NorthNet personnel.
Judging criteria will include:
- 20 % on Content - originality, depth and focus.
- 20% on Navigation - comprehensive, yet simple and intuitive.
- 20% on HTML - comply with HTML 4.01 specification.
- 15% on User Involvement - encouraging interactivity.
- 15% on Graphics - further the design or navigation, and not just be eye-catching.
- 10% on Document Weight - the quicker the download, the better.
Prizes:
High School - Grand Prize - $5,000 cash to the high school of the winning team to be used for computer-related
equipment. A list of purchased items is to be supplied to NorthNet.
Honorable Mention - Citations of Excellence and cash awards for $500 will be awarded to the three top runner-up
teams. A list of purchased items is to be supplied to NorthNet.
Home School - Grand Prize - $500 savings bond to the winning team.
Honorable Mention - Citations of Excellence for a $100 savings bond will be awarded to the three top runner-up
teams.
In addition, all participating students and team advisors/supervisors will receive a baseball hat with the NorthNet
name and logo on it.
Contest Dates:
October 2001 - Contest Opens
March 11, 2002 - Contest Ends
April 5, 2002 - Winners Announced
During April 2002 - Grand prize presentations to winning teams
If you have any questions about the contest please contact NorthNet at www.northnet.org/northnet/webcontest.html or
at 1-800-401-6954.
SEPTEMBER WINNER - The winner of NorthNet's Three Free Months Contest for the month of September was Patricia Ryan
of North Bangor. The random drawing is held on the last day of each month, and all residential NorthNet customers
are eligible.
CHOOSING A MODEM - "Which modem should I buy?" As you can imagine we get that question a lot. A great deal of your
satisfaction with any dial up internet service is determined by the quality of your modem. The other factor is, of
course, the quality of your telephone line. You seldom have control over the quality of the telephone line but you
can do something about your modem.
A modem is the device which connects your computer to the telephone network. Most computers today come with an
internal modem. Follow your phone cord to your computer; the slot that the phone cord plugs into is your modem.
We recommend an external modem which connects to your computer using a serial port cable. They are easy to install
-- just hook up the wires; you don't have to open the computer case. They are also easy to move from one computer
to another. The indicator lights can really help you out when things aren't working. Best of all, they work with
anything from an IBM mainframe to a Palm Pilot.
Even with external modems there are levels of quality and performance. Another rural ISP did an evaluation last
year of external modems. Their results are at:
http://www.mhtc.net/~dgn/support/top10modems.htm
Prices have come down somewhat since last year.
Their tests were done connecting to the same equipment as NorthNet uses so results here should be comparable.
For more than you ever wanted to know about modems we recommend:
http://www.modemsite.com
MEMORY WALK - NorthNet staff members and friends took part in the Oct. 14, 2001 St. Lawrence County Memory Walk to
benefit the Alzheimer's Association. The event was held at the Partridge Run Golf and Country Club in Canton.
NorthNet's team was comprised of staff members Pamela Ouimet, Jennifer Dunn, Heather Facey, Virginia Murdie and
Wally McCarty. Friends who were part of the team were Rebecca Snyder and Nora Janack. As a team, they raised $491.00
for the Alzheimer's Association.
