Net Idea News

We have had some issues with several customers who have switched their service to a local providor other than Telus.  Please note, that by switching your LOCAL phone service from Telus will render your ADSL connection disabled, and you will not be able to obtain High Speed Internet Service through us.  We are aware of an issue specifically with MTS Allstream, however this could apply to other local providors.   Please note this does not apply to you if you have a different providor for Long Distance Phone Service.  This only applies to customers who switch to a providor, other than Telus, for your local phone service.

If you have read this, please help us spread the word.  If you have any questions about this, please feel free to call.

Effective June 23, 2008 we will be getting a new area code for the province.  Customers using the 250 area code will keep their number as is without any change, unless otherwise indicated by your telephone providor. By September, there will be a mandatory 10-digit dialing policy in place to make any telephone calls. This means your dial up connection needs to be adjusted to work when this changeover occurs. We ask that any Dial up Subscribers, or High Speed customers that use their available dial up connection, contact us to be guided through the process of switching your computer to use 10-digit dialing. By switching to this dialing method now, will not affect your Dial up experience.  Please call at your convenience, and we will be happy to assist you.

The Net Idea would like to congratulate Niel on a new and exciting career opportunity that he has chosen to pursue.  Niel will be leaving us as of today, and we will miss him greatly.  We would like to thank him for almost 3 years of hard work, and exceptional customer service!  We wish him all the best, and good luck.

We will be having a new face around here.  Corey will be joining our team effective Monday, April  7, as our new Customer Care Representative.  Corey comes from a strong background in support issues, and we expect him to be a wonderful addition to the Team.  Welcome to The Net Idea, Corey!

Please note the following hours of operation for the Easter Long Weekend, March 21 - 24, 2008:

Good Friday, March 21 - CLOSED

March 22, and 23 - CLOSED

Easter Monday, March 24 - OPEN 10:00 - 2:00

We hope you enjoy the long weekend, and will be back to normal hours of operation Tuesday, March 25.

Please be advised that our web hosting server will be shutdown for maintenance and upgrades at 10:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. This will affect all websites hosted with The Net Idea. Websites hosted with us will be unavailable for approximately one hour, however this may be longer due to unforseeable circumstances. Should there be any delays in restoring the hosting service, an update will be made to this notice, and an update will be applied to the Network Status Message on our phone service. We thank you for your patience, and apologize for any inconvenience.

This service disruption is not related to Internet access, as it applies to websites hosted by us. Should you have connection issues, please contact our tech support department during normal business hours.

Please be advised that there is a new security threat out there that can compromise your network security. The attack causes important networking information to be changed in your broadband router that would affect your ability to surf the net. This can also work as a severe phishing attack as you could be tricked into thinking you were on a legitimate site. This means that you may not actually be at your local bank’s website for an example. This is not something that can be detected or eliminated with current antivirus software.

This threat applies to all customers using routers, and / or our G-Net BB2060 ADSL Modems. Customers experiencing anything strange with their internet are advised to call our office for troubleshooting. If it is determined that you have a compromised router, you will have to contact a computer repair shop, or the manufacturer in order to reset and reprogram the unit. Customers using the BB2060 Modem can have affected systems brought into us for reprogramming, and a security update free of charge.

For best protection, it is advised to ensure your Networking Devices are password protected, and the remote access capability is turned off. Until another solution is found to protect customers, it is advised to be extremely careful when visiting a site that deals with sensitive and private information, such as your financial institution. Please be sure to report any strange behaviour with your computer to us or a repair technician as well to ensure your systems stay safe. Check regularly for firmware updates for your Networking devices, and install when available. Should you have any additional questions, or concerns, please contact us.

Please note the following hours over the upcoming Holiday Season:

Monday, December 24: Open 9:00 am to 2:00pm

Tuesday, December 25: OFFICE CLOSED

Wednesday, December 26: OFFICE CLOSED

Thursday, December 27: Open 9:00am to 5:30pm

Friday, December 28: Open 9:00am to 5:30pm

Monday, December 31: Open 9:00am to 2:00pm

Tuesday, January 1: OFFICE CLOSED

We will be open 9:00 am to 5:30pm Monday Through Friday starting January 2, 2008

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday season. We wish you a prosperous New Year. Thank you for all your support in 2007!

Our office will be closed November 10 and 11, 2007.

We will be open Monday, November 12, 2007 from 12:00 pm to 4:00pm.

The Net Idea would like to thank all of our Veterans for their sacrifices and hard work to make this a safe and prosperous society. We will always remember.

It is extremely rare that there is a threat for Apple Macintosh Customers, which is why we are issuing this special alert.  We have been recently informed of a Trojan Horse (Virus) designed specifically for the Mac.  Currently is confirmed infecting OSX 10.4 Tiger, and OSX 10.5 Leopard.  This can infect all versions of OSX however.  The Trojan infects your computer by informing you that Quicktime, Apple’s native multimedia player, is not able to play the movie, and to click a link to download the new codec.  Users that have clicked on the link and installed the “codec” have become infected.  Once you are infected, the Trojan changes your DNS and with that change, they can trick you into going to phishing and spam related sites.  For example, if you were infected, and you were to go to eBay, the Trojan tricks you into thinking you are actually on eBay, when in fact you are on a site designed to obtain your information, and use that for a malicious purpose.  It also seems that the same occurs when you go to your bank’s website.  If you would like more information on this threat, we encourage you to call in, or go to http://www.intego.com/news/ism0705.asp or http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/screenshot-of-new-mac-trojan.html for more information.

Here are some steps you can take to protect your system:

• Do not download any Audio / Video codecs from anywhere other than Apple Quicktime’s website.
• Ensure you have the file security settings enabled in Safari.
• Do not authorize an install unless you are on a trusted site or using Apple’s Software Updates.
• Have a current antivirus program installed.

As of right now, this problem is mainly infecting computers that go to questionable adult content sites, however it is conceivable to see this become a problem in social sites, like Facebook and MySpace, or any site that you may watch video content. As always, contact us if you require additional information, or to ensure you have your settings enabled to protect your computer.  This Trojan does not affect Mac Classic (OS8.x - 9.22).

Please note that we will be performing system maintenance that will be affecting our Zimbra Collaboration Suite customers only.  The service will be unavailable for approximately 30 minutes.  We will be performing this maintenance at 5:00 pm PDT / 9:oo pm ADT.  We apologize for any inconvenience.