Customer Service - Frequently Answered Questions

Below you will find some of the questions which our Helpdesk gets most commonly asked. The most likely answers follow each question with the most probable first. Use the shortcuts on the left to find a particular area of interest. We suggest that once in a while you print this document and keep it for reference.

Remember that the Access Internet Helpdesk has a different phone number to our main enquiry line.

Connecting

Jump to: E-Mail or The Web

All Machine Types

Q. I could connect yesterday/last week, but I can't today

This is most commonly caused by trying to install some other Net software on your machine, commonly the 'free trial' packages some companies offer. Nearly all of them will interfere with your configuration for Access Internet, and simply removing them will not necessarily remedy the situation. You should thoroughly remove all such software and the Access Internet software, reboot the machine, and reinstall/reconfigure the Access Internet connection software.

The next most common cause is some hardware problem. Double-check the following:

  • The modem is connected to the computer securely
  • The modem is connected to the phone line securely
  • The modem is plugged into the mains and turned on!
  • You have disconnected your phones etc,having a phone pluged in on the same line will in mast cases cause you to be disconnected from the internet.
  • No-one else is using the phone line

Next: it may be that some other software is interfering with your ability to connect to Access Internet. The most common culprit is Fax software: generally, you should not attempt to run any fax software while using the Internet - this includes programs which simply wait for faxes to arrive at your machine, they must be disabled.

Finally, it may be that there is some problem at Access Internet. To verify this you should manually dial the modem number with an ordinary telephone; if you hear a high-pitched whistling then it is unlikely that the problem is at Access Internet's end. On the other hand, if the number just rings and rings, or is engaged, we suggest that you wait 10 minutes, try once more, and if that fails call our Helpline on (08) 9592 7144.

Q. My connection drops after a while

If you find that your connection is randomly dropping, then there are four likely causes. Either someone else in your home/office is picking up the phone, or you have call-waiting on the line. Call-waiting should be disabled, to do this type using your phone #43# before connecting to Access Internet. You have a telstra touch phone 200 or 400 ,these phone will cause you to be disconnected, unplug the phone while you are using the internet. Or lastly your phone line is fualty , get your carrier to test it.

Windows 3.1, 3.11 and NT 3.5

Q. I can connect to Access Internet OK, but then I can't do anything else

The most likely explanation is that your DNS (nameserver) settings are wrong.

Trumpet Winsock users should go to the Setup screen and set the DNS Servers box to 203.24.23.2 203.62.163.5.

Users of other connection packages should set their Primary Nameserver to 203.24.23.2 and their Secondary Nameserver to 203.62.163.5.

N.B. You must restart your PC after making these changes.

Windows 95 and NT 4

Q. I can connect to Access Internet OK, but then I can't do anything else

The most likely explanation is that your DNS (nameserver) settings are wrong.

Go to Properties for the Access Internet icon in your Dial-Up Networking folder, select TCP/IP Settings and set Primary Nameserver to 203.24.23.2 and Secondary Nameserver to 203.62.163.5.

N.B. You must reconnect to Access Internet after making these changes.

Macintosh

Q. I can connect to Access Internet OK, but then I can't do anything else

The most likely explanation is that your DNS (nameserver) settings are wrong.

Go to your TCP Control/Config tool and in the bottom right corner set the Nameservers to accessin.com.au 203.24.23.2 in the 1st line and accessin.com.au 203.62.163.5 in the 2nd.

N.B. You must restart your Mac after making these changes.

Linux

Q. Can I connect using Linux.... if so how?

It is not difficult to connect using Linux, and here's the configuration guide.

 

Q. I can connect to Access Internet OK, but then I can't do anything else

The most likely explanation is that your DNS (nameserver) settings are wrong.

Your /etc/resolv.conf file must contain at least the following lines:

domain accessin.com.au

nameserver 203.24.23.2

nameserver 203.62.163.5

N.B. You must reboot Linux after making these changes.



E-mail

Jump to: Connecting or The Web

Q. I get an "Unable to locate host mail.accessin.com.au" message when trying to get my mail

There are two likely causes of this error:

  1. You are not actually connected to Access Internet - see above
  2. Your DNS (nameserver) settings are incorrect - see above
Q. I can get my mail, but not send any

Your mail program is incorrectly configured. You must set the 'Outgoing Mail Host' or 'SMTP Server' to be smtp.accessin.com.au

Q. I can send mail, but not receive any

Your mail program is incorrectly configured. You must set the 'Incoming Mail Host' or 'POP-3 Server' to be mail.accessin.com.au Eudora users should set their 'Popmail Account' to be [loginID]@accessin.com.au (where [loginID] is substituted by your Access Internet user name).

Q. When I try to get my mail the machine just sits there

There are three common causes for this situation:

  1. You are not actually connected to Access Internet! - see above
  2. Your DNS (nameserver) entries are missing or incorrect - see above
  3. You have a large amount of mail - it is just taking a long time to transfer. If this is the case you might see that the 'RD' (Receive Data) indicator on your modem is glowing.
Q. I have a massive message (or loads of messages) which I don't want to collect - what can I do?

Access Internet cannot remove individual messages from your mailbox - all we can do is to completely empty the mailbox for you. All messages waiting for you at Access Internet will be lost. Please e-mail the Helpdesk to request this operation.

Q. All my old messages are coming back each time I pick up my mail

This is often due to a bug in Netscape mail, you should upgrade to a more recent version. In any case, be sure to check that if there is a 'Leave Mail on Server' option in your mail program - it is NOT set.



The Web

Jump to: Connecting or E-Mail

Browsing the Web

Q. I can see Access Internet's pages, but I can't see http://www.?????.com

There are three possible scenarios:

  1. Your DNS (nameserver) entries are missing or incorrect - see above.
  2. You are not actually connected to Access Internet - see above. N.B. If this is the case you might still be able to 'see' some web sites which you frequently view as they could be stored in your browser's Cache - hit the 'shift' key and the Reload button at the same time to really force the browser to look up the site afresh.
  3. The site which you are trying to view is unavailable, either due to problems with that site, or some network problem. There is nothing that Access Internet can do about this as other servers are clearly outside our control. Only if you can see no sites other than Access Internet's should you contact the Helpdesk.

My Own Webpages

Q. How do I upload pages into my personal webspace?

You upload your pages using an FTP tool such as WS_FTP or 'fetch' on the Macintosh. Some web-authoring packages have FTP tools built-in to simplify this procedure.

  1. Connect to ftp.accessin.com.au
  2. User name is your Access Internet login ID
  3. Password is your Access Internet password
  4. Create a directory called public_html
  5. Move into the public_html directory - this is where all your web-pages should be placed
Q. What is the URL of my webspace? Can I change it?

The URL of your personal webspace is derived directly from your user ID - it cannot be changed. For example, if your user ID is jbloggs then your URL will be http://www.accessin.com.au/~jbloggs, in other words, your user ID is always preceded by http://www.accessin.com.au/~

Q. When I look at my webspace in a browser I see a list of files

The page that you wish to be your initial 'home-page' must be called index.html. You may have to rename the file when it is on the Access Internet server using your FTP client if your system truncates the last character of the filename. Remember that on the web-server, filenames are case-sensitive; INDEX.HTML is not the same as index.html .