Member to Member Chat
July 13 2004 9:30PM

Session Start: Tue Jul 13 21:31:17 2004
Session Ident: #starbandchat
* Logging #starbandchat to 'logs\#starbandchat.log'
* robinb sets mode: +m
<@robinb> logging on
<@robinb> Welcome to "Member to Member" StarBand chat- where we can, as you say "Let down our hair"
<@robinb> I robinb, am your moderator for tonite. I will be setting the channel to  +m (moderated- you cannot type on the channel), ask the question then you will see the channel go -m which means you can now type..
<@robinb> Please welcome Ray who is here to help me tonite and can answer :)  some of the questions you all might have.
<@robinb> Just a few rules before we start:
<@robinb> Please do not change your nick name while we do this chat because it is annoying to others.
<@robinb> Also please answer in a mature fashion so not to embarrass our fellow users. 
<@robinb> We would like this to be a pleasant event, so please be courteous when answering. 
<@robinb> If you misbehave, you will be asked to leave.
<@robinb> Please do not message me if you need me, until after the chat is over.
<@robinb> I will NOT answer you and I am not being rude, it is just hard to concentrate on the channel  and answer your question at the same time.
<@robinb> I will throw out a question, I will give you time to type your answer. 
<@robinb> Please only answer (1) question at a time or it will become very confusing. 
<@robinb> Stick to the question I ask. 
<@robinb> Please wait till I am finished with these questions before you ask one of your own because I might just have your answer. If not, then you can ask your question.
<@robinb> We will stick to one topic at a time so the question is answered to the best of  our ability before we move on to the next one. 
<@robinb> After the chat is over I will have a log that I will post to the web board forum, Band newsgroup and starbandusers.com
<@robinb> Take the best out of the chat and use it (that's what chats are for!!!)
<@robinb> -- and if you don't like it, don't agree with it, or didn't hear what you 
<@robinb> wanted to hear -- then go with the flow. The rest of us have  something to learn too! 

<@robinb> 1. Is anyone having problems getting into their StarBand Webpages? If so what is the problem and please give us your username and email address and I will try to get you help. StarBand has  moved everyone onto a new webserver because the old one was having a bit of a problem,  and some of you might have gotten caught in the backlash.

* robinb sets mode: -m
<@robinb> ok you can type
<@robinb> anyone?
<ggerke> nope, not I (although I don't get in to 'em too often)
<volunteer> Not I
<gary> don't use
<@robinb> anyone else?
<@robinb> James?
<@robinb> james types slow so we will give him a bit of time to respond ;)
<@robinb> i guess not
<@robinb> I have been receiving emails from users who are having some problems and was able to get them fixed so i was wondering if anyone in here had problems too
<@robinb> hia johnny
<@robinb> johnny i just asked if anyone is having mystarband wepage problems- like ftping to them or seeing them do you?
<@robinb> johnny do you see us?
<JohnnyP> yes
<@robinb> ok good
<@robinb> do you have any of these problems?
<JohnnyP> no
<@robinb> ok then we can go on
* robinb sets mode: +m

<@robinb> A lot of you have asked me why I switched to the 480 and why and I am going to explain to you all  here.
<@robinb> Our business requires us to have online service all the time. 
<@robinb> Most of you do know I also have a cable modem for broadband but, as we all know "nothing is  perfect" and it does go down from time to time. 
<@robinb> For the business, we need to know we have a backup. 
<@robinb> We upgraded from the 360 to the 480 so we could get faster uploads and downloads. 
<@robinb> Also the 360 software was interfering with some of the software we use and since the  480 has no or very little software, we felt this would meet our needs better.
<@robinb> I will tell you that the 480 Pro is remarkable. 
<@robinb> For those of you who just cannot get the 360 to work properly on your system, 
<@robinb> the 480Pro just is the way to go. 
<@robinb> Installation was a breeze. It took about 5 minutes. 
<@robinb> I decided not to use the CD that comes with it, I just used a small utility program on the CD to  configure the modem and did a few tweaks in my browser and "Walla" 
<@robinb> I was surfing in 2secs
<@robinb> For those of you who do not need 4 ports or a Business plan you can do the same thing  with the 481. Starband just offers different features with it.
<@robinb> It only has one port, so it is only meant to have 1 PC connected to it. 
<@robinb> SB feels that these people would be utilizing the network more in the daytime, off-peak hours,  than in the evening, peak hours.
<@robinb> We need it all the time that is why we decided to go to the 480 instead of the 481.

<@robinb> Stability you ask? 
<@robinb> VERY STABLE and I have had no real problems at all. 
<@robinb> In fact the only time it was down was in a very heavy thunderstorm 
<@robinb> and once it passed it came right back.

<@robinb> Downloads and uploads?

<@robinb> both are faster than the 360 to fit our needs. I was getting about 
<@robinb> 400kbps in downloads and now i average around 900kbps. 
<@robinb> Uploads before were about 9kbps, now they average about 48kbps. (depending on the time of the  day)
<@robinb> It doesn't interfere with any of my other programs because there is nothing installed to do this. 
<@robinb> So I am quite happy with the 480 and I highly recommend it!
* robinb sets mode: -m
<@robinb> ok your turn
<@robinb> any questions?
<ggerke> is there an upgrade program from returning the 360 to get a 480?
<@robinb> ggerke: there will be, StarBand told me they don't have it all together yet but we should see something soon
<@robinb> otherwise i would have had it tonite
<ggerke> I haven't looked recently - is the montly charge the same if you get a 480 or...?
<@robinb> ggerke: i doubt it since you are getting a totally different service
<@robinb> the 480 pro is made for the business user under the business plan
<@robinb> the 360 is more for residential users
<ggerke> what's the monthly charge for the business plan?
<@robinb> that you can see on www.starband.com but that is for new users
<ggerke> punishing us for being existing users...? ;)
<@robinb> there is a list there for upgrade users if you want to join it
<@robinb> not really ggerke as you saw in my post we had a reason to get it- if yours works fine then keep what you have
* GARY_MELTON is now known as gary
<ggerke> yup, I'm thinkin' I will
<@robinb> you also might be interested in getting the 481 which is more for the smaller business or the person who works from home
<@robinb> as you saw what i typed- if you are having no problems with the 360 then you do not need the 480 unless you are looking for 4 ports to connect 4 computers
<@robinb> or the 481 unless you want to connect using its one port that the 360 doesn't have
<@robinb> it would have been nice if the 360 was created the same way though
<@robinb> no software to install
<@robinb> and everything in the modem instead of software
<@robinb> i guess you have to take baby steps before you can walk
<@robinb> anyone else with a question on this?
<@robinb> ok how about a question not on this?
<ggerke> fire away

<@robinb> what problems are you having and how can we help you fix them?
<ggerke> hmmm...
<James_Leone> Ebay loads very slow. any fix other than throwing $$$$
<@Ray> I have one. A few days back, my newsreader had too many headers to get from one group. 
<@Ray> what a change for SB
<@robinb> too many headers?
<@robinb> james: ebay loads slow for me too on cable- maybe it is not starband?
<@Ray> yep, Agent refused to get over 2 million headers
<@robinb> in fact i bought a toy chest and when i went to bid for it, it crawled and that was on a cable modem
<@robinb> 2million? you can download that much?
<@Ray> With eBay, I found the spy cookies are the problem with l;oading.
<@robinb> that too ray- my spysweeper starts screaming all over when i go there too and blocks alot of pages
<@robinb> i have to shut it down if i want to bid
<@Ray> 2M is too many. a few months back, we would never have had a problem like this.
<@robinb> ray: i totally lost you- is it suppose to do this?
<@Ray> what?
<@robinb> load 2m
<@robinb> i only go to a few newsgroups so i do not understand your problem
<@Ray> Not really. with the new news server we get all the feed now, not just a part as before
<@robinb> so this is good right? not bad
<@Ray> good for me.
<@robinb> ok i thoought you were complaining about it
<@robinb> does anyone else have a question they would like to ask?
<@Ray> not me. :)
<@robinb> or would like to talk about?
<@robinb> while you are thinking think about this:

<@robinb> As you know I keep pushing the new discussion forum board that StarBand has just sitting there.
<@robinb> This is the same place where you go if you do not want to use Mirc
<@robinb> for the chats. The site is http://discussion.starband.com/~members. 
<@robinb> Some people are already posting to it now. Alot who are on it now, can answer questions you might  have. 
<@robinb> This is also for those who cannot post or do not want to post in a newsgroup. It is more "user  friendly" since all you have to do is type in your username and password and "Walla"!  you are there!
<@robinb> The more people go to it and use it the better chance we have of Starband  moving quicker to get it ready for everyone. 
<@robinb> MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! 
<@robinb> ok i said my peace :P
<@robinb> Some of you like james and johnny are on it now
<@robinb> that is how you got here to the chat
<@robinb> boy are we quiet tonite :P
<@robinb> there has to be something you would like to ask/add
<ggerke> we're just the shy types... or else the gabby ones are the ones that ain't here ;)
<@robinb> you shy ggerke? naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
<ggerke> I swapped out my machine with the SB modem on it and upgraded to winproxy 5.1 at the same time... now I'm dealin' with the after-effects ;)
<@robinb> why are you using winproxy anyway?
<@robinb> you are on the 360 right?
<ggerke> yup - 360
<@robinb> so why use winproxy?
<ggerke> I've got a house full of 'puters all going through it and when I first got SB that's what they recommended
<ggerke> it worked and I kept using it
<@robinb> did not want to use other ways to network?
<@robinb> alot who were on the skyblaster used winproxy because they had no choice
<ggerke> not really - winproxy comes with firewall and antivirus and now has anti-spam
<@robinb> you could have still used a router to do it without winproxy
<@robinb> well then you have to deal with the "after effects":P
<ggerke> but don't I have to have the modem connected to a windows machine...?
<@robinb> yes
<@robinb> you are not using windows?
<ggerke> I like the idea of the 480 but the price isn't friendly towards my wallet ;)
<ggerke> yup, I've got windows here - the machine the modem is on is the file/print server too
<@robinb> you can always save your money- go a bit cheaper and get the 481 too
<@robinb> and if not in a hurry wait to see if the prices go down
<ggerke> but the 481 is still $50/month more
<@robinb> that is for new users but you can wait till you see what StarBand will charge for upgraders monthly, then decide
<@Ray> any time table on the info?
<@robinb> the modem is not cheap, it costs more than the 360 so i doubt if the price for modem would be the same
<ggerke> I'm hoping the price is closer (or less ;) - it'd be nice to eliminate some of the setup
<@robinb> the modem costs StarBand more money, i mean
<@robinb> Ray: when i was there 3wks ago ( I stopped there on my way back from Williamsburg VA) Marketing told me that they were working on it and trying to get something out by the middle of July. Unfortunately I could not get anything for this chat
<@Ray> It's the middle of July now
<@robinb> I am assuming they are still working on it otherwise you would have seen something on the web site by now
<@robinb> or i could have gotten something for the chat. I think the problem with July is so many ppl take vacation then and that is why it is not finalized
<@robinb> that is just a thought i have- nothing concrete
<@Ray> ok, I'll be checking
<JohnnyP> i was going to use winproxy to network my computers , you saying i should wait
<@robinb> In fact the person who i talk to was not in all week and he is the one that gives me the info and the one that works in marketing
<@Ray> You could use ICS
<@robinb> yea why can't you use ics?
<@Ray> ok, Robin
<@robinb> alot do
<JohnnyP> would i need 2 cards 
<ggerke> if you've got a 360 then you could use the usb port
<@robinb> starbandusers.com has a good site on networking and let me find ken's site on networking too
<ggerke> I leaned away from ICS 'cause of the company that makes it ;)
<@robinb> here is ken's site http://ksc.mystarband.net/ksc.htm
<@robinb> the first paragraph shows how to network
<@robinb> ggerke: windows makes it
<@robinb> johnny check those pages- good info there for networking with the 360
<JohnnyP> thanks for the info
<@robinb> does anyone else have anything to ask or are we done for tonite?
<JohnnyP> i have to leave work, i lost track of the time
<@robinb> boy you are working late
<JohnnyP> enjoyed the chat
<volunteer> done
<@robinb> such dedication :)
<gary> done
<@robinb> anyone else?
<@robinb> nope?
<@robinb> I hope this chat has helped all of us, or at least some of us :) Have a good evening,
<@robinb> Check the StarBand web site for the next chat.
<@robinb> All chat logs are at http://robinb.mystarband.net/chatlogs.html- You can also post at our new Web 
<@robinb> Board Forum .
<@robinb> Thanks for coming :) and thanks to Ray for helping out, as always :)
Session Close: Tue Jul 13 22:27:54 2004