ValleyNet prides itself on offering superior technical support for those hosting websites and email with us. We want you to know what support and additional services we can offer in conjunction with your website and email hosting. In most cases the help you need will either be offered as part of the technical support included your hosting package, or we'll let you know that there will be an hourly fee for the services we'll be providing. In rare cases we'll let you know that you should seek help from an outside consultant for issues that we're not able to help you with.

1. Before you choose your domain name, we will be happy to search the Internet for you at no charge to confirm that your proposed domain name is available. If it is not, we'll let you know and make suggestions for an alternative name.
   

2. When you sign up for web space or custom domain email, we e-mail you a complete explanation of required settings. For web space, you will be given information about the FTP settings to use to upload your pages, file naming conventions used by our servers, and hints to make the process as easy as possible. For custom domain e-mail, you will be sent settings for getting your pop email program (like Eudora, Outlook Express, or Netscape Mail) to communicate with our server. Please be sure to print a copy of this information and keep it in a safe place.

   You can visit http://hosting.valley.net/support.html for complete information on how to configure typical email programs to connect to our servers.

   If you need to make changes to your accounts but are unable to remember the password or username, we'll supply those only to the person who originally set up the account. This is for security reasons, to protect your accounts.
   

3. We can help you design and implement a brand new website, and can help you make changes to an existing website, whether or not we host it. Ask about our fees for these services; we charge by the hour for our services, and community organizations are charged a lower rate than small businesses, with some restrictions. You can also visit the Website Design page in our online business directory for additional listings of businesses and consultants who can assist you on a paid basis.
   

4. If you have uploaded your web pages but discover that they aren't visible on your website, please let us know and we can help you find the problem.
   

5. If you choose a Frontier/Manilla website, ValleyNet offers specific training in using this service. The training fee is built into the Manilla website pricing.
   

6. If you use scripting on your website, ValleyNet can offer a certain amount of help in troubleshooting CGI script problems. Although ValleyNet can't assist in writing CGI scripts, we can provide some basic support such as checking permissions, checking ValleyNet configurations, and providing error log information for your website. If you don't know what a CGI is, but need to use scripting on your website, you will probably want to get some further training in web design and development. You can find many web-based distance learning solutions available on our Online Learning page. Website design courses are also available at Lebanon College, the College for Lifelong Learning, and at local vocational schools. Generally, ValleyNet will try let you know what the problem might be so you can fix it yourself in the future.

7. Website customers who request help will be given a tutorial on utilizing the statistical usage reports which are included with their service. Users with Manila accounts have access to more limited stats, but there are additional services that can be used to track hits on Manila sites; ask us for more information.

8. There are many commercial software applications designed to help you create websites. If you are a beginner, we recommend that you use one of these software packages and take advantage of the company's manuals and on-line support options. ValleyNet cannot answer specific questions about using Front Page, Pagemill, DreamWeaver, Composer or other commercial programs. ValleyNet's downloads page has links to free html editing programs, FTP programs, and email programs as well.

ValleyNet will gladly do our best to help you with website and email hosting and website design; we want you to be a satisfied customer, and will work with you to make your website and domain email a real asset to your organization or business.

ValleyNet

58 North Main Street, PO Box 486, White River Junction, VT 05001 Voice 802 359-4162  |  Fax 802 359-4164