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1. STI may disconnect a user after 20 minutes of online inactivity. Ultimately this is done to free up incoming lines for other subscribers to use, and allows STI to continue charging it's low 19.95 rate. For example, a subscriber may get involved in writing a lengthy email to a friend. Because the subscriber is not passing packets of data when they write the email (this only happens when you click on send) the user may see a disconnection message after 20 minutes. The problem can be easily corrected by dialing back into STI when ready to send the email, or browse the Internet. Many disconnections are caused by this type of inactivity. Most users are not aware of this fact, but simply scrolling up and down a web page does not cause traffic over the Internet. Users who only scroll up and down the same page (i.e. do not cause any Internet traffic) for more than 20 minutes will also be disconnected for the reasons listed above. Our 20 minute inactivity disconnect policy is standard in the Internet industry. For more details, please see our Customer Use Policy in our Terms & Conditions.

2. Please note that STI and most other Internet Providers use the one-user-per-connection policy. Some subscribers endeavor to sign on from two separate computers, at the same time, and with the same username and password. In these instances STI's monitoring software will disconnect all parties logging on simultaneously, and will tender an email to the customer detailing this violation. This is also covered in our Customer Use policy in our Terms & Conditions.

3. Inexpensive modems tend to be unreliable. One of our favorite expressions is "Buy a $29 modem, get a $29 connection". In many cases when a user who has connection problems purchases a reliable modem (such as a USR v.90 sportster, or a Zoom v.90) the problem disappears. V.90 technology is still evolving. Many modem companies ship their modems with immature drivers, and for this reason we ask all users who are experiencing connection problems to download the latest modem driver and firmware upgrade for their modems BEFORE calling STI technical support. If you suspect you are the victim of "cheap modem syndrome", please call our tech support department. We may be able to arrange a test of your computer with a reliable modem to see if the modem is indeed the problem. For those of you who own respectable modems, but still have problems, there are other areas to check. Many users find that their home's telephone wiring is of poor quality by having a simple test performed by their telephone company. Poor wiring will induce noise on your connection, thereby forcing your modem to negotiate a lower baud rate. You may also experience dropped connections with faulty wiring. If you suspect your wiring is faulty, please contact our technical support department.