Ripco Communications, Inc.
(RCI, Ripco, or "ripco.com" hereafter)
is a Internet Access Provider serving the Chicago area, which
includes most of the 312/708/773 area codes and parts of the
near north and near west 847 and 630 area codes.
WHAT IS 'RIPCO BBS'?
The original Ripco BBS, which is still operational at (773) 528-5020,
is a free-speech BBS offering full access on the first call to all
file areas and many local message areas. The original BBS has no
direct association with RCI, other than sharing a name and founder.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST FOR ACCESS TO USENET AND E-MAIL?
Nothing. In the tradition of the original BBS, basic access via modem
is
free
to all Chicago area residents.
The free BBS and POP-Email accounts are the only Ripco accounts with
a set time limit.
WHY CAN'T I GET ACCESS ON MY FIRST CALL?
Because Ripco Internet provides access to a worldwide news and e-mail
network, we are careful to provide accountability and verify our users.
If you fill out the online application, your BBS account information
and password should arrive by U.S. Mail within 5 business days.
WHAT IS 'SUBSCRIBER ACCESS'? WHAT DOES IT COST?
Subscriber access
provides a full service internet account with no
time limit, 15Mb of local disk space (storage on our machines), a
Unix 'shell', and full access to all network utilities and other
programs.
Subscriber access costs $15/month or $35 for three months, in advance,
an existing BBS account can be upgraded by
mailing
payment with your account name noted on the MEMO field or
elsewhere on the check or money order.
ARE THERE ANY EXTRA OR 'HIDDEN' COSTS? SETUP FEES?
No. There are never any extra charges for standard access.
None of our personal accounts have any startup or setup fee.
IS SUPPORT AVAILABLE IN CASE I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH MY ACCOUNT?
HOW CAN YOU AFFORD A TWO FULL T1 CONNECTIONS WITH SUCH LOW RATES?
Ripco has a dual full-bandwidth (3.08 million baud) T1 connection to the
Internet through Nap.NEt, a nationwide provider which has a T3
backbone. Unlike some providers, we charge the customer a fair rate
that's actually based on what the connection costs us- also
we don't have fancy radio ads or whole pages in the newspaper,
instead we rely on word of mouth from satisfied customers.
WHAT ABOUT COMMERCIAL ACCESS FOR A BUSINESS OR INDIVIDUAL?
Commercial access,
which includes more support and additional services,
is available. For more information send mail to
'sysop@ripco.com'
or leave feedback.
WHAT ABOUT UNSOLICITED BULK EMAIL? (UBE/UBE OR 'SPAM')
We offer
several mechanisms
to reduce the amount of spam received in your incoming mail box,
and enforce a strict
anti-spam policy
to prevent abuse of the internet from out customers.
HOW CAN I PAY FOR MY ACCOUNT?
We accept checks, money orders and cash (do not mail cash), make all
payments out to 'Ripco Communications, Inc.' if the payment is to
upgrade an existing account, write your username in the MEMO field.
Credit Cards are not accepted, and probably never will be. The
biggest complaints about AOL, Prodigy and other 'large' providers
tend to be related to automated billing and disputed charges.
I HAVE MY ACCOUNT INFORMATION, NOW HOW DO I CONNECT TO RIPCO?
You can use a modem to call (773) 665-0065, or from another
internet system you can telnet to
'shell.ripco.com'
WHAT KINDS OF MODEMS DO YOU SUPPORT? HOW MANY LINES DO YOU HAVE?
RCI supports all modem speeds, from 2400 through 14.4,28.8 and 33.6
including V.fc, V.32terbo, V.fast systems, and V.34 standards, as
well as ISDN.
RCI currently has 96 analog lines, the first 80 are all
USR Courier Dual Standard modems with 33.6 support, the
remainder are Hayes 33.6 for compatibility.
We add new lines whenever busy signals become prevalent.
WHAT ABOUT THE X2 AND K56FLEX MODEMS THAT CLAIM TO OFFER 56K?
Ripco does not support proprietary communications standards.
The system currently offers real 64K and 128K ISDN, and may
support '56K' when a universal protocol is implemented.
WHAT KIND OF INTERNET CONNECTION DO YOU HAVE?
We are connected to the internet through dual (3.08Mbps) T1
connections to Nap.Net. This is a very high-speed leased-line
connection to the rest of the Internet.
Usenet News is a worldwide distributed public message system used to
exchange text messages (and some binary files) between systems around
the world.
We carry the full feed
of all active newsgroups, including all the
english-language and binaries groups.
Each new article expires after one week.
Usenet news feeds
via UUCP or NNTP are available, as is news-only
access via NNTP. Send e-mail
or call for details.
WHICH USENET NEWS READERS ARE AVAILABLE?
BBS users have access to tin and tass as well as offline readers.
Subscribers have access to those, as well as trn and nn plus the
ability to use NNTP based remote readers via SLIP or PPP.
WHAT IS INTERNET E-MAIL? WHERE CAN I SEND MAIL TO?
Internet e-mail is a system for exchanging private text messages
between users on the internet and other associated networks.
You can use the internet to send e-mail to any other user on Ripco,
on another internet service (commercial or education) in the United
States or abroad, or on other services, such as America Online,
Compuserve, Delphi, Prodigy, etc.
Please see our E-mail FAQ for more
information.
WHAT IS IRC?
IRC is Internet Relay Chat, a system by which users around the world
can type messages, publically or privately, in (close to) real time.
We have a private chat server open to both BBS and subscribers, as
well as a time-limited IRC demo for BBS users and full IRC access
to any public server in the world for subscribers.
IF I HAVE AN ACCOUNT, WHAT IS MY MAIL ADDRESS?
Your account name is your username or 'login id'.
If your account name is 'foo' then your e-mail address
would be foo@ripco.com
WHICH E-MAIL PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE?
BBS Users have access to the Elm mail program. Subscribers
have Elm as their default mail reader, but they can also use
Pine, MUSH, the Unix mailer, offline readers,
or POPMail programs such as
Eudora(tm) and
Netscape's mail reader.
WHAT ABOUT SLIP ACCESS? IS THERE AN EXTRA CHARGE? WHAT ABOUT PPP?
SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) is a means of directly accessing
internet services from a graphical user interface (MS-Windows or
Macintosh). It requires a high-speed modem connection (>9600 baud),
special
driver software
for your home computer, and SLIP compatible clients
(e.g. Eudora, Netscape, Mosaic) for each function you want to use.
We provide SLIP and PPP access to all subscribers through the free
SLIRP emulator program, there is no extra fee or additional charge
for full graphical web/mail/usenet access.
True SLIP/PPP access,
which provides more responsive connections
and a dedicated IP address and hostname, is available for a flat
monthly fee, with no time limits.
CAN I GET ACCESS VIA ISDN? LEASED LINE?
ISDN
connectivity and dedicated analog SLIP/PPP accounts as
well as leased line connections are available at competitive rates.
Send e-mail or call for a quote.
One feature of the World-Wide-Web (a graphical information network
across the Internet) is the ability for users to
create their own
home page' on the Web, which others can access, and which can
have 'links' to other web pages.
All subscribers
can create their own low-volume, non-commercial home page on the Web.
There is an option for this on the 'Internet Menu'.
We publish a list
of all active home pages on a regular basis.
Commercial
web server space is also available.
HOW CAN I FTP IN TO GET TO MY FILES?
Subscribers can use FTP from other systems to 'shell.ripco.com' to
access their files on this system. Use your regular account name and
password to log in via FTP.
WHAT UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD PROTOCOLS ARE AVAILABLE?
In addition to FTP for subscribers, all users can use the following
protocols to transfer files:
Z-modem Kermit
X-modem Sealink
Y-modem ASCII
HOW CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?
For an automated response with information about RCI, send e-mail to
info@ripco.com,
or you can view this information online by calling or
telnetting
to RCI and logging in as 'info'.
If you cannot find the answers to your questions in these resources,
you can send e-mail to
'sysop@ripco.com'
or, if you have an account, send feedback.
You can call us voice at (773) 477-6210