btinet.net or btinet.com?

Well, the short answer is that it’s both……  For years, BTInet has been providing email addresses for its customers “@btinet.net”, and we will still continue to do so.  However, the BTInet staff has also used “@btinet.net” for its email addresses, and we’re in the process of making a slight change to that – we’re going to start using “@btinet.com” for our employee’s email addresses.  Our old @btinet.net email addresses will still work for a while, but please make a note of the change to @btinet.com and update your Address books if necessary.

In addition, here are some important email addresses you can use to contact our office:

support@btinet.com – can be used for any technical questions or to report any issues with your services

sales@btinet.com – can be used to request the set up of new services or for any pricing questions

accounts@btinet.com – can be used for any Billing or account questions

customerservice@btinet.com – can be used for general questions

By the way, either domain name will work to visit us on our website, so feel free to use either www.btinet.net or www.btinet.com to check out our services online.

“You can’t prepare for everything – but you can prepare for anything.”

It has been all over the news about the Cruise ship that capsized off the coast of Italy.  This tragic event serves as an important reminder to all.  We can’t prevent disasters from happenings, but we can prepare ourselves for the unexpected.  We need to be reminded the importance of Business Continuity Plans and realize that data disasters do occur, and the repercussions can be devastating.

Data Backup is one of the most critical components of a complete disaster recovery plan.  Back in 2007 only 3 percent of data losses occur due to natural disasters; 97 percent are due to mechanical failure or human error.  Good news, preparation for both types of disasters is the same!

Five important questions to consider:

1.  What is absolutely critical to running your business day-to-day?

• Emails?
• Accounting Data?
• Customer Records?
• Billing Software
• All of the above?

2.  How long could you operate without that data before your business suffered?

• A few hours?
• A day?
• Several days?

3.  When is your data backup?

• Multiple times a day?
• Every Day?
• Weekly?
• Monthly?

4.  Where and how is your backup data stored?

• On-site?
• Off-site?
• Not sure?

5.  In a natural disaster, the person or team whom is in charge might be dealing with other issues too.

The best thing to do is to not worry about any of these issues and call BTInet today.  We will manage your Disaster Recovery and your Managed Backups for you.  Do you feel that stress lifting off of your shoulders?

Here is some food for thought:  Businesses with a Business Continuity Plan will go on as normal, businesses without a Business Continuity Plan won’t know what to do and more than likely won’t be able to recover their lost data. 

Be a Scam Buster!

Cyber criminals don’t just send scam email messages and set up fake website.  They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft or some other company.  Once they have gained your trust, they might ask you for your username and password or ask you to go to a website to install software that will give them access to your computer.  Once you do this your personal information is vulnerable.

Tips on how to avoid phone scams:

• Never give control of your computer to a third party unless you can confirm that it is a legitimate representative of a computer support team with whom you are already a customer.
• Never provide your credit card or financial information to someone claiming to be from Microsoft tech support if you did not initiate the call to Microsoft first.
• Ask upfront if you are required to purchase software or pay a fee or subscription associated with the “service.” If there is, hang up.

Take the caller’s information down and immediately report it to your local authorities. If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam, check out these tips that can help you protect your money and identity.

Please remember to question any unsolicited email or call.  Check out our previous blogs on scams and phishing emails.

Is it a SCAM or not? 

Don’t Become a Victim

Fake Windows Support Calls 

What is CentOS?

CentOS is an Enterprise Linux distribution based on the freely available sources from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Each CentOS version is supported for 7 years (by means of security updates). A new CentOS version is released every 2 years and each CentOS version is periodically updated (roughly every 6 months) to support newer hardware. This results in a secure, low-maintenance, reliable, predictable and reproducible Linux environment.

CentOS has numerous advantages:

• An active and growing user community
• Quickly rebuilt, tested and QA’ed errata packages
• An extensive mirror network
• Developers whom are contactable and responsive
• Multiple free support avenues including IRC Chat, Mailing Lists, Forums and a FAQ.

Check out our Dedicated Hosting with CentOS today!

MISSING!!!

Sherry Arnold has been miss-ing since early Saturday, January 7, 2012. She was last seen running on East Holly Street in Sidney Montana wearing a blue hooded sweat-shirt, red tear-away pants with blue stripes, black mittens and a headband at approximately 6:40 a.m. Sherry is 5’10”, weighs 140lbs., has short brown hair, brown eyes and has an athletic build.
As a Chamber of Commerce member & as a Sidney area business leader and in light of the recent events concerning Sherry Arnold, we ask the following:

Please be aware of employee behaviors and consider whether the following may be reportable to Law Enforcement

• Work Tardiness
• Work Absenteeism
• Recent Injuries
• Unusual or suspicious behavior

Consider whether your business can contribute any information related to Sherry’s disappearance. (IE: Business surveillance video, employee accounts of events, etc.)

Contact the Sidney Law Enforcement at 406-433-2210 or the F.B.I at 406-433-4026 with any information. If no answer, please leave a message.

 

Unable to Connect or Browse?

Are you currently a BTInet customer with our DSL or Fixed Wireless Internet Service?  Are you unable to connect or browse the internet?  Before picking up the phone to give our help desk a call we may have a solution for you to try — Reboot your equipment.  Yes it may just be that simple.  Rebooting your equipment may resolve your connectivity issue.

If rebooting your equipment does not solve the problem — please feel free to give our help desk a call to find a solution.  BTInet Help Desk is staffed from 8AM to 5PM Central Time, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.

DSL Users

• Unplug the power cord from the back of your Qwest provided Cisco or ActionTec DSL Gateway for 30 seconds.
• Plug the power cord back in and wait an additional 30 seconds for a connection to reestablish before trying to access your Internet connection again.
• If you are still unable to connect, it may be necessary to reboot your computer, server, and or the router setup on your network.

Fixed Wireless Users

• Unplug the power cord and the “network” cable from the SmartBridge Powershot cable for 30 seconds.
• Plug the power cord and “network” cable back in and wait an additional 30 seconds for a connection to reestablish before trying to access your Internet connection again.
• If you are still unable to connect, it may be necessary to reboot your computer, server, and or the router setup on your network.

Oil Company Donates to ND Schools

The Hess Corporation made the announcement that they are donating more than $25 million to fund “Succeed 2020.” Succeed 2020 is a statewide education project aimed at helping North Dakota students become better prepared for college and careers.

Governor Dalrymple stated, “Hess Corporation’s donation gives us a tremendous opportunity to improve the quality of education for North Dakota students and to ensure they are ready for both college and the workplace.”  ”The past three legislative sessions have focused heavily on creating equitable funding for schools, and this public-private partnership will allow our local partners to enhance and design programs that better prepare our students.”

Governor Dalrymple and the Hess Corporation have been working on the project’s development for more than a year.  Specific goals aim to increase ACT scores, decrease developmental or remedial education, and increase the number of students who complete high school and college programs on-time. The REAs will work with their local school districts and partners to design and implement programs that improve college and career counseling beginning in the middle school grades, increase access to and success in career and technical education programs and advanced placement courses for rural students, and provide professional development for teachers and counselors.

Sen. John Hoeven stats that with this gift, the Hess Corporation and FHI 360 are not only helping to create jobs in North Dakota, but also helping to prepare young people for careers in a dynamic and growing industry.”

Want to know more about North Dakota?  Check out North Dakota’s Department of Commerce website today!

Happy New Year!!

***OFFICE CLOSED***

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

INTERNET CUSTOMERS: If you are experiencing issues with your Internet service, please call our helpdesk and leave a detailed message.  Our helpdesk technicians will be monitoring messages throughout the holidays.

HOSTING CUSTOMERS:  24/7 support will be available through the Preferred Accounts line during the holidays for all existing Hosting customers.

________________________________________________________________________

2011 was an exciting year for BTInet.  As always we focused on our reliable hosting services, along with helpful, technically superior customer service.  We are looking forward to the opportunities coming in the 2012 New Year. 

BTInet has had numerous accomplishments completed in 2011 – too many to list but here a few to be proud of:

• Recognized by the Microsoft Partner Network with having Gold competencies.
• Migrated to a New Webmail System called Magic Mail
• New Disaster Recovery Data Center Finished
• Migration over to Plesk 10
• Parent Company Basin Electric marks 50 years
• Exym-Fusion IO Case Study
• New Support Ticketing System

This past year was a crazy year for employees working to save their homes or helping others save theirs from the Missouri River flooding.  Despite the outcome of the flooding, we are happy that everyone stayed safe and our employees and community came together in the time of need. 

The staff at BTInet would like to wish you a safe and prosperous 2012. Thank you for your business and for letting us be part of your success. We look forward to continuing to serve you throughout the New Year.  

Please contact us if you have any questions on your existing service or if you would like us to ease some of your stress by putting together a customized hosting solution that suits your needs.

Why Dedicated Hosting?

BTInet Dedicated Hosting gives you more than just a server, it is a fully customized business solution designed to take your business to the next level. Dedicated Hosting is more flexible than a Virtual Private Server, as clients have full control over their server including: Operating System, Hardware, RAM, Hard Disks and RAID, Backup, etc

Although dedicated servers are much more expensive then cloud hosting, they are certainly worth their price.  With online businesses today, it may even be mandatory if you are to stand a chance in this very competitive internet world.  But remember; don’t just invest on the first dedicated server service you find.  Do your research before spending your money.

Keep in mind the advantages of Dedicated Hosting:

• Flexibility
• Administrative Assistance
• Expertise
• Support
• Security
• Bandwidth

BTInet Holiday Office Schedule

As the Holiday Season is upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and on those who have helped to shape our business in a most significant way. We value our relationship with you and look forward to working with you in the year to come.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with peace and prosperity.

To allow our staff amply time to spend the holidays with family and friends, please check out the dates that our office will be closed.

Office Closed:

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Monday, December 26th, 2011

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

INTERNET CUSTOMERS: If you are experiencing issues with your Internet service, please call our helpdesk and leave a detailed message.  Our helpdesk technicians will be monitoring messages throughout the holidays.

HOSTING CUSTOMERS:  24/7 support will be available through the Preferred Accounts line during the holidays for all existing Hosting customers.