Frequently Asked Questions

This section is updated often so check to see if new material has been added or look out for news in the News section on the home page. If you cannot find the answer to your question or problem then please contact us by phone on (02) 9635 7844.

Presto Dial Up Help
What is an Email Address?
How does the email process work?
Getting Started
Problems with Connecting
Presto Email Settings
Presto Web Mail Service
My Homepage
Internet Safety
Spam and Junk Mail
Networking
Support
ADSL Help
Web Hosting

Presto Dial Up Help

Dial up internet is still a commonly used option for many Sydney metropolitan residents. If you cannot get a broadband connection or don't want to pay the higher rates for unlimited access, then dial up may be the only option for you. You don't get sent huge bills for additional downloads or exceeding your allowance. To see what our charges are for dial up check our dial up services page.

What is an Email Address?

An email address is a unique internet address for sending or receiving email. When you join Presto Information Services you will be assigned an email address, and you have the option of setting up additional addresses if required. Some families setup one dial up account and an email address for each family member.

Your email address is also commonly referred to as your username. An email address has two main parts - the username and the domain.

For Example: sample@presto.net.au The above example has the username 'sample'. The username identifies the Presto mail box, similar to how a street number identifies a house.

The domain or host name is the name of your ISP, in this case presto.net

This identifies the origin of the person sending the email, similar to how a street name, suburb and state identifies the national location of a house. The two-letter country code identifies the country in which the email address is registered, in this case .au means Australia.

Each email address is unique and must be used exactly as given - adding spaces, dots or other characters may cause an email to be sent to a different person than it was intended.

How does the email process work?

Email works in the same manner as how a posted letter is delivered. After sending your letter off to the Presto Email Server (or post office) the mail is forwarded to a receiving Email Server (effectively another post office) in order to deliver your letter.

Whereas a real post office employs people, equipment and vehicles for deliveries, electronic messaging is performed by interlinked computers speaking the same language or 'protocols'. There are three main protocols used to deliver, store and delegate emails. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the standard protocol for sending email. The service offered by SMTP is simple delivery of email. Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) is the standard protocol for receiving and storing emails on a mail server. The email delegation service offered by POP3 is simple message delivery to the end users computer.

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is another standard protocol for receiving and storing email on a mail server. IMAP email delegation service allows an end user to view and manipulate messages stored on the mail server from any computer. With IMAP the Inbox is stored on the mail server, while POP3 the Inbox is on the end users computer.

Getting Started

You can create an email account and / or dial up account with Presto at Unit 1, 83 George Street, Parramatta.

A dial up account allows you to dial into our connection servers and get access to the internet for a number of internet services (such as email, browsing, newsgroups, FTP, etc).

We get you to fill out an application form with your contact details and your internet access details. If the name you desire is available you can be up and running in about 10 minutes. Usernames and passwords are normally lowercase characters. If you use capitals you will get a different result.

"Fred" is not the same as "fred".

All you need is a modem and a computer. The best dial up performance is gained using a 56k modem. There are older models but they do not have the capability of the V90 56k models currently available.

The connection number for Presto is 8835 3888. You need to setup an internet connection in windows to dial up this number with your username and password.

Problems with Connecting

Make sure your phone cabling is in good condition, with no kinks or sharp bends. If you think a cable may be damaged - check it by plugging the cable into the phone instead of the modem and try dialing out. If you hear a lot of background noise or the connection drops out if you jiggle the cable then it might be time to replace the cable. Your distance to the connection point does make a difference in line quality. Some people access the internet at 50+ kilobits per second, while others can get no better than about 30 kilobits per second. The link to Presto from your modem is dependent on the number of intermediate connections (exchanges) to get to us.

Drop outs and line noise are classic symptoms of a poor connection. Line noise causes the signal to be distorted and reduces the effective line speed.

The speed of your connection is normally shown in the buttom right as an icon. The best speed for a dial up modem is about 50 kilobits per second.

Telstra's home connections are rated at voice standard (up to about 15 kilobits per second) suitable for fax. Modems use a much wider range and at a higher frequency to send data down the line. If you have too much line noise or regular dropouts there is little incentive for Telstra to improve the quality of the connection just for your interent access. Sometimes they can change over the wires connecting your home link to the local upstream junction to improve quality, but there are only two sets of wires available to make use of.

If you get a connection but you cannot continue you may have an authentication problem - this occurs if your account is out of date and your access has been suspended. You may get a message that indicates your username or password is invalid. If you think this is a problem please contact us by phone on (02) 9635 7844 to check up on the status of your account. Normally we send out an email reminder of your dialup or email account status before it falls due.

Presto Email Settings

Email is the most popular application on the Internet. It is important to note down your primary Presto email account information (username and password for reference). Don't tell anyone your password or leave it lying around.

The standard settings for Outlook Express to access your Internet email is located here. You will need Adobe Reader to open this document.

Sometimes Outlook Express has trouble downloading email messages. It may get to message three of 30 for example and stop. If this happens - note down the message that appears to be the problem. Login to Prestomail at (http://www.presto.net.au) to view your email messages online. Remove the offending message (they will appear in the online list in same order as downloaded).

If you don't need to save the offending message then move it to trash and retry the download in Outlook Express. This occcurs because Outlook Express processes (or validates) the messages as they come down - if something is corrupted or out of sequence it won't continue. Removing the offending email allows Outlook Express to continue.

The standard settings for Outlook to access your Internet email is located here. You will need Adobe Reader to open this document.

Presto Web Mail Service Presto has a web mail service that allows you to check your email at any Internet cafe anywhere in the world. You can get access to it at the www.presto.net.au homepage. You will need your username and password to access your emails.

Remember that your username and password are your responsibility and you must ensure that they are not copied or used by anyone other than yourself. If you feel someone may have seen your password or may have copied it, contact us so that we can change it immediately.

Instructions on using PrestoMail to access your Internet email is located here. You will need Adobe Reader to open this document.

Customer Service

We're here to help! As a Presto member you will know that Presto has built a reputation on service.

Quite simply, Presto is committed to giving you better customer service than you can get from any other Internet Service Provider. We don't keep you waiting on a long queue.

Our website is designed to provide you with answers and suggestions. We will try and provide you with useful information to assist you with your internet experience.

My Homepage

As a presto internet user you are able to setup a basic web page for your own personal use.

The web pages are accessible in the following manner, for example a Presto user "apple" can setup a web site which can be seen at http://www.presto.net.au/~apple.

To upload your homepage to the Presto site use the following example as a guide. User is "apple" and password is "orange".

FTP to presto.presto.net.au using username "apple" and password as "orange".

If the user details are correct, the server will place you at the location of the user website i.e. /home/u/apple

You need to create the required website directory at this level - public_html (additional directories such as images, documents etc can be placed below this directory).

Your startup page should be index.html. User websites are only for low end use and not intended for high activity. They must also be free of questionable content. Any complaints or issues raised about any user website will be dealt with in line with the Terms and Conditions page available on this site.

Internet Safety

The Internet has lots of valuable information available to review. Students use it to communicate with other students and lecturers, perform research or just see whats going on. Businesses use the Internet to communicate with other businesses via Email, VOIP (Voice over IP) or via their browser.

But be warned that there are dangers there as well. Spammers, Virus attacks and Worms can all be propogated over the Internet. There are safe practices that can provide adequate protection against attacks, but you must be diligent and not leave it to someone else to care for your needs.

Computer viruses are called this as they share some of the characteristics of biological viruses. A computer virus passes from computer to computer like a biological virus passes from person to person. There are other similarities as well. A biological virus is not a living thing. A virus is a fragment of DNA inside a protective jacket. Unlike a cell, a virus has no way to do anything or to reproduce by itself - it is not alive.

Instead, a biological virus must inject its DNA into a living cell. The viral DNA then uses the cell's existing machinery to reproduce itself. A computer virus shares some of these traits. A computer virus must piggyback on top of some other program or document in order to get executed. Once it is running, it is then able to infect other programs or documents.

You must be careful to not let them onto your computer.

You protect your computer systems with programs designed to search out and destroy the attacking programs.

AntiVirus Protection Products like Norton Antivirus are effective in protecting your PC from attacks by viruses, but it must be kept up up to date using Live Update otherwise new viruses or modified ones come out that can do damage to your computer. There are other virus protection packages such as AVG (http://www.grisoft.com), MacAfee (www.macafee.com), Norton, Panda, PCTrends, Avast, Kaspersky etc.

Spyware Protection Spyware removes cookies and monitoring tools on your workstation (such as data mining components and trojans). Some viruses install miniature programs that track your keyboard entries looking for passwords or credit card details.

AntiSpyware programs provide protection from these programs as well as aggressive advertising, parasites, trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components. Products include Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html) and Lavasoft's Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/).

Firewall

A firewall is designed to stop attackers from taking over your computer. If a virus gets inside your computer the Antivirus program will probably stop it before it causes real damage, but the virus may allow an external person access to your computer. A firewall stops unauthorised access to the Internet from rogue programs. Firewalls need a level of expertise to operate correctly. You need to know which applications have a legitimate right to access the Internet and which do not.

Activating a Firewall can stop a local network from operating, as it restricts any access to shared resources on the workstation with a firewall. Many programs will not work with a firewall and some ISP's will not allow connections if a firewall is active on the dialling workstation.

Some good products are ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/), BlackIce (http://blackice.iss.net/), and Norton's Personal Firewall (http://www.symantec.com/).

Spam and Junk Mail

Anyone who uses email knows exactly what the term "spam" refers to. Unwanted unsolicited email has a way of finding its way into your email boxes. Not only is it annoying, but it can also be dangerous. Often times, spam contains viruses, illegal get-rich-quick schemes, pornography, and other undesireable product offers.

In many cases, there is so much spam that comes into your mailbox, that real email is hard to find. Spam or junk mail is hard to stop and identify as the people who use this process of messaging are constantly moving around using new techniques and identities.

There are a number of simple steps to take to reduce or remove spam or junk mail, you can read up on some them here - http://www.how-do-i-stop-spam.net/index.php. Presto has an active filtering process that automatically removes recognised spam and junk mail messages from its incoming queues. But it doesn't pick up everything.

Networking

Networking at home or in a small business environment can allow more than one person to share an internet connection at the same time. As there is normally only one phone line used for internet access it makes sense to allow more than one user access to the connection at the same time. To do this you need to share the connection over your local network.

There are specialised routers that can do this automatically for you. You can also set up software to do this for you - the process is called is called "IP Sharing".

Support Presto provides phone support for its clients. If you have a problem or need advice please contact us during normal business hours. We will endeavour to assist you as best we can. We can reset passwords, create new accounts, change credit card details, change account type, add additional email accounts, even guide you through Web Hosting or domain name registration. See the contacts page for more information.

ADSL Help

Presto provides support for Business ADSL services. We wholesale Telstra's ADSL product providing fixed IP addresses, backup dial up service and competitive plans and prices. Our contact details are on the contacts page.

Web Hosting

Presto provides support for Web Hosting services. Web Hosting is where you have a registered domain and place your website on our Apache web server visible to the Internet.

We can provide advice on domain name delegation, domain transfers and setting up requirements for Domain Name registration.

Our contact details are on the contacts page.