Christmas is approaching and it is time for the next edition of the Fast-Air Newsletter. There has been some significant additions to Fast-Air's service and coverage. This is an opportunity to provide new information to you.


Current Coverage
Last year we provided coverage to Caspian, Caspian Cutoff Road, Gaastra including Nowicki Road, majority of Stambaugh, parts of Iron River, and the majority of Baumgartner District. We also have coverage to a 3 to 6 mile area around the Rosetti Water Tower in Iron River Township.
This provides coverage to Gibb City Road, Iron Lake area, West US 2, Mineral Hills, Forbes, parts of Stanley Lake and other areas. This year we added coverage to the Bates area, Amasa, and Chicaugon Lake and Indian Lake. Coverage maps have been added and can be viewed at http://www.fast-air.net/coverage.html or see them under the Services menu.

New Coverage - next spring...
We will be expanding coverage in the Bates Township area with a new tower that will significantly extend our coverage. We are also looking into adding coverage to the Hagerman and Bass Lake area. We also hope to expand coverage in the Crystal Falls area.
Need More Speed
We expanded our dataline to a 4.5Mb data line this past week. Customer speed has been increased to up to 2000kbs. Next summer we will increase customer speed to 3000kbs. This will be equivalent to the same as Road Runner or other major city systems. Since this is the UP, I thought Fast-Air's system should be called Ruffed Grouse (humor).
Customer Appreciation Promotion
We had given out more than twenty customer referral credits. We will continue to offer this promotion to current customers who refers a new customer that purchases Internet service from Fast-Air. When doing so, Fast-Air will issue you a $15 credit. See the details at this link http://fast-air.net/referral.html or see them under the Services menu.

Keeping Your Connection at Top Speed
Just a reminder. Be sure to run both Ad Aware and Spybot at least once a month. Remember to update the database of both of these free programs. Help Guides are available under our Help & Support menu. You may want to check these links to be sure you have the latest versions of these programs. Also, be sure to keep your anti-virus up to date, daily. If you do not want to purchase a copy, uninstall your out of date program and install and run the free version of AVG (grisoft). It works great.

Be careful not let any downloader programs run when you are not using them (See item 5 on the link below). Downloaders typically provide more bandwidth to uploads files from your computer than for downloading files to your computer. This is the primary reasons for ISPs requiring more datalines which result in higher customer prices. If you want to keep your cost down, it will be wise to be watchful of such programs, especially ones taking over your computer. Here's a simple rule of thumb. If you are noticing your little network icon lights flashing in the system tray while you are not actively opening another web site, uploading or downloading mail, you may have some malware taking over your computer.

For more information on how to keep your internet speed up, go to the link http://www.fast-air.net/maintainspeed.htm or find it under the Help & Support menu.

Troubleshooting (new menu selection)
We have moved the FAQ to the Services menu and added a Troubleshooting selection under the Help & Support menu. We will continue to add to this selection as we encounter issues and will also provide aids to maintaining your computer. Check it out.

Policy Change
We have strived to bring the area a reasonable priced service as well as the fastest and most reliable. In order to maintain this level of service, we are forced to make the following policy changes.

Effective January 1st, all NEW monthly customers will be required to pay a $35.00 deposit as well as the first month's service and installation to acquire Fast-Air service. Any EXISTING customer in arrears on January 1st will be required to pay a $35.00 deposit and bring their bill up to date to continue Fast-Air service. EXISTING customers who fall behind twice will be required to also pay a $35.00 deposit in addition bringing their bill up to date. All existing disconnect policies will continue to be in effect.
Your Feedback
I would appreciate your feedback. If you have had any issues, have any questions, any suggestions, or comments. please let me know. You can reply to this message, or use the contact us page on the Fast-Air website. 

Thank you for your patronage and getting the word out to the community on our Internet service. Feel free to forward this to others or refer them to the Newsletter link under the Company menu on the Fast-Air Web-site.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Prosperous New Year.

Mike