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Email

Email Server Settings

The e-mail server settings are listed below:

Incoming Mail (POP3): pop.alliancecom.net
-Port:110
Incoming Mail (IMAP): imap.alliancecom.net
-Port: 143
Outgoing Mail (SMTP): smtp.alliancecom.net
-Port: 465
-Security: SSL
-Authentication: email username/password (Required) (Case Sensitive)

If you have any questions, dial 611 from any phone with Alliance service or (605) 582-6311 from your cell phone.

Setup Windows 10 Mail

Click the “Windows” button in the lower left and choose the “MAIL” application button on your screen
Click the “Get Started” button
Click the “Add Account” button
Click on the Scroll bar on the right side and scroll down until you see “Advanced Setup” Click “Advanced Setup”
Click on “Internet email”
Type in your Account Name(email address), Your Name, Incoming Server(pop.alliancecom.net), and choose Account Type (POP3) . Then click the scroll bar on the right and scroll down to the other settings
After scrolling down, type in Username(do not type @alliancecom.net after), enter your password, and enter the outgoing SMTP mail server (smtp.alliancecom.net) Continue scrolling down for more settings
Verify that “Outgoing Server requires authentication”, “Use the same user name and password for sending mail”, and “Require SSL for outgoing email” are all checked and then click Sign-in
Choose Done on the “All done!” window
Click “Ready to go”
Your Windows 10 Mail application will open up and you will be ready to send/receive alliancecom emails

Add Email in Windows 10

Click the “Windows” button in the lower left and choose the “MAIL” application button on your screen
After Mail opens, click the “Settings” Icon in the lower left corner
Next, Click “Accounts” in the top right corner of your screen
Next, click “Add account”
Click on the Scroll bar on the right side and scroll down until you see “Advanced Setup” Click “Advanced Setup”
Click on “Internet email”
Type in your Account Name(email address), Your Name, Incoming Server(pop.alliancecom.net), and choose Account Type (POP3) . Then click the scroll bar on the right and scroll down to the other settings
After scrolling down, type in Username(do not type @alliancecom.net after), enter your password, and enter the outgoing SMTP mail server (smtp.alliancecom.net) Continue scrolling down for more settings
Verify that “Outgoing Server requires authentication”, “Use the same user name and password for sending mail”, and “Require SSL for outgoing email” are all checked and then click Sign-in
Choose Done on the “All done!” window
Click “Ready to go”
Your Windows 10 Mail application will open up and you will be ready to send/receive alliancecom emails.

Setup Windows 8 Mail

Choose the MAIL application button on your screen
Sign in with your Microsoft Account or click “Sign up for a Microsoft Account”
Choose IMAP and Click Connect
Choose “Show more details” under the Password box-> Type your username@alliancecom.net into the Email address box.-> Type your username into the Username box (Do not put @alliancecom.net after the username) (Case Sensitive)-> Type your password in the Password box. (Case Sensitive)-> Type imap.alliancecom.net in the Incoming (IMAP) Email server box.-> UNCHECK the box beside “Incoming server requires SSL” if it is checked.-> Type smtp.alliancecom.net into the Outgoing (SMTP) Email server box.-> Verify that the box next to Outgoing server requires SSL is checked.-> Verify that the Outgoing Server Requires authentication is checked.-> Verify that Use the same username and password to send and receive email is checked. Click Connect

Add Email in Windows 8

Choose the MAIL application button on your screen
Open Charm Bar by pushing the Windows key and the C key on your keyboard at the same time or hovering your mouse in the top right corner of your screen. Choose settings on the Charm Bar
Choose Accounts
Choose Add an account
Choose Other account
Choose IMAP and Click Connect
Choose “Show more details” under the Password box-> Type your username@alliancecom.net into the Email address box.-> Type your username into the Username box (Do not put @alliancecom.net after the username) (Case Sensitive)-> Type your password in the Password box. (Case Sensitive)-> Type imap.alliancecom.net in the Incoming (IMAP) Email server box.-> UNCHECK the box beside “Incoming server requires SSL” if it is checked.-> Type smtp.alliancecom.net into the Outgoing (SMTP) Email server box.-> Verify that the box next to Outgoing server requires SSL is checked.-> Verify that the Outgoing Server Requires authentication is checked.-> Verify that Use the same username and password to send and receive email is checked. Click Connect

Setup iPad/iPhone/iPod

Setting up email in an iPad involves the following steps.

Verify that your device has Internet access before continuing.
In your device, tap the Settings button.
In the device settings window, tap Mail (or tap “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” for older iOS software), in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column, tap Add Account…
From the list of email types, tap Other.
Under the Mail field, tap Add Mail Account.
In the New Account window, type in your name, Alliance email address and password (Case Sensitive). The description field should be filled already. Click Next.
When asked to specify either IMAP or POP3, choose POP3. For the incoming mail server host name, enter pop.alliancecom.net, along with your email username and password (Case Sensitive). For the outgoing mail server host name, enter smtp.alliancecom.net, along with your email username and password (Case Sensitive). Note that this step is not optional. Click Save
After the email setup returns you to the settings page, please choose your alliancecom account you just created under the Accounts section
Under the Outgoing Mail Server click on the SMTP section
Click on the smtp.alliancecom.net underneath the Primary Section (If your Primary Server is empty, click on the smtp.alliancecom.net server listed under the “others” section)
Verify that the server is turned on by making sure the toggle bar is green. Next, verify that your outgoing server settings match the settings below and then choose Done:
Host Name: smtp.alliancecom.net
User Name: (Case Sensitive)
Password: (Case Sensitive)
Use SSL : On (toggle bar is green)
Authentication: Password
Server Port: Change to 465
At this point your email should be setup. Go back to your main screen and choose your mail envelope to start using your account.

Setup Android Email

Go to your “Apps” and choose the “Settings” icon
Scroll down to the “Accounts” section and choose “Email”
At the bottom of the page in the “Common Settings” section choose “Settings”
Choose the “+” symbol at the top right of the page
Choose”Others” for the account
Type in your email address (example: jdoe@alliancecom.net) and your email password (Case Sensitive). Then choose “Manual Setup” at the bottom left.
Choose POP3 Account
All of your incoming setting should automatically populate. Please verify at the bottom how you want your deletion of emails to be handled (In this case it is set to never delete from server). Click Next.
Please Verify that the outgoing server settings match the following settings:
SMTP Server: smtp.alliancecom.net
Security Type: SSL (Accept all certificates)
Port: 465
Require Sign in: Make sure box is checked
Username: enter your username (Example: jdoe is the username for jdoe@alliancecom.net) (Case Sensitive)
Password: enter your password (Case Sensitive)
Choose Next
Choose the Sync Schedule you prefer (We recommend the most frequent setting which is 15 minutes in this case). Click next in the lower right.
Here you will have the option to name the email account and choose what name will display on your outgoing messages. Click “Next” in the lower right when finished.
Choose “Done with Accounts”

Setup Outlook 2013

Below are the instructions for setting up an Alliance email address in Outlook 2013.

Start Outlook. On the FILE tab, click INFO and then ADD ACCOUNT.
In the ADD NEW ACCOUNT window, click on MANUAL SETUP OR ADDITIONAL SERVER TYPES. Click NEXT.
When asked to choose an E-mail service, click POP OR IMAP and then click NEXT
The Internet E-mail Settings window will appear. Here, enter the following information:-> Enter your name and Alliance email address.
-> Enter your Alliance username and password (Case Sensitive)
-> Account Type: POP3
-> Incoming Mail Server: pop.alliancecom.net
-> Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.alliancecom.net

Click the MORE SETTINGS button.
In the INTERNET EMAIL SETTINGS window, click on the OUTGOING SERVER tab. Check the box labeled My Outgoing Server (SMTP) Requires Authentication. Make sure that it is set to Use Same Settings as My Incoming Mail Server.
Next, in the INTERNET EMAIL SETTINGS window, click on the ADVANCED tab. Type 465 in the “Outgoing Server (SMTP) box. Also, choose SSL for the “Use the following type of encrypted connection”. Click OK when done.
Click NEXT and Outlook will test your settings. If all of the tests pass, click FINISH to complete the setup. If a test fails, go back and double-check your settings for spelling errors. Also look for spaces at the beginning or end of the username and password.

Setup Outlook 2010

Below are the instructions for setting up an Alliance email address in Outlook 2010.

Start Outlook. On the FILE tab, click INFO and then ADD ACCOUNT.
In the ADD NEW ACCOUNT window, click on MANUALLY CONFIGURE SERVER SETTINGS OR ADDITIONAL SERVER TYPES. Click NEXT
When asked to choose an E-mail service, click Internet E-mail and then click NEXT.
The Internet E-mail Settings window will appear. Here, enter the following information:-> Enter your name and Alliance email address.
-> Enter your Alliance username and password (Case Sensitive)
-> Account Type: POP3
-> Incoming Mail Server: pop.alliancecom.net
-> Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.alliancecom.netClick the MORE SETTINGS button.
In the INTERNET EMAIL SETTINGS window, click on the OUTGOING SERVER tab. Check the box labeled My Outgoing Server (SMTP) Requires Authentication. Make sure that it is set to Use Same Settings as My Incoming Mail Server.
Next, in the INTERNET EMAIL SETTINGS window, click on the ADVANCED tab. Type 465 in the “Outgoing Server (SMTP) box. Also, choose SSL for the “Use the following type of encrypted connection”. Click OK when done.
Click NEXT and Outlook will test your settings. If all of the tests pass, click FINISH to complete the setup. If a test fails, go back and double-check your settings for spelling errors. Also look for spaces at the beginning or end of the username and password.

Setup Mozilla Thunderbird

Open Thunderbird, and choose Create a new Account.
Choose “Skip this and use my existing e-mail”
Type in your Name, full e-mail address, and your password (Case Sensitive) and choose continue (it is your personal preference to leave the remember password box checked or unchecked)
Choose Manual Config
Copy the server settings in the picture below
Incoming Settings:
Choose POP3 for Incoming.
Type in pop.alliancecom.net into the server hostname
Choose Port 110
Choose STARTTLS
Choose Normal Password
Enter your username: (you do not need the @alliancecom.net with your username) (Case Sensitive)
Outgoing Settings:
Type in smtp.alliancecom.net for the server hostname
Choose port 465
Choose SSL/TLS under the SSL section
Choose Normal Password
Enter your username: (you do not need the @alliancecom.net with your username) (Case Sensitive)
Click Done. Thunderbird should now be setup and ready for use.

Setup Apple Mail

Below are the instructions for setting up an Alliance email address on the Macintosh email program. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them. Click outside of the picture to return them to normal size.
Start the Apple Mail program
Choose “Add Other Mail Account” and click “Continue”
Enter your Full Name, Email Address, Password (Case Sensitive), and then click “Create”
Mac Mail will then tell you that the account must be manually configured. Click “Next”
Enter the following Incoming Mail Server Info:Account Type: POP
Mail Server: pop.alliancecom.net
Username: (Case Sensitive)
Password: (Case Sensitive)Click on the “Next” button
Enter the following Outgoing Mail Server Info:SMTP Server: smtp.alliancecom.net
Username: (Case Sensitive)
Password: NOTE: OUR SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION SO THESE BOXES ARE NOT OPTIONAL EVEN THOUGH THE PROGRAM MAY SAY IT ISClick on the “Create” button
Mac Mail will tell you “Additional Account Information Required”. Click “Next”
Please change the SMTP Server info to match the settings below exactly
-Port: 465
-SSL: Checked
-Authentication: Password
-Click Create
Your Account should now be setup and ready to use

Setup Kindle Fire Email

1. Choose the default mail application from the list of applications.
	2. Choose Other.
	3. Type in the email address and password of your Alliance e-mail address. 4. Click Next.
	5. Select the protocol you would like to use: POP3 or IMAP.
	6. Type in the Incoming server settings: Username: Enter just the first part of your e-mail address. Password: Mailbox password. POP3 server/IMAP server: POP Account – pop.alliancecom.net; IMAP Account – imap.alliancecom.net Security type: SSL (if available). Authentication type: PLAIN. Port: for POP3: 995 for IMAP: 993 7. Click Next.
	8. Type in the Outgoing server settings: SMTP server: smtp.alliancecom.net Security Type: TLS (if available). Port: 465 Require sign-in should be checked. Authentication type: LOGIN. Username: Enter just the first part of your e-mail address. Password: Mailbox password. 9. Click Next.
	10. Select Folder poll frequency. 11. Click Next.
	12. Specify the display name and account name. 13. Click View your Inbox.

Vacation message in webmail

Log into your Alliance webmail.
In the menu on the left, click on MAIL -> FILTERS. Click on ‘Vacation’ to edit the properties for this filter.
Enter the starting and ending dates, the subject, and the body of the message.
Click on the ADVANCED SETTINGS tab.

Email when traveling

If you are traveling outside of the Alliance service area and find that you cannot send email, the local ISP is probably blocking outgoing email on port 25 (the standard SMTP email port). Many ISPs do this to prevent infected customer computers from sending email out from their network.

To get around this problem, open your email settings and edit the outgoing server configuration. You will need to enableSSL encryption on the outgoing connection and change the port number from 25 to 465. These settings can usually be found in the advanced settings (or MORE SETTINGS, in the case of Microsoft Outlook).

If this fails to resolve the problem, then the ISP does not allow any outgoing email that is not from their email servers, or a firewall is blocking the connection to the server. The next best solution would be to log into Alliance webmail and use that service to send and receive emails while traveling. The address is http://webmail.alliancecom.net. Simply log in with your Alliance email username and password.

Email away from home

You can access your webmail in two different ways:

Type in the address http://webmail.alliancecom.net in your browser window and hit enter. In the Webmail box, type in your user name (same as your e-mail address) and password. Open, read, save or delete messages, just as you would on your home computer.
Click on the Webmail Login tab at the top of the Alliance Web site. This link will take you to the Alliance webmail login.

Avoid getting spam/viruses

The best way to reduce Spam is by adding a Spam filter to your Alliance e-mail address. Spam messages are diverted to a “greymail” box so you can read them if you choose to do so. You can purchase both the virus and Spam filters for $2.50 per month. Dial 611 to have the features added to your Internet account.

You should also purchase additional security software.

Email phishing scams

In the past several months, numerous emails have been sent to Alliance customers, purporting to be from Alliance Communications. The subject lines of these emails are usually something to the effect of “Alliance Customer Care”, “Dear Alliancecom Account Subscriber”, “Confirm your Alliancecom.net Webmail Account to Avoid Closure”, “Dear Valuable Customer”, etc. The messages ostensibly come from “Alliance Internet Support”, “Alliance System Support”, “Alliancecom.net Support Team”, or some other variation. The content of these messages usually warns of a variety of webmail account problems the recipient will encounter if they do not promptly reply:

Compromised accounts are being restricted
Account deletion is being conducted in preparation for a system upgrade
Unused accounts are being deleted
Mailbox storage limit has been reached
Accounts are being migrated to a new system
A maintenance process to fight spam is being conducted
Webmail is being upgraded

These emails are referred to as a phishing scheme, which can be defined as an attempt by someone to gain access to personal information that they should not have. In the case of this particular scheme, the sender is targeting ISPs like Alliance, and they are asking the recipient to either reply to the message the his/her email username or password.

Do not respond to these emails, as they are not legitimate.. The best course of action when you receive such an email is to delete it.

Ways to spot these fraudulent phishing attempts include:

Broken English
Bad grammar
Numerous typos
Messages are not directly addressed to the recipient
Links in the email contain alliancecom.net on the end, but have other elements that don’t look quite right: e.g.http://www.somephishingguy.ru/email/alliancecom.net
Emails with FROM: addresses or URLs with hostnames ending in foreign countries or non-AllianceCom.net addressees:
e.g. Alliance Support [ viktorb@kgb.ru], Internet Team [ igor@cialis4u.bg], Alliance Web Support Team [support@alliancecom.gnic.fr], etc.

Also, if you subscribe to the Alliance Communications Spam and Virus Filter, these messages will be quarantined. If you receive a message in your quarantine, purporting to be from Alliance Communications, disregard it. All email correspondence sent by Alliance Communications to its customers is not filtered by the Spam and Virus firewall. These messages should be treated like any other spam message and deleted. Whether you subscribe to the Spam and Virus filter or not, always remember that Alliance Communications never solicits account information from its customers via email.

Here is an example of a recent phishing e-mail:

From: Alliancecom Internet [mailto: helpdesk@alliancecom.net]
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 12:01 PM
Subject: Alliancecom Important Information

Announcements

Your ticket has been assigned an ID of [alliancecom.net #788818].
************************************************************************
We will be conducting our regularly scheduled maintenance, to ensure that we provide the highest quality in Internet connectivity and services to customers. Your connectivity and services with us may be interrupted for short periods during the maintenance window. We will also ensure minimal disruption to services where possible.

In order to enable us perform quality maintenance on your Internet access and e-mail service, please you must reply to this e-mail message confirming your Alliancecom webmail account details with us.

Do confirm your account details below.
*******************************************
1. First Name & Last Name:
2. Full User Email Address:
3. Password:
4. Retype Password:
*******************************************

NOTE: Failure to respond to this e-mail message may result to technical problems on your Internet access and e-mail service.

Thanks for your understanding, we wish you a pleasant day ahead.
**************************************************************************

New username/password

To change your username or password, you may contact our office during business hours by dialing 611 from any phone with Alliance service or call 605-594-3411. In addition, if you go to https://webmail.alliancecom.net while you are in Alliance’s territory, you can change it from there as well.

Strong Passphrase

People with weak passwords often fall prey to hackers and spammers who look to exploit security holes in computer systems. A weak password on an e-mail account can easily be cracked by a hacker, who can in turn use the account for nefarious purposes such as spamming and identity theft.

A weak password on a Web site can lead to on-line “graffiti”… a situation in which a hacker accesses the Web space and defaces the site. Also, hackers can access sites and plant worms, trojans, and other forms of malware that can infect the computers of people visiting the site.

A truly strong password or passphrase should be at least fifteen characters in length, and it should consist of a mixture of numbers, letters (both upper and lowercase), and symbols. A good password should also be something that can be remembered. A password or passphrase that is written on a sticky note and pasted to a monitor is a security risk. Spend some time thinking about your password or passphrase

Secure email

To set up secure e-mail, your e-mail program must support it. Please consult the documentation for your e-mail program for support and setup information. To send and receive e-mail securely via your Alliance e-mail account, use the following settings:

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.alliancecom.net
Incoming Server (POP3) SSL Port Number: 995
Outgoing Server (SMTP) SSL Port Number: 465

PC Assistance

PC/MAC Support

Please go to sos.splashtop.com and download the file for your system. Once the file is downloaded, please run the downloaded file and call our office at (605)594-3411 or x611 from your Alliance phone. You can also click here and be redirected to the website.

Provide the 9 digit number that pops up after downloading the splashtop file. For further assistance, please call our office. Thank you.

Fiber Internet

How do I configure a router?

Alliance’s High-Speed Internet over Fiber Optics service will allow you to connect to the Internet through most routers, without the need for configuration changes. Alliance uses DHCP as the method of connecting its customers, so all necessary IP settings are assigned to your router automatically.

Although there is no configuration needed to connect to the Internet, different routers have different security features. Alliance recommends that you change the management password on your router to something other than the default. Wireless routers also offer a number of security options. To enable these options, please consult the documentation that came with your router.

What is a Zyxel silver PLA-400?

The silver box is called a Zyxel PLA-400 Homeplug powerline adapter. This device allows you to use your home’s electrical wiring to transmit data, and a minimum of two adapters is required. One of the adapters is located near your computer equipment, and the other is placed close to the Alliance Internet service. These devices are used in those places where running a network cable is impractical or impossible. Please note the example below for a better idea of how this works.

If everything is working properly with this device, the first, second and fourth lights should be green. If the lights are blinking, that is OK. This indicates that the boxes are communicating and passing data.

If you are unable to access the Internet, try rebooting these devices, as well as any networking equipment you may have. Finally, reboot the PC. To reboot the Zyxel PLA-400 devices, simply unplug the power for 10 seconds, and then plug them back in. If this fails to resolve your issue, check the other troubleshooting tips on this website or contact Alliance for further assistance.

Internet and cable out?

If you discover that both your Alliance cable and fiber Internet services are not working, this usually indicates a problem with your uninterruptible power supply, or UPS. The UPS is a white box labeled CyberPower, and it is usually located in the room where your utilities come into your house. This box contains a battery that provides power for your telephone service in the event of a power outage, and it is plugged into a standard 110 volt wall outlet.

Check to make sure that the green light labeled AC is lit on the CyberPower UPS. If not, the battery is no longer being charged, and the fiber equipment has disabled all services except telephone to conserve energy. If the green AC light is out, check the outlet to see if the power cord is plugged in. If the UPS power cord is plugged in, check the outlet for GFI buttons. If this outlet is equipped with a GFI, there will be two buttons, one labeled test and another labeled reset, located in the middle of the outlet. Push the reset button to restore power to the outlet. This should cause the AC light on the battery backup to come back on.

If following these instructions does not restore your service, call for more support by dialing 611 from any phone with Alliance service, or call 605-594-3411.

Internet out but cable is working?

Verify that the power to the router is on, and that the router’s internet/WAN port is properly connected to our Internet service with a straight-through network cable.
If you have a wireless router and you are connecting via a wireless network adapter, verify that you are getting a wireless connection to the router. If you are connected via the wireless adapter, there should be an icon in the system tray that shows the wireless network name (SSID) and signal strength. If your wireless icon does not have this information, your computer is not connecting to the wireless router. Connect with a network cable and try again.
If your computer is plugged into the router with a network cable and it still cannot connect to the Internet, reboot the router and the computer and try again.
If rebooting the router and PC does not solve the problem, check the IP address on the PC via the ipconfig command. To do this, follow these instructions:1. In Windows 10, click the Windows button, type cmd in the START SEARCH box, and press enter.2. In the black command prompt screen, type in the command ipconfig and press enter.3. If everything is working correctly, the network adapter labeled Local Area Connection should have an IP address of 192.168.x.x, 172.16.x.x, or 10.x.x.x (the x characters represent any number between 1-254).4. If the above steps do not resolve the problem. Remove the router and plug the computer directly into the fiber service. Reboot the computer.

Security on fiber networks?

Because a modem is no longer needed, your computer or router will have a public IP address. If you have a router, you should consider changing the management login/password to something other than the default. This will prevent malicious users from logging onto your router. Be sure to enable firewall services on your router.

If your router doesn’t have firewall services, you should consider purchasing a hardware or software firewall solution. If your PC is directly on the network (no router), you should have some sort of software firewall running. Windows 8 and 10 have a built-in software firewall, and there are many others that can be purchased separately.

General

Acceptable Use Policy

Alliance Internet Acceptable Use Policy

This agreement is by and between Alliance Internet, duly authorized and existing under the laws of the State of South Dakota with its office at P.O. Box 349, 612 Third Street, Garretson, South Dakota 57301, and the undersigned Customer for the provision by Alliance Internet or its subcontractors of certain electronic communication services and related items.

Service Warranties: With respect to the Service provided, Alliance Internet makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, including any implied warrantee or merchantability or fitness of this service for a particular purpose. Alliance Internet takes no responsibility for any damages suffered by the Customer, including, but not limited to, loss of data from delays, non-deliveries, misdeliveries, or service interruptions caused by Alliance Internet’s own negligence or Customer’s errors and/or omissions.
Acceptable Use: This service may only be used for lawful purposes. Materials and/or transmissions in violation of any local, state or federal regulation(s) are prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to copyrighted materials, material legally judged to be threatening or obscene, or material protected by trade secrets.
Use of Information: Use of any information obtained via this service is at Customer’s risk. Alliance Internet specifically denies any responsibility for the accuracy or quality of information obtained through its service.
Inappropriate Usage: Alliance Internet or other relevant authorities may determine inappropriate usage of this account and the privilege may be revoked at Alliance Internet’s discretion.
Change of Status: Alliance Internet will occasionally require new registration and account information by the Customer to continue service. Also, the Customer shall notify Alliance Internet in writing of any changes in the account information.
Limitation of Liability: Neither party shall be liable to the other for any loss, damage, liability, or expense arising out of or in relation to this agreement or the provision of service or equipment, however caused, whether grounded in the contract, tort (including negligence) or thereby of strict liability. The parties agree to work in good faith to implement the purpose of this Agreement, recognizing the network connection and services to be provided by Alliance Internet could not be made available under these terms without an increase in cost if the parties were to assume a greater liability.
Billing and Minimum Terms: Customer will be billed the first business day of the month after Alliance Internet receives his/her order in Garretson, South Dakota, for the coming month’s fixed service costs, as well as the past month’s fees. The first payment may also include network connection and installation costs, including service fees, local access and monthly lease costs appropriate to the service selected. These fees are non-refundable. The monthly service fees are independent of the amount of traffic or systems access by users at the Customer’s location. Billing will be included with your monthly telephone bill.
Security: Alliance Internet makes no warranties, expressed or implied, concerning the security of the Customer’s Data or computer system(s) or network. Use of Alliance Internet’s High-Speed Service provides a constant connection to the Internet, which may be accessible to other computers connected to the Internet. The Customer is responsible for security connections regarding his/her computer(s) or network.
Hosting: Alliance Internet’s Service is not intended or designed for hosting of private or public Internet sites. This activity may result in immediate suspension of the user’s account and Internet service.
Equipment: Alliance Internet will provide Customer with equipment to enable Customer to receive Internet Service. This equipment remains the property of Alliance Internet. In the event Customer terminates Internet Service, Customer is responsible for returning the equipment to Alliance Internet in working condition. Customer is liable for damages or loss of any equipment.
Alliance Internet reserves the right to evaluate on an individual basis the bandwidth or hardware utilization of individual accounts. Excessive bandwidth or hardware utilization that affects the ability of Alliance Internet to provide service will result in the account being re-evaluated and may, at the discretion of Alliance Internet, require user to upgrade the account service agreement or to notify the activity creating the excessive use.
The System Administrator has the absolute right to suspend any login at any time without cause or notice if:
- A local user or other Internet Service Provider Webmaster or System Administrator complains of extreme abusive behavior by the login user.
- The System Administrator judges the login user’s actions to be a threat of immediate harm to any computing facility.
- The login user violates, or appears to be in violation of, any provision of the Alliance Internet Internet Service Agreement and Acceptable Use Policy.
Bandwidth: Actual data transfer or throughput may be lower than the minimum connection speed due to Internet congestion, server speeds, protocol overheads and other factors that cannot be controlled by Alliance Internet.
These Terms and Conditions supersede all previous representations, understandings or agreements and shall prevail notwithstanding any variance with terms and conditions of any order submitted. Use of Alliance Internet’s Service constitutes acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
Alliance Internet does not allow users to originate unsolicited bulk e-mail (“Spam”). This activity will result in the immediate suspension of the user’s account.
If Customer is under age 18, Customer must have a parent or legal guardian sign a consent form for account activation.
The Customer who registered the account is solely responsible for all access and actions taken with regard to the account. It is the account owner’s responsibility to safeguard the account password and to ensure the Alliance Internet’s Service Agreement and Acceptable Use policies are honored.

Network Management Policy

Alliance Communications commits to the open and non-discriminatory use of the Internet by its customers and commits to use reasonable network management practices to ensure an open Internet. Alliance Communications will manage its network and provide access in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Open Internet Rules (adopted December 21, 2010 in 25 FCC Rcd 17905) and in compliance with any future rules adopted by the FCC.

Transparency
Alliance Communications shall make available public information on its website (http://www.alliancecom.net) regarding its network management practices, performance and commercial terms of its service sufficient for consumers to make an informed choice regarding their use of such services.

Alliance Communications will not unjustly or unreasonably prevent or interfere with competition among Content, Applications, Service, or Device Providers.

Network Security and Congestion Management
Alliance Communications uses generally accepted technical measures to provide acceptable service levels to all customers, such as application-neutral bandwidth allocation, as well as measures to address service attacks, illegal content and other harmful activities to protect network integrity and reliability.

Alliance Communications reserves the right to prioritize traffic based on real time and non-real time applications during heavy congestion periods based on generally accepted technical measures. Alliance Communications may set speed thresholds on the amount of data you as a customer can upload and download within stated time periods. If you exceed these thresholds, Alliance Communications may temporarily limit the speed at which you can send and receive data over the Alliance Communications access network. Alliance Communications may use other traffic management and prioritization tools to help ensure equitable access to the Alliance Communications network for all customers.

Alliance Communications monitors customer usage to efficiently manage the performance of the network to ensure a sustainable quality broadband service is provided.

Congestion due to malfunctioning hardware and/or software will be remedied as quickly as network engineers can diagnose and identify the offending hardware / software.

Congestion due to malice will be remedied using any technique available, including protocol-aware filtering and rate-limiting, to control and limit the offending source. Alliance Communications may seek criminal charges against those who inflict network malice. Alliance Communications may also attempt to recover costs incurred from network malice.

It is not acceptable to use the Alliance Communications network for any purpose that violates local, state or federal laws or to transmit communications that might be highly offensive or damaging to any recipients or to use the service in a manner that is unintended. It is not acceptable to interfere with, violate, circumvent, misuse, distribute or disrupt network users, equipment or services, which include but are not limited to:

Attempting to obtain unauthorized access to any network or account. This includes accessing data not intended for end-user customers, logging into a server or account without being expressly authorized to access or probing the security of other networks.
Attempts to interfere with the Service of others including users, hosts and networks. This includes “denial of service” attacks, “flooding” of networks, deliberate attempts to overload a Service and attempts to “crash” any host.
Reselling any Alliance Communications Internet Services, without Alliance Communications’ written consent.
Distribution of Alliance Communications Internet Services beyond the scope of your end-user account.
Equipment, accessory, apparatus, circuit or devices that are harmful to the network, shall not be attached to or connected with Alliance Communications facilities.
Circumventing copyright laws and regulation, including the unauthorized download of music, video, images, books, software or content and/or other copyright protected works.

Alliance Communications offers spam filtering as an add-on service to each of our customer’s email addresses. Details of this service are listed on Alliance Communications’ website. Alliance Communications will not ask you for your password in an unsolicited telephone call or email. If you believe your password has been compromised, you should immediately change your password to prevent the unauthorized use of it.

Blocking
Alliance Communications shall not unjustly or unreasonably block access to lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices, subject to reasonable network management.

Discrimination
Alliance Communications shall not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic over a consumer’s broadband Internet access service, subject to reasonable network management practices.

Commercial Pricing
Please click on the following website link for pricing information including monthly prices, usage-based fees, and fees for early termination or additional network services: www.alliancecom.net

Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding this policy, dial 611 from any phone with Alliance service or call 605-594-3411.

Do We Sell Network Equipment?

Alliance doesn’t sell equipment, however, we do lease routers and wireless mesh units.

Set up Browser's home page?

Your home page can be your own web site, your favorite search engine or portal. Many customers use Starting Points as their home page because it provides quick access to local and national web sites. If you do not use this web site as your home page, we recommend that you bookmark it so you can easily access customer updates, policy statements and other valuable information.

Internet Explorer:

Double-click on the Internet Explorer icon to open the browser window.
In the address line, type the address of the page you would like to have as your home page, and press Enter. (Example: www.alliancecom.net/starting-points)
Click on Tools. Then click on Internet Options.
On the General tab, click on the Use Current button.
The URL for the page you went to will appear in the box next to Address.
Click OK to go back to your web page.

Firefox:

Double-click on the Firefox icon to open the browser window.
In the address line, type the address of the page you would like to have as your home page, and press Enter. (Example: www.alliancecom.net/starting-points)
Click on Tools. Then click on Options.
On the Main tab, click on the Use Current Pages button.
The URL for the page you went to will appear in the box next to Home Page.
Click OK to go back to your web page.

How do I setup my personal website?

To setup your personal website, you will first need to use an FTPS (File Transfer Protocol over SSL) program. To use FTPS, you need an FTPS program such as WinSCP, FileZilla, or ExpanDrive. ExpanDrive is a commercial program and must be purchased. FileZilla and WinSCP are open-source programs and are free to use.

To access your FTP site, you must first provide the following information:

Host Name: ftp.alliancecom.net
Your username (the first part of your e-mail address, such as jdoe, not jdoe@alliancecom.net)
Your password

Note: For residential customers, your username and password for the FTP site are the same as your e-mail username and password. For commercial customers, the username and password may be different.

Once you are logged into the server, you can transfer your web files to your directory on the server.

The URL to access your web files is http://web.alliancecom.net/username

For example, jdoe@alliancecom.net would be able to access his files at http://web.alliancecom.net/jdoe

How do I get a domain name?

To get a domain name, you must first go to the website of a domain name registrar such as GoDaddy or Network Solutions. Once there, you must use their search tool (usually located on the front page of the site) to determine if your desired domain name is available. If the domain name is available, you will be given the option to purchase it with a credit card. Domain names can be purchased on a yearly basis, or you can purchase them for a number of years. Depending on your needs, it may be wiser to purchase the domain name for a number of years, as most registrars offer price breaks for doing so.

Once you have purchased the domain name, the registrar company will send you an email with an account name and password. Keep this information in a secure location, as you will need it when it comes time to renew the domain name. You will also need this information so that you can point your domain name to the Alliance Communications DNS servers.

When you have received your account information from your registrar, you will need to log into that company’s Web site and change the DNS for your domain name so that, rather than using the registrar’s parked servers, they will instead point to the Alliance DNS servers. The addresses to use for this are ns1.alliancecom.net and ns2.alliancecom.net. Once this has been done, you simply need to contact us and let us know that you are ready for us to host your domain name. While doing this, keep in mind that DNS changes typically take 24-48 hours to propagate throughout the Internet.

Please note that you will incur a $3.95 monthly charge when hosting a domain name with Alliance Communications. Please contact us for more pricing information or for further assistance.

What is DNS?

DNS stands for Domain Name System. In the early days of the Internet, back when it was controlled by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), traversing the net was made possible by a manually-updated list of server names and IP addresses. When people wanted to access a server, they needed to consult this list for the appropriate server name or IP address. As this fledgling mesh of networks rapidly grew, it became apparent that the “telephone book method” of managing server name/IP address translations was unfeasible. As a result, DNS was born.

In the 1980s, control of the Internet was transferred from DARPA to the National Science Foundation (NSF), and development and refinement of DNS continued. In 1992, Congress granted NSF the right to commercialize the Internet, and the World Wide Web as we know it was born. Thanks to DNS, it was possible for companies to assign easily-remembered names like www.google.com to Web services. If it were not for the development of DNS, today’s Internet would not exist.

Browsing the Web has become as common-place as making a phone call. We open up our browser of choice and we go to the Web page that we want to visit. Although this appears to be a simple task that is completed solely by your computer, it is actually a four-step process involving your computer, a DNS server, and the Web server that is hosting the Web page.

For example, when you enter http://www.alliancecom.net into the address bar of your browser and press ENTER, that information is sent across the Internet to your ISP’s DNS server, where it is translated into the IP address of the Web server hosting that page (66.115.210.3). The DNS server then sends that IP address back to the computer, allowing the browser to connect to the Web server. The Web server then processes your request for the Web page and sends the appropriate content to your browser. Voila! Your computer displays the requested Web page in the blink of an eye.

What is the DMCA?

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a law that was passed on October 12, 1998. Among other things, this law specifically addresses the use of the Internet to illegally reproduce or disseminate copyrighted material. To learn more about the DMCA, you can click here.

Copyright Violators ID?

When a copyright holder contacts Alliance Communications, they send us the name of the material that is being infringed upon, the time that the material was being made available online, as well as the public IP address of the computer or network that is sharing it. Since public IP addresses are unique, and can only be used on one device at a time, they act much like a fingerprint. To be in compliance with the law, Alliance uses this information to identify and contact the party responsible.

Copyright Infringement Notice?

If you have received a copyright infringement notice from Alliance Communications via e-mail or registered letter, this means that a computer on your network is making copyrighted material publicly available without the consent of the copyright holder.

In layman’s terms, there is a computer on your network that is sharing movies, music, software, or some other form of media, probably through a peer-to-peer torrent program such as uTorrent or Bit Torrent. The copyright holder has notified Alliance of this, and we are legally required to notified you.

Using your Alliance Internet connection to download or distribute copyrighted material illegally is a violation of our acceptable use policy and can result in suspension or termination of services.

Service Restoration?

If your service has been suspended for copyright infringement, this means that you have received two notices via e-mail and a registered letter from our office. Since these notices were sent, we have continued to receive complaints from a copyright holder alleging that you are in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

To get your service turned back on, you will need to complete a DMCA counter-notice form and submit it to Alliance Communications either in person or via fax or email. Once this notice has been received, Alliance will un-suspend your Internet service.

Please note that any further complaints regarding copyright violations will result in re-suspension of service or possible service termination.

DMCA designated agent?

Name:	Craig Selland
E-mail:	dmca@alliancecom.net
Phone:	605.594.8232
Fax:	605.582.3922

Online Safety

How do I avoid getting spam?

Alliance's email virus filter?

How do I avoid getting spam?

Alliance’s email virus filter?

Hundreds of new computer viruses are discovered every week. Even the country’s top Internet security professionals recommend that you have layers of protection.

You should have both Alliance’s e-mail filter and anti-virus software to give your computer the best protection possible. There are two main differences between Alliance’s e-mail filter and anti-virus software like those offered by Norton or McAfee.

Alliance’s e-mail filter is updated for you automatically. You don’t have to perform any extra steps to receive the latest protection.
Alliance’s e-mail filter protects your Alliance e-mail account. Anti-virus software protects you from receiving viruses through numerous sources including web pages, files you download, etc. You, however, still must set aside time to run the updates on your computer.

By subscribing to Alliance’s e-mail filter and anti-virus software, you’re computer will have the best virus protection possible.

All-inclusive security programs?

Yes. Several are available to help protect you from a variety of online threats. Please conduct your own research to find the program that’s right for you.

Do I need security programs?

It’s only a matter of time before you run into trouble if you don’t protect your computer.

Block inappropriate material?

Internet safety is a rapidly growing concern. Families depend on the Internet, but parents must maintain an appropriate environment for their children.

Below are links to some well-known filtering programs:

ContentProtect www.contentwatch.com
CYBERsitter www.cybersitter.com
Net Nanny www.netnanny.com

Norton Internet Security at www.symantec.com and McAfee Internet Security Suite at www.mcafee.com offer parental controls plus ad blocker, anti-virus, privacy control, anti-spam and firewall features all in one program.

Please be aware that children and teenagers can easily access pornography through free file-sharing programs. Content filters typically don’t block items accessed through file-sharing programs. Make sure your children haven’t downloaded file-sharing programs onto your computer.

Remember, there is no replacement for Internet safety rules within the home.