The Following is a list of things you should know before you call in for technical support. Being aware of these items can help to minimize your need for support as well as make it easier to describe the problem your having.

USER NAME
1. Everyone who has an account with The Rim has a dialup username (or login name). Usernames on The Rim Online Services accounts are always all lower case(ie. abc@therim.com). Your login username looks like an email address, and in most cases is the same as your email address. Be sure to use the full login username when connecting (ie, type abc@therim.com, NOT abc). If you try to connect to The Rim Online Services with any upper-case characters in your username, it will not work. When you call in to inquire about the status of an account or for technical support, we will almost always need to know your username in order to help you effectively.

PASSWORD
2. This may seem obvious, as this should be the one thing about your account that you, and only you, should know. Nonetheless, most software gives you the option to enter your password once and then save it, whereupon you forget it because you never have to enter it again. Don't let this happen. Should worse come to worst, you can call our tech support staff for help. Some additional, general guidelines for passwords are: They need to be between 6 & 8 characters long. Never make your password the same as your username. A password should be something difficult for others to guess, but easy for you to remember. It is best to combine letters, numbers, in a format that, to you, makes some sense.

TYPE OF COMPUTER
3. What type of computer you are using. If you are reading this, you are probably already aware of some of the basic workings of your computer. Nonetheless, when dealing with tech support, you should be able to provide the following information: What operating system you are using, ie., Windows 95, Windows 98, etc. What model/brand of modem you are using and it's speed, e.g., Rockwell 56k, etc. What software you are using. This may depend on the problem or question. If, for example, you have a question about email, you should be able to tell us what program you use, e.g., Outlook express, Netscape Mail, and so on. Having this sort of information at your disposal will make it that much easier for our staff to help.

PHONE #
4. The Rim Online Services is not responsible for your phone bill. The Rim Online Services provides a number of different dial-up numbers for our customers to use to connect to us. It is the customer's responsibility to determine if the number they are calling is toll free. The best way to do this is to call your operator or phone company and tell them the number you will be dialing into.