Residential Internet Support

The following questions and answers have been compiled to give Allstream customers a quick reference to Internet email related information.

1. How do I check mail while connected to another Internet Provider?

   If you would like to check your Allstream internet mail from a different provider, or you are using a friend's computer, you can modify their email settings to correspond to Allstream's mail settings and check your mail. You will need to enter Allstream's Incoming Mail Server Address, which is inbox.allstream.net, your Allstream username, and your Allstream password in the email program you are using. Once you have checked your mail, you will want to remember to remove your settings, and re-enter to original mail settings!

2. How do I check mail from another country?

   If you would like to check your mail from another country, the process is the same as outlined above. You have complete access to your Internet mail, provided you are connected to the Internet via a SliP or PPP connection. Simply modify the settings of the email program you are using to correspond to Allstream's Mail settings. Allstream provides internet access from within Canada. For a listing of local access numbers, please check out our POPInfo Page

3. How do I send attachments?

   Sending attachments is quite easy with current Email programs. Just click the attachment option in the email program you are using and a window will appear, asking you where the document/file is located that you want to attach to your email. For example, if you are using Eudora, there is a button on the Compose Mail screen called Attach. You will need to browse your hard drive, find the file you would like to send, select it and click OK. The file is automatically appended to your email message. One thing to keep in mind is that the recipient of the email must have a program that can read your attachment. IE. For example if you are sending a Corel Graphic, you need to make sure that your recipient has Corel as well.

4. Why does my email show up blank for some people?

   Email can be blank for a number of reasons, the most popular reasons being incompatible email programs and differing encoding mechanisms in email programs. For example, if you have a Macintosh and send your email encoded in Bin-Hex, and your recipient does not have an email program that can decode Bin-Hex, they will most likely have a problem reading your mail. Thankfully, most popular email programs have overcome this issue by being able to decode both MIME and Bin-Hex encoding.

5. How do I find someone's email address?

   There are many resources on the Internet to find people's email addresses. However, most rely on people "registering" their email address, or having posted to a newsgroup at some point in their Internet career. Some popular Email Finders are:
   BigFoot at http://www.bigfoot.com/
   Who Where at http://www.whowhere.com/
   Switch Board at http://www.switchboard.com/
   Four11 at http://www.four11.com/

6. Does it cost more to send email overseas?

   No, there is no additional charge for sending email outside of the country of origin. This is one of the perks that makes the Internet a fantastic tool - no long distance charges!

7. I have received an attachment - what do I do now?

   If you have received an email attachment from someone, usually all you have to do is double click on it and it will open in the appropriate program. However, some email programs save the attachments in a special folder on your hard drive. For example, there are some versions of Eudora that will save attachments in the Eudora/attach folder. In this case, you would have to open Windows Explorer or File Manager and go to your Eudora/attach folder to double click on the attachment. If the file does not automatically open in the correct program, it may be that you do not have a program that can read the file, or the file association with a specific program has not been made.

8. Does Allstream Have Autoresponders?

   An autoresponder is a pre-defined mesage that is automatically forwarded to someone who has sent you an email. Currently Allstream does not offer autoresponders for residential dial-up customers.

9. What is my Allstream Email address?

   Your Allstream email address is your username@allstream.net For example, if your usename was jsmith, then your email address would be jsmith@allstream.net Your username is the name you created when you registered your Allstream account, and it is the name you use to log into the Allstream system.

10. How long does it take for email to be received?

    The lenght of time it takes to receive a email can depend on many variables - the speed of the local network, the speed of the internet, and the speed of the recipient's internet provider. Generally, email can be received from within 10 minutes to 2 days.