Winning E-Story Submitted by: Robyn Edwards

"Natco internet is like oxygen to me in my work as a writer. Because of you I can keep in close contact with my writing buddies, can explore the proverbial strange new worlds, and visit places I'd never get to see without the use of cyber roadways. Thank you, Natco. Perhaps, because of you, I've been able to help sculpt a future Stephen King!"

Robyn just earned two free months of NATCO Internet service! Submit your E-Story today and you could be our next winner! Remember that you can enter more than once. So, if you didn't win this time, try again! Just go to www.natcotech.com/estories.php and tell us how using NATCO's Internet or e-mail service has made your life easier, helped you promote or manage your business, or simply how much you enjoy using the Internet and e-mail. If your E-Story is chosen, you'll win two months of free NATCO dialup Internet service ($19.95 X 2 = $39.90) or an equivalent credit on your DSL or ISDN account.

NATCO to Upgrade Service Lines to Fiber Optic

NATCO is upgrading some of our copper phone lines to fiber optic lines in some rural areas of our service area. Some of the advantages of fiber optic lines include a stronger signal, faster data transfer, and the ability to maintain these advantages over longer distances.

We look forward to increasing the quality of your phone and Internet services.

NATCO has also acquired new service vans to more quickly maintain our service area. These new vans are black with green letters on the sides. You may see them during such maintenance runs.

Special Offer from NATCO

NATCO (Northern Arkansas Telephone Company) is pleased to offer the Lifeline program. We believe every person in America should have access to quality, affordable telecommunications service. NATCO will personally work with each family to get and keep the basic telephone service they need.

Through the Lifeline program, NATCO can offer:

• 50% discount off onetime costs associated with initiating telephone service ($30.00 max) with deferred payment schedule for remaining costs ($200.00 max)
• Discount on basic monthly local telephone service
• Sign up now, and if approved, receive a $3.00 credit

Eligibility restrictions apply.

Visit the NATCO monthly special for more information on this deal or call our customer service department at 1-800-775-6682.

NATCO Awards Student Contest Winners

The 2006 Northern Arkansas Telephone Company Coloring and Essay Contest has ended. We will hand out awards to the winners at the Flippin office October 26th. Photographs of the winners will appear in the NATCO News and local newspapers.

Each year, NATCO holds coloring contests for students in K-4th grades and essay contests for students in 5th to 8th grades. The hundreds of drawings and compositions are judged by professionals and the winners are awarded various prizes.

NATCO Provides Additional E-mail Accounts

When you sign up for DSL through NATCO, we will now provide you with up to 10 e-mail accounts. Based on the chosen DSL package, you may now receive the following:

• Tier 1 customers ($29.95/month package) may have up to 3 e-mail accounts.
• Tier 2 customers ($49.95/month package) may have up to 5 e-mail accounts.
• Tier 3 customers ($79.95/month package) may have up to 10 e-mail accounts.

This is one of the improvements we've made based on customer feedback from our yearly customer survey. If you would like DSL service, call 1-800-775-6682 for availability, and let us activate a DSL package with multiple e-mail accounts for you today!

Win a South Shore Gift

When you visit the South Shore Web site at www.southshore.com, you'll have a chance to win a South Shore souvenir, like a T-shirt, a cap, chiller cups, and other necessities for the great South Shore outdoors. The South Shore Web site is an electronic community for the towns on and near the south shore of Bull Shoals Lake and it's packed with information for you and for our tourist visitors.

Chuck Copeland is this month's winner of a South Shore T-shirt. Congratulations, Chuck.

Internet Explorer Version 7 to be Released This Year

Windows XP users will notice an update for Internet Explorer, a commonly used web browser, in the next few months. The new version, IE 7, will provide users with tabbed browsing, RSS feeds, and more printing options. These features have been found in other browsers for quite some time and are now making it to Internet Explorer. Security features implemented in IE 7 will include a "phishing" filter to help protect users from scammers and "ActiveX Opt-in" which will help protect users from viruses and other common exploits.

Version 7 of Internet Explorer is still in its testing phase, but Microsoft reports that it will be released as a critical update for Windows XP by the end of the year. Users of Windows 95/98/2000 will not be able to meet the requirements for installing IE 7.

To determine your current version of Internet Explorer, open Internet Explorer, click the "Help" link at the top, and click the "About Internet Explorer" link. A window will open displaying your current version.

If you would like to learn more about Internet Explorer 7 and its features, check out Microsoft's site.

We Hope You Enjoyed the Baxter County Fair

We appreciate all of the responses and comments we received at the Baxter County Fair last month. NATCO set up a trailer with three computer systems to demonstrate our DSL service. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Congratulations to Joanne Berger! She is the winner of the drawing for a Uniden Dual Handset Cordless Phone System.

Weekly Maintenance on Wednesday

Each Wednesday morning from 12:01 A.M. until 5 A.M., NATCO Technologies performs regular maintenance on Internet equipment. Your Internet service should not be affected. But, if you do experience an interruption in service during this time, please try again a few moments later. We try to minimize any "down time" by doing our maintenance at a regular time each week.

All users agree to terms and guidelines published at www.natcotech.com/guideline.htm.

Feedback: NATCO invites readers' comments about the e-newsletter and suggestions for future articles. Let us know what information in the e-newsletter is most useful or what Internet issues are important to you. Readers may send suggestions for future e-newsletter articles, questions or comments to: custserv@natconet.com.

Want to view previous issues? Visit: e-newsletter archives.

NATCO Technologies does not endorse or recommend any software or program. The purpose of the articles included in this newsletter is to keep our customers informed. We do not provide free technical support for software or programs such as Norton, McAfee, AVG Anti-Virus, Instant Messenger Services, etc. Please see the NATCO Internet brochure for full details on what is and is not covered by our free Internet Technical Support.