This BigPond Newsletter marks the One Year Birthday of Telstra Bigpond

Cambodia. We hope you enjoy it.

In this issue:-

 

BigPond's Birthday

BigPond is officially one year old today. We thought some statistics might be of interest: -

To meet this growth we have just finished the installation of new-generation modems that will support speeds up in excess of 33.6k. We are also able to add more modems far easier than before so you should not be getting any more busy tones due to congestion at our end.  The increasing load on our recently expanded satellite link to the Internet backbone is also constantly monitored and we will be expanding as customer demand requires.

Interactive Web Site

We are making some changes to our web site to make it easier to navigate and more useful.  The Home Page (http://www.bigpond.com.kh) will have a new menu system that makes it easier to navigate around the site.

We are launching Cambodia's first on-line "What's On" Calendar. This not only enables you to check out upcoming events but also gives you an opportunity to advertise your meeting, social function, etc?for free. You can get to the calendar from our Member Services section on the Home Page.

We are also starting a trial discussion web site that allows you to contribute to an online discussion about all sorts of subjects relevant to Cambodia. This too is accessed from the Member Services page.

Getting the most of the World Wide Web

As most users are aware the biggest challenge in using the Web is finding your way around. In previous newsletters we have highlighted directories such as Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) and search engines like Altavista (http://www.altavista.yellowpages.com.au) which help you find what you are looking for. This time we would like to suggest some sites that in addition to searchable listings provide a rating guide to the quality of the featured sites.

Another interesting search site is Northern Light that specialises in searching for publications and Industry information. http://www.nlsearch.com

Reference.COM makes it easy to find, browse, search, and participate in more than 150,000 newsgroups, mailing lists, and web forums. http://www.reference.com

If you are looking for a map then try out http://maps.yahoo.com or http://multimap.com. Xerox have a truly global experience at http://mapweb.parc.xerox.com/map.

Bits and Pieces

For a 5 day weather forecast for Phnom Penh visit http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Phnom_Penh_KP_c.html.

To have a daily bulletin of international currency rates emailed directly to you then register (for free) at the following site http://www.xe.net/currency/subscribe.htm

If you have set up a web site your next step is to publicise it. Advice on this is given at http://www.submit-it.com.

News Sites

The New York Times has a highly rated site at www.nytimes.com. They require you to register but this is free if you can give a US postal address. It offers AP news updated every 10 minutes.

The South China Morning Post also has an excellent site at http://www.scmp.com.

Business Week has an online version at http://www.businessweek.com/

The BBC have started an online news service at http://news.bbc.co.uk

And last but not least The Phnom Penh Post has just opened it's Website. Currently they are providing full access to their most recent issues at http://www.newspapers.com.kh/phnompenhpost

Email Tips

Watch out for the Reply-to address not set correctly.
A number of our customers are finding that after installation of the Internet Mail Program their reply-to address is incorrectly set. To check follow these steps: -

If the box is empty or has your full address (e.g. username@bigpond.com.kh) then it is correctly set. However, if it has "@bigpond.com.kh" then it is incorrect. To rectify this: -

Multiple Mailboxes on Internet Mail
We have found a program available over the Internet that allows you to use Internet Mail for multiple mailboxes. "Switch-it" allows you to switch between mailboxes, have separate inboxs, outboxes etc. The program is free to download but after a 30 days trial you need to register with the supplier at a cost of $10. Pop into the office with a disk if you would like to try a copy, or download it directly from http://www.oz.net/~patrickf/switchit.html

Email Check
Not sure if you email is working? If you end a mail to autoreply@bigpond.com.kh our system should reply in a second or two.

Accessing your mail from outside of Cambodia
As many of you frequently travel outside of Cambodia we have made it easy for you to pick up your mail from where ever you have access to a Web browser. Simply open up our homepage http://www.bigpond.com.kh and select Member Services and followed by Webmail. You can then log on to your mailbox and check for incoming messages. You can even do this when your account is on hold.

Maximum number of Email Recipients
Due to the rise of junk email we have been forced to set a limit to the number of recipients on a single email. The current limit is 25 but we will review this regularly. If this creates a problem for you then please contact David Lewis (mailto:david.lewis@bigpond.com.kh).

Free hours to Web Reviewers

We would like to invite you to share your experiences of the Web. We are offering 8 free hours for select customers to surf the net and report to other BigPond users what they have discovered. To be considered for this special offer please write to David Lewis (mailto:david.lewis@bigpond.com.kh) with the subject "Web Reviewer Application" explaining what particular areas of interest you would search out on the Internet. Please note that there will be a maximum of 3 customers selected and the choice will be based on a broad spread of interest reflecting the mixed cultural and national base of our customers.

Previous newsletters online

In response to requests we have placed this and all previous newsletters on our homepage. The address is http://www.bigpond.com.kh/newslet.htm.

The Big Pond Email List

We will be providing a way for you to find out the email address of friends and colleagues who are also on Big Pond. We are also discussing with the other email providers in Phnom Penh how we can include all addresses in Cambodia.

Office and Support hours

  Office Telephone Support
Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm 8am to 8pm
Saturday 8am to 12 noon 8am to 12 noon.

And finally?

If you have comments on the content of this newsletter or suggestions (or even contributions) then please email me - mailto:david.lewis@bigpond.com.kh