DCSI is pleased to announce that, starting in August, we will be able to offer our customers landline phone services in addition to our range of Internet access and webhosting products.

If you move your home phone to DCSI, you'll not only get awesome support and competitive rates, but also receive a discount on your monthly internet bill!

Below is a preview of our upcoming plans - let's start with a look at our home phone rates!

Note, there is a minimum monthly spend of $19.95 in calls.

Once you move your home phone to DCSI, you'll save on your monthly Internet access fee! See below for a list of the savings being offered on selected plans.

Not sure which plan you're on? Log in to My.DCSI, or simply look at the last bill you received from us.

Your plan not shown below? Sorry, no discount applies for bundling at this time. Contact us if you wish to change your plan.

Bonus - If you're on ADSL2+, you'll also receive a huge data increase on August 1st - and that's whether you move your home phone to us or not!

Notes on Home Phone services:

• The minimum monthly cost is the line rental ($30), which does not include any calls
• The minimum billed time on any timed call is 1 minute
• Timed calls are billed to the nearest second
• The "top 45" countries for International calls are: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, China, China Mobiles, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Mobiles, Hungary, Iran Mobiles, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Malaysia Mobiles, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Singapore, Singapore Mobiles, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States and Zimbabwe
• For countries with 'Mobiles' specified, this is for mobiles local to that country only (i.e. it does NOT include Australian mobiles roaming in that country)

I'm Mark McKibbin, owner and founder of DCSI. I started DCSI in December 1995, when we were the first company in the area to provide dial-up Internet with local call access. Things have changed since those days: we now employ 12 staff locally in Warragul and provide a wide range of Internet services to customers all over Australia.

Because we started so long ago, we have always charged our customers in arrears. Our billing system was built for this, however the third-party company that develops it is no longer able to update the system using an in-arrears model. This means that billing in arrears is effectively holding us back from being able to offer a broader range of services such as landline phone, and offering our customers significant discounts for 'bundling' Internet access and phone services.

Therefore, we've decided to switch our billing method to being in advance, starting on the 1st of July 2010. This means that some customers will need to effectively pay double for this billing cycle - one monthly payment to cover June (in arrears), plus one to cover July (in advance).

Not everyone will be affected. Some customers are already paying in advance, and some have paid a bond which will be credited to your account and used to cover the extra payment. We understand that two payments may cause difficulties for some people, and as such we're also offering a payment plan which will spread the extra cost out over a 3-month period. Please contact us via email to accounts@dcsi.net.au or via phone on 1300 66 55 75 to arrange this.

So, that's the bad news. The good news is that from the 1st of August you'll be able to save money on both your Internet and your phone by rolling them into one bill from one local company! Keep an eye on our website for our new plans which will be released soon.

As always, please feel free to contact us via reply email or phone on 1300 66 55 75 should you have any questions.

Here at DCSI, we've just completed a series of upgrades to our email systems.

We've implemented new spam filtering technology, and moved to faster, more powerful hardware and software.

As a part of this, some things have changed.

• Spam Folder - all detected spam messages will now automatically be placed into the "Spam" folder in Webmail. This can be disabled on request. Note that if you use a POP3 email client (e.g. Outlook and Windows Mail), you will not be able to see your Spam folder unless you check it in Webmail.
• Webmail - Users can now select domain at login (to specify whether you're logging into an @dcsi.net.au or an @sympac.com.au address).
• Spam Filtering - users can now "train" their own personal spam filter on our server. To make use of it, you first need to train it with at least 100 spam AND 100 legitimate ("ham") email messages. To train your filter, use the new "Learn spam" and "Learn ham" buttons in Webmail. You don't have to use this; many other upgrades have been made to spam filtering that require no intervention on your behalf. Think of it as just an extra tool in your spam-fighting belt!

Should you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact us via email to support@dcsi.net.au, or via phone on 1300 66 55 75.

DCS Internet is pleased to announce further expansion of our ADSL2+ capabilities.

We are now able to provide ADSL2+ services to customers connected to the Churchill phone exchange.

Existing customers connected to this exchange will be migrated to the new equipment over the coming weeks, and may switch to an ADSL2+ plan by contacting us.

DCSI will be open the following hours over the Easter period.

From all of the staff here at DCSI, we wish you a safe and happy easter!

The DCSI 2010 footy tipping competition is now commencing!

The prize this year will be an Apple iPad, valued at US$499 (approx. AU$550). Please ensure you read the rules before joining.

Important things to note:

• It is your responsibility to submit your tips on time. DCSI staff are not able to enter your tips for you.
• There is no entry fee.
• Anyone can play, but only DCSI customers are eligible to win the prize. If a non-customer wins the competition, the prize will go to the highest-scoring competitor that is a customer.

Click here to visit the tipping page and join up. Be quick - round one tips close at 5.30PM on Thursday the 25th of March!

Good luck to all, and have fun!

Whenever there's a storm, the DCSI support team receives quite a few calls from customers whose modems have been destroyed by a power surge. Unfortunately, damage from surges is not covered by the manufacturer's warranty on modems, and so affected customers have had to purchase a new modem out of their own pocket!

Many cheap products that claim to protect you from surges will actually do very little to save your equipment in the event of a lightning strike. While a 'normal' electrical surge would be around 30,000 volts, lightning that strikes nearby could induce a massive spike of over 50,000,000 volts, which can come into your house through your power or phone lines. This is more than enough to destroy unprotected modems/routers, computers, and other electronic devices.

Aside from simply unplugging your modem/router from the power and phone lines during a storm, your best form of protection is to spend that little bit extra on a high-quality surge protector from a reputable brand. Another option is a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) which, in addition to providing surge protection on your power and phone lines, also has inbuilt batteries that can keep your equipment running for a limited time in the event of a power outage.

* Note that some phone line surge protectors may impede ADSL performance. Ask your retailer which is the best protector to use with an ADSL modem.

Mobile Broadband just got even more economical!

DCSI Mobile Broadband pricing has been updated. The changes affect both the hardware and the monthly plans, and are detailed below. A new plan, with 5GB of data, has also been introduced at $49.95 per month.

Existing customers on the old plans will be moved to the new pricing on the 1st of March.

Check out our products page for full details.

Anonymous FTP access is now available to the DCSI mirror site.

The files on the mirror have also been updated. Arch Linux 32-bit and 64-bit has been added, and FreeBSD 7.2 and 8.0 RC1 DVD ISOs are also ready to go.

You can also access the mirror via HTTP: http://mirror.dcsi.net.au/

The 2009 footy season is over following Geelong's win at the Grand Final on Sunday!

This also concludes the DCSI footy tipping competition.

Kevin Brown from Warragul is the winner! Kevin will receive a brand new Acer Aspire One netbook.

Congratulations Kevin, and thanks to all for playing. See you again next year!

DCS Internet Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that we have gained wholesale ADSL2+ access to another seven phone exchanges around Victoria.

These additions bring our ADSL2+ coverage to a total of 13 phone exchanges in Victoria.

The following exchanges are now DCSI ADSL2+ capable:

• Belmont
• Bendigo
• Ballarat
• Geelong
• North Geelong
• Warrnambool
• Wendouree

These are in addition to the five exchanges that were already enabled for ADSL2+, those being:

• Warragul
• Morwell
• Sale
• Traralgon
• Bairnsdale

Over the coming weeks, we will be migrating existing customers to the new equipment and offering them the option of upgrading to ADSL2+.

More information on ADSL2+ is available on our Products page.

DCSI has today upgraded the data limits on entry-level ADSL plans, at no additional cost to customers.

The table below details the adjustments that have been made. Existing customers on the plans have automatically been upgraded to the more generous data allowances.

Plan speed	Previous data		New data		Price
	Peak	Off-peak	Peak	Off-peak
256/64	1 GB	2 GB	2 GB	4 GB	$34.95
512/128	3 GB	6 GB	4 GB	8 GB	$41.95
512/128	10 GB	20 GB	15 GB	30 GB	$51.95
1500/256	5 GB	10 GB	10 GB	20 GB	$51.95
8000/384	5 GB	10 GB	10 GB	20 GB	$71.95
ADSL2+	4 GB	8 GB	5 GB	10 GB	$41.95

Check out our Products page for our full range of ADSL plans.