Cactus TurboNet Newsletter 4/24/07               

 

 

Cactus Changes local Dial-up Number

 

If you dial up to the Internet from Pullman or Albion, your computer was dialing 882-8768.  Please change it to dialing 208-216-1000.  For Moscow, Garrison, Genesee, Harvard, Princeton, Bovill, Elk River or Deary, change it to dialing 216-1000.  Note that there is NOT a “1” before the number.  Pullman and Albion are ten-digit dialing, but not long-distance.  Detailed instructions for changing your dial-up number for the most popular operating systems can be found at http://www.TurboNet.com/Change_dialup.asp  If you have any trouble, please phone us, of course – still at 883-5500.  Verizon took the old number down May 17^th.

 

What’s the Phone Number Change About?

 

Don’t think of us as a phone company (please!) but technically we are one now.  We applied for our own set of phone numbers two years ago.   The numbers were approved, and were finally completely set up and working today, 4/24/07.  Right now, the only number we’re using is 216-1000, which goes to our dial-up server.  Later we may offer other phone services such as Voice over IP.

 

25^th Anniversary

 

Happy 2007!  In 1982, Tony and Monica started Cactus Computer as a

mail-order business selling only 3M floppy diskettes.  Cactus’ storeroom was a single shelving unit and its shipping/receiving department was our living room. 

 

We grew, moving into a small store downtown, then a larger one, then still larger.  We branched out into Internet service, then high-speed Internet, and now even fiber-optic gigabit Internet.  After twenty-five years, we are still a family business, but instead of kids in the living room, it’s now grandkids in the showroom.  Thank you all, so very much, for making it possible. 

 

Service Department is Closed

Partly because of our expansion into a telephone company and our Internet expansion into 5.8 GHz wireless and fiber optic, and partly because two of our senior technicians decided to leave at the same time, we’ve closed our service department.  We will still do minor repairs and installations, and we’ll still back up your data for you, but we no longer do computer repair (except for Cactus Computers under warranty) or virus removal.

Over the last 25 years we have somewhat jokingly called the service department “Cactus U”.  It takes two years to train a technician who comes to us with a good working knowledge of computers and hardware and three years before they really come into their own.  And at about three years they leave us to go to work for some large company – a few receiving six figure incomes and all for at least double what we can pay.  We can’t compete with the wages these companies can offer. 

Frank (with about 18 years experience) and Tony (with about 31 years experience) are both working on our Internet and phone company projects and do not have two years to spare training new technicians.  We are sorry that this will inconvenience our good customers – we just don’t have the time to devote to rebuilding the Service Department from scratch.