EPCS offers DSL high speed Internet access to Gaylord, Grayling, Johannesburg, Frederic and Lewiston Michigan businesses.

ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) high speed Internet access is delivered only on regular plain old telephone service (POTS) phone lines. ADSL service is usually referred to as simply, DSL. A phone line used for voice, fax or modem can simultaneously be used for DSL service. Dedicated DSL (a.k.a. Standalone DSL and Dry Loop DSL) service is also available.

DSL service is currently available within three (3) miles of

• Downtown Grayling
• Downtown Lewiston
• Downtown Gaylord
• Arbutus Beach south of Gaylord
• Glen Meadows west of Gaylord
• Gaylord Air Industrial Park
• Frederic
• Johannesburg

Note: EPCS will consider DSL sales and support in other Michigan locations served by Verizon or AT&T when the customer has multiple locations that include one of the aforementioned cities and any of these locations: Acme Ada Allegan Alma Alpena Athens Atlanta Baldwin Battle Creek Belding Bellevue Berrien Springs Benton Harbor Beulah Big Rapids Bronson Boyne City Buchanan Byron Center Cadillac Caledonia Casnovia Cassopolis Cedar Springs Charlevoix Cheboygan Coldwater Coloma Comstock Park Conklin Coopersville Corunna Covert Dalton Dorr Douglas Dowagiac Dutton East Grand Rapids East Jordan Eau Claire Edmore Elk Rapids Evart Fennville Frankfort Frederic Fremont Fruitport Galesburg Gaylord Gladwin Gobles Grand Haven Grand Rapids Grandville Grant Grayling Greenville Hamilton Harbor Springs Hart Hartford Hastings Hesperia Higgins Lake Holland Holton Houghton Lake Houghton Point Howard City Hudsonville Indian River Interlochen Ionia Ithaca Jenison Johannesburg Kalamazoo Kalkaska Kent City Kentwood Lachine Lake Odessa Lawton Lewiston Lowell Mackinaw City Mancelona Manton Marion Marne Marshall Martin Mattawan Mears (Silver Lake) Mendon Middleville Moline Montague Muir Muskegon New Buffalo New Era Newaygo Niles North Muskegon Olivet Oshtemo Ossineke Otsego Paw Paw Pellston Pentwater Petoskey Plainwell Portage Prescott Ravenna Reed City Richland Riverside Rockford Rothbury Sand Lake Saranac Saugatuck Schoolcraft Scottville Shelby South Haven Sparta Spring Lake St. Joseph St. Louis Stanton Sturgis Three Oaks Three Rivers Traverse City Twin Lake Union City Vicksburg Walker Walloon Lake Watervliet Wayland West Olive White Cloud Whitehall Williamsburg Wyoming Zeeland

The phone line being considered for delivery of DSL service must be pre-qualified. Pre-qualification is a good indication that DSL service can be successfully installed, but the final determination is made during the installation process. There is no charge for pre-qualification and no charge for DSL circuits that can't be brought online.

A one year contract is required for DSL installation.

DSL Internet maximum download speed options offered vary from 14 to 54 times the maximum speed of a conventional 56kbps dial-up analog modem. DSL is an asymmetrical DSL service, meaning the incoming speed can be different than the outgoing speed. Incoming/outgoing maximum speed options in kbps (kilobits per second) include: 768/128 1500/384, 3000/768 and 7100/768.

When DSL service piggy backs on a voice phone line, a conventional phone line splitter can be used to split the phone line into a DSL leg and a leg for analog devices such as phones, fax and dial-up modems. Since noise from the DSL signal can be heard on analog devices, a filter is used to suppress the noise. The inline filter can be installed at the splitter or at the device. Multiple filters can be installed if needed for multiple analog devices.

EPCS offers several types of DSL interface devices:

• modem/bridge
• modem/NAT-router
• modem/NAT-router/firewall
• modem/NAT-router/firewall/hub
• modem/NAT-router/firewall/hub/VoIP
• modem/bridge+NAT-router/firewall/two-WAN-interface

A modem/bridge interface is appropriate for installations that already have an in-house router and firewall in place or installations that have just one computer with a software firewall installed.

The modem/NAT-router interface is appropriate for installations with multiple computers on their LAN (local area network) and software firewall protection for each computer. NAT (network address translation) provides some intrusion protection, since computers on the LAN are not directly addressable from the Internet.

The modem/NAT-router/firewall interface is ideal for installations that require a firewall at their Internet gateway or run in-house servers such as Microsoft Windows Terminal Server®, Citrix®, PCAnywhere® Web server and other servers.

The modem/NAT-router/firewall/hub interface is ideal for small offices with four or less computers that can all be plugged into the Ethernet hub using Ethernet patch cables.

The modem/NAT-router/firewall/hub/VoIP interface can be ideal for small offices considering VoIP (Voice over IP) service. The VoIP phone jack plus subscription to a VoIP Internet service facilitates phone service via the Internet. Internet VoIP is typically less costly than POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service): there are no incremental charges for outgoing calls or long distance charges and the monthly fee is lower. Sometimes the reliability and quality of VoIP isn't as good as POTS, so businesses will retain at least one POTS line, but, use the VoIP service as much as possible for outgoing calls and long distance calls. VoIP isn't for everyone, but, depending on telephone usage, VoIP can substantially reduce telephone costs.

The modem/bridge+NAT-router/firewall/two-WAN-interface provides redundant access to the Internet. A modem/bridge is required for each Internet connection. The Ethernet router/firewall connects to the two Internet modem/bridges and the LAN. The Internet connections can be DSL, cable, fixed tower wireless or T1 connections. Since these Internet connections typically use completely independent infrastructure when connecting to the Internet, this is an ideal solution for businesses that need state-of-the-art Internet connection reliability.

Note that we're generically using the word "modem" to describe a box that provides access to the Internet rather than a MOdulating/DEModulating dial-up analog device.

Although a single computer can be plugged directly into the Ethernet jack on a DSL interface, the interface is typically connected to the business' Local Area Network (LAN) and is configured to serve all or several computers on the LAN.

DSL router/firewall configuration options include:

• DHCP service, which allows computers on the LAN to "Obtain an IP address automatically";
• Both incoming and outgoing port blocking;
• Port Forwarding that allows different types of servers on the LAN to be securely accessed via a single public IP;
• Filters that can restrict access to websites on a list or block access to websites on a list; Note: lists of unproductive (e.g. porn sites and gambling sites) can be purchased and automatically accessed by the router.
• Two WAN ports that will simultaneously use both a DSL and a cable, fixed tower wireless or T1 connection.

DSL reliability rivals T1 reliability and is often the most reliable technology available for low cost high speed Internet access. This is no surprise, since the technology used for T1 service (typically HDSL) is very similar to the technology used for ADSL connections.

Note - No Internet service is 100% reliable. Reliability can approach 100% with two Internet broadband connections from ISPs that use different delivery infrastructure: phone system (DSL or T1); fixed tower wireless that doesn't rely on the same local phone system used for DSL and T1 service; or, cable.

Hosting service options include: e-mail accounts, domain name registration, domain name alias, virtual Web and e-mail servers, spam filtering, virus filtering, Web browser access to e-mail accounts (Webmail), database applications, website development and software development. EPCS designs and supports Typo3 content management applications. EPCS servers are located in a secure data center that provides infrastructure redundancy and near 100% server reliability. More details are available on the EPCS Websites page.

Internal phone or LAN wiring may be quoted by EPCS or referred to specialized sub-contractors.

DSL Plan	768/128d	768/128s		1500/384d	1500/384s		3000/768d	3000/768s		7100/768s
Monthly Charge	$35	$45		$50	$60		$70	$90		$200
Maximum Download Speed in kbps	768	768		1,500	1,500		3,000	3,000		7,100
Maximum Upload Speed in kbps	128	128		384	384		768	768		768
Static IP #s Included	0	1		0	1		0	1		1
E-mail boxes included 1	20	20		20	20		20	20		20

Typical DSL Setup Service Fees
$60	DSL Setup Fee
$0 - $2000	One of the optional DSL interfaces shown below
$0	Set up first e-mail address

Optional Feature Pricing
$0	Modem/Bridge DSL interface kit2 installation fee (EPCS retains ownership of interface)
$0	Modem/NAT-router interface kit2 installation fee (EPCS retains ownership of interface)
$Quote	Modem/NAT-router/firewall interface kit2 installation fee
$Quote	Modem/NAT-router/firewall/hub interface kit2 installation fee
$Quote	Modem/NAT-router/firewall/hub/VoIP interface kit2 installation fee
$Quote	Modem/Bridge+NAT-router/firewall/two-WAN-interface kit2 installation fee (includes UPS - Uninterrupted Power Supply)
$Quote	Internal phone or Ethernet wiring not included in DSL interface kit
$10	Set up an e-mail account or e-mail address redirection (Domain name required)
$10	Additional DSL filter installation fee
$150	Five year domain name registration
$3 monthly	additional e-mail accounts
$10 monthly	Additional static IP #

• ¹ E-mail use requires a registered domain name configured to use the DNS1.IPRUS.NET and DNS2.IPRUS.NET domain name servers (DNS).. E-mail services include spam filtering and access to Webmail (see note 3 below). A Web based e-mail utility is available for adding, deleting and changing e-mail account configuration parameters. In addition to Webmail, a one page website is included that contains the contact information typically available on a business card. Virus filtering is available at $2 per e-mail address per month.
• ² Kit includes interface, 6 ft. Ethernet cable, 6 ft. phone extension cable, phone line splitter and a filter.
• Static IP - a public IP, generally used for in-house Internet servers or virtual private network (VPN) applications.
• ³ Webmail permits access to e-mail accounts via a Web browser in addition to being able to access the e-mail account with an e-mail client such as Microsoft Outlook™ or Microsoft Outlook Express™.
• (kbps) kilo bits per second
• EPCS retains ownership of installed hardware
• A NAT (network address translation) router allows up to 254 computers on a LAN (local area network) to access the Internet. NAT also provides some intrusion protection, since LAN computers are not directly addressable from the Internet.

EPCS DSL Account Terms and Restrictions:

• All specified kbps bandwidth rates are maximums.
• Initial one (1) year service term converts to month to month service after the initial one year term.
• Early cancellation requires return of EPCS owned equipment plus a $60 cancellation fee.
• The customer assumes complete and total responsibility for any damage that may be caused by the installed equipment or it's configuration.
• Initial bill includes: balance of first month’s usage, plus first full month’s usage, plus set up fees. Monthly billing is in advance.
• Service is automatically suspended if payment is more than 20 days overdue.
• There is a $25 fee for re-activating suspended service.
• The service cannot be used for unsolicited e-mail or newsgroup advertising (SPAM), illegal activities, pornographic website content or pornographic e-mail content. You may not resell the Internet access service. EPCS is the sole judge of violations.
• DSL service will be temporarily suspended if a virus/worm infected computer on the customer's LAN attempts to replicate to other Internet connected computers, attacks another computer or router on the Internet or distributes spam (unsolicited e-mail advertisements).
• Primary technical support is available weekdays from 9am to 5pm via phone (989-732-1366), e-mail (), fax (606-752-1366), and if necessary, via visits by EPCS personnel to the customer location. Backup support is available from I-2000 via phone (888-234-4254 or 616-532-8425).