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Monday June 1, 2020 – Since everything else in the world is blowing up recently, we thought we’d get in on the fun and cause some issues with our mail server.   Every couple of years, we have to redo the secure certificates used on all connections.  We’re in the process of doing that, and normally, it goes unnoticed.  This time, however, some issues have arisen.  We’re implementing some “best practices” with regards to the type of security protocols used, and they have caused some clients to get error messages and/or not be able to connect.  We are working through these problems and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  No emails will be lost…but you may get an error when sending and perhaps have to resend an email.

We’ll be posting updates here as we complete the maintenance.

Update 3:45pm – Apparently, we’re running the best security we can for the version of the software currently being used.  We’ll be working on upgrading that software in the near future.

Update 4:09pm – We’re seeing reports of some old Apple devices which are not trusting the certificate.  It is OK to trust the certificate because it is legitimate.  It should be valid until June 2022.  Some older devices don’t “know about” the new certificates, so they have to be told to trust them.

Update 4:20pm-  The webmail is having issues related to the certificate problem.  We are investigating it.

Update 4:40pm – The webmail issue was related to IMAP not authenticating.  All issues relating to authentication should be resolved.  Trust issues with older devices will not change as that is inherent to the devices.

Update 5:40pm – Apple devices have a history of not liking certificate changes.  We’re finding that for most Apple devices, it is necessary to delete the account and set it up again to get the new certificate.  If you need our email settings for setting up again, please see our page here:  https://www.netsolinc.com/email-settings-2

This issue is now closed.  If you have any questions not answered here, please contact us at 256-547-6817, email support@internetpro.net, or chat with us using the window to the lower right of your screen.  Please note that the phone numbers listed on our site go to a corporate phone system and do not receive text messages.  If you like to text, please use the chat window below which also works on mobile.

May 17, 2020 – 1:30pm – We started experiencing some intermittent connectivity issues at around 12:49pm today.  We are investigating and currently all network services are up.   We believe it is an upstream issue, but will post updates here as we have them.

Update 1:50pm – The issues are upstream routing problems which are out of our hands.  The upstream carriers are aware of their problems and are working on it.   Connectivity is fairly stable at the moment with only short interruptions.  We expect the problems will be completely worked out shortly.

Update 8:20pm – After being fairly stable since the last update, we’ve begun to see packet loss again.  It is very intermittent and seems to be upstream BGP routing changes.   Hopefully, the root issue has been fixed and routing is updating to follow primary routes again.   Internally, our systems are responding, and again, this is on the digital highway outside of our domain.

Update May 18, 6:45am – The issue seems to have been related to one or more core routers in Georgia having problems.  Much of the traffic for the southeast runs through that area, so the routing problems were far reaching.  We are pretty sure we were correct in our assessment of the short interruption around 8:15pm last night.  Everything has been stable since the routes were adjusted at that time.

If you have any questions, please call 256-547-6817, email support@internetpro.net, or chat using the window at the lower right of your screen.  Please be aware that if services are currently impacted, email and chat may will be affected.

May 13, 2020 – We’ve received reports of phishing emails reaching our customers.  We actually received a few ourselves.   These messages are attempting to get our customers to use their email username / password to “resolved issue on account”.    Persons who log in using the link on the email will have their email credentials stolen and then spammers will use the account to send spam messages.   Please delete these message immediately.  These messages say they are from “Internetpro” and they include a picture of one of our work vans, so they may fool some customers.

If you have already clicked the link and  have given the spammers your credentials, please contact us about changing your password(s).   You can also do this on our webmail at https://webmail.internetpro.net.   If you have used the same password for other accounts, please change those as well.

Here is an example of what the email looks like:

If you have any further questions about this issue, please contact us at support@internetpro.net, use the chat window at the lower right of your screen, or call us at 256-547-6817.

Monday April 13, 2020 7:00am – Happy Monday the 13th as it seems that Comcast is down for the entire Gadsden/Attalla area. The outage begain at approximately 12:35am. According to their automated systems, they hope to have the issues resolved by tomorrow at 8:00am!  We do hope that estimate is incorrect, and will do our best to find more updated information as quickly as we can.

Update  7:52am – Most of town has come back up.  Looks like it came back up at 7:47am and is remaining stable at this time.

If you have questions, please email support@internetpro.net, contact us via chat using the window at the lower right of your screen, or give us a call at 256-547-6817.

March 16,2020 – As the world braces for Covid-19, we here at Network Solutions, Inc. wanted to provide updates on our activities regarding the situation.  Many non-essential jobs and activities are shutting down, but those essential to public health, safety, and even small business who can’t afford to take off for weeks are still up and running.  We understand that those businesses rely on their computer systems for essential functions.   Therefore, we are continuing to work to keep everyone up and running!

Hackers taking advantage: We’ve seen reports of hackers using “news updates” about the virus to establish control of computers.  Similar to phishing attacks, they are sending out emails which seemingly have news articles or important information about the pandemic and the links and/or attachments in the emails contain malware allowing the hackers to gain control.  For more information, please see these articles for examples:
Hackers taking advantage of COVID-19 to spread malware
Malicious coronavirus map hides AZORult info-stealing malware

Some things that are changing: We are working with many companies to enable their staff to better function using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) allowing people to access their work systems from home.  We also offer phone systems which allow work from anywhere.  We can get your service established very quickly and even utilize cell phones as extensions.  Let us know if this is something your company needs.  We feel that many people who make the transition to working from home may tend to remain there permanently, so this event may trigger a shift in the workforce.

The good news:  On a lighter note, “social separation” is a life goal for many computer people, so some of us welcome our new Covid-19 reality. 🙂   Gas prices are going down.  Traffic is improved.  The environment is getting better in hard hit areas.  China is already returning to normal.  I finally got a really good excuse to use that virus icon.  So, it is not all bad news.  Keep calm and hang in there.  We’ll be posting updates on this page as warranted.

Update: March 24 – As employees start to quarantine, either by choice or by law decree, they are having to have VPNs setup to be able to work from home.  We understand that this is very important, but our resources don’t increase with this kind of crisis.  If anything, they decrease because children are kept at home and families worry about exposure.  We are working through our service calls, but please understand, that these things can’t be done with instant gratification.  We must put you on the schedule and plan out the setup.  This may take a few days from the time you call in until your issue is resolved.

March 8, 2020 – We’ve done some updating of the email system.  Many of the updates are in the “back end”, but there are also some changes that you will see:

• Webmail interface updates
• New Landing Page (now login.php)
• New generation Tuxedo interface (Beta preview – shown as “New Tuxedo Preview” icon)
• Multi-group support for webmail address book contacts
• Tuxedo calendar invitation improved for greater compatibility with Outlook recipients

We’ll be cleaning up the colors and look over the next few days, but we wanted to go ahead and get the new features rolled out as soon as we could.  If you have any questions, please contact us via chat using the window in the lower right of your screen, or by email at support@internetpro.net.

February 7, 2020 – We’ve gotten reports that Sparklight (formerly CableOne) is almost completely down.  Apparently a drunk driver crashed into a pole very close to their head end and damaged/destroyed the fiber connection.  This happened at approximately 12:15am on 2/7/2020.  As of 7:00am, the pole has been replaced and Alabama Power has released the pole to Sparklight personnel for repairs.  There is currently no estimated time to repair (ETR).   We will continue to post updates here as we get them.

Update 8:15am – We have received reports of some customers of Sparklight coming back online, but have not gotten a confirmation of the repair status yet.

Update 12:00pm – Most of the customers we monitor seem to be up now.  We have a few outliers but think that they may just need to reboot equipment.

Update 1:15pm – We’ve been told that there are still a few customers who are out. However, there is still no estimated time to repair.

Update 3:00pm – The remaining customers are back online.  We believe all issues have been resolved.

If you have any questions/concerns please email us at support@internetpro.net or utilize the chat window at the lower right of this page.

Friday January 3, 2020 – Due to the impending end-of-life of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, we are experiencing some staffing shortages.  As a result, we’ve temporarily removed the online chat feature from this site and response times to the support@internetpro.net email account may be increased.   We recommend that if you have a time-sensitive support request you call 256-547-6817 so that our scheduling staff can put you in touch with a technician as soon as possible.   These measures will be in effect through Wednesday, January 8th.  We do apologize for any inconvenience and will do our best to handle all requests in a timely manner.

December 5, 2019 – We discovered a slight problem with the work done on the mail server system during the last maintenance.  Although the system is working well (we in the office have noticed a huge difference in performance), there is a configuration error that affects data redundancy.   We’ve got to correct that issue which will require stopping mail services briefly once again.  We are planning on doing this Tuesday, December 10th, in a window between 11:00pm and 2:00am CST.    During that time, email services will be unavailable as data is migrated.  We will post updates here as the work proceeds.

December 10 11:00pm – Maintenance is starting.

Update 11:35pm – Maintenance completed.  All services are running normally.

Again, if you have any questions, please contact us at support@internetpro.net, call 256-547-6817, or chat using the window at the lower right of this screen.

December 2, 2019 – After completing “phase 1” of our email system changes, we’re ready do move to “phase 2”.   We will be performing this maintenance starting at 11:00pm Tuesday, December 3rd.  We expect email services to be offline for about 1.5 hours (a bit longer than Phase 1). The actual maintenance window will extend until 2:00am to give us time to complete all upgrades.  Once this is complete, there should be no more interruptions for quite a while.    We do have to block email access for the allotted time to insure that all email is completely synced to the new filesystem and so that no email gets lost.   We appreciate your understanding.   Updates to Phase 2 will be posted here.    We will also be using the time to update some web servers to newer operating systems.  These upgrades will take some web services offline briefly during the maintenance period, but we do not expect any one service to be out during the entire maintenance window.

December 3, 2019 11:00pm – This maintenance is starting. Email services have been stopped so that the data can be synced to the new storage.

Update December 4, 1:20am – The good news is that the mail server system maintenance went great and mail services were restored in right at 45 minutes.   The bad news is that some web server maintenance went badly resulting in this site as well as others going offline.   We are still working on that, but we are making progress on restoring the sites (as you can see here).

Update 3:55am – The maintenance on the affected web server is complete.  It went a bit long, but everything should be working as expected. If you experience any issues with a site, please contact us.

If you have any questions, please email support@internetpro.net, call 256-547-6817, or access the chat window on the lower right of your screen.  Please note if using chat, it may take 2-5 minutes for a response. Please allow us time to respond.