Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott Internet Service Changes

After 32 months of providing free Internet service to the region, the role of the Prescott Community Freenet Association is changing.

"The first of our two major goals was to provide affordable Internet access to the people on the Prescott telephone exchange," said Danny Stewart, PCFA's secretary/treasurer. "Now that Internet of Clark County (IOCC) is operating in Prescott, we have permanently accomplished that goal. When PCFA started in July 1995, not a single Internet provider would consider coming to Prescott. By operating as a non-profit organization, PCFA users made it possible to get the Internet service into town.

"Our remaining goal is to continue our work to expand community resources on the world wide web. This makes it possible for the world to visit Prescott and Nevada County and see what we have to offer." Among the resources which can be accessed by Internet users are the text of two weekly newspapers, information from the local television station, genealogical resources and family histories, the history of Nevada County project from the Depot Museum, cemetery records and dozens of documents about Prescott and Nevada County.

Internet of Clark County was selected by PCFA after enough users committed to establishing an account with PCFA's preferred Internet provider. "That commitment by our users allowed us to negotiate a permanent no-charge connection for the server so PCFA can continue with the goals of developing community resources," Stewart said.

PCFA expresses its thanks to the Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN) and the Prescott Public Schools for the Internet connection since PCFA.ORG/PCFA was started. When the Federal Communication's Commission established educational discounts in 1997, services such as those offered by the PCFA prohibited the schools from receiving the discounts. Therefore, PCFA had to move its server to a commercial provider. PCFA also thanks the dozens of individuals and organizations which have contributed the funding necessary to pay the cost of the local telephone lines.

PCFA's big server was moved to the IOCC line Friday evening, Feb. 27, and is now known as PCFA.ORG and WWWPCFA.ORG. Another server forwards e-mail and web pages from wolfden.swcs.k12.ar.us to the PCFA.ORG server.

Stewart said PCFA users can continue to log in to the PCFA.ORG server at 887-1842 by using standard terminal emulation software such as Microsoft Windows '95's Hyperterminal program. The point-to-point protocol no longer works on PCFA.ORG. There is now just one telephone line with 15 minute session limits. PCFA users may check e-mail with any POP-3 client from anywhere on the Internet. If any IOCC users want to have their PFCA e-mail forwarded to their IOCC account, they can e-mail the request to: admin@pcfa.org.

The IOCC service currently has 12 lines, the point-to-point protocol that makes Netscape and the Internet Explorer work, all the time users reasonably need, and many other services. Applications for both IOCC and PCFA are available at Auto Parts Supply (NAPA) and the Bank of Prescott.

"It's been fun while it was totally free and PCFA is still going to be able to make a significant contribution to the community," Stewart said.