The Virtual café

Dialup Info - Email troubleshooting
admin@virtual-cafe.com
(360) 568-1887

Home

Members Page

Dialup Info

Dialup Troubleshooting

Email Setup

Email Troubleshooting

The Virtual Cafe Dial-up Access Numbers are:

Primary: (425) 405-7501
Secondary: (425) 405-7500
New numbers (for all of Puget Sound)
33.6k Auxiliary: (360) 568-8380

If you are a Mac user, please call the office for help if your are experiencing problems with your connection (dialing to our modems).

The 425 numbers contact two different modem racks running the latest V.90 firmware upgrades. These new numbers call into modems located in downtown Seattle, and require that you add ‘@café’ after your username to distinguish you from other callers to those modems.

The 360 number DOES NOT REQUIRE you to add '@cafe' after your username. You may connect with your regular login name and password.

We HIGHLY recommend that our users flash their modem firmware to the latest V.90 protocols available from the manufacturer of your modem. Contact your modem manufacturer or computer supplier for instructions.

We also have extended our calling range to include Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, and South Seattle. That number is (206-576-7500 & 7501). If you know people who would like to be Virtual Café customers but are in QWest territory, we can now provide service to them.

REMEMBER: The 425 numbers are the ONLY ones that require you to add ‘@café’ (without the quotes) to the end of your User name. This is very important to remember.

Here is a helpful picture for changing your dialup settings:
In /mycomputer on the desktop – go to Dial-up Networking…

(We also recommend
that you check your
‘server types’ settings.
RIGHT click on your
Dial-up Networking
connection for the
new number, and
select the
‘Server Types’ tab.
The ONLY things
that should be
checked in there are:
‘Enable Software
Compression’
and
‘TCP/IP’
No other boxes
should be checked.
Click ‘Ok’ to exit,
and ‘Ok’ once more.)
Any Mac user experiencing
difficulties should call
the office directly.

Troubleshooting your Dialup connection to The Virtual Cafe
Since the modems on the other side of the 425 numbers are owned by Zipcon.net, our opportunities to trouble shoot dialup problems are restricted. We have access to the modems and the logs that they generate, and can watch our users as they attempt to connect, but deeper explorations into problematic or recurring modem behaviors are a little more difficult to accomplish. Still, we promise to do our best in troubleshooting your connection attempts. Read through the following list and see if what you are experiencing is explained here, and if not, call the office for further inspiration (360-568-1887).

"I can't remember my password"
Please call the office (360-568-1887)

"After I dial in, it won't verify my username or password"

DIALING TO A 425 NUMBER: Check to see that you have put the '@cafe' after your username (without the quotes). Without this extra info, the modem rack you are dialing to won't be able to verify that you are a customer who should have access.
DIALING TO THE 360 NUMBER: You do not need '@cafe' after your username. If you are having a problem connecting to the 360 number and have remembered to not use '@cafe' after your username, please call the office (360-568-1887)
And don't forget, your password is 'CaSe SeNsatiVe', so be sure your 'caps lock' is off on your keyboard.

If you still aren't able to verify your username and password, it can often be a computer error (either in the way it communicates with your modem, or the modem itself).

A lot of times a fresh reboot can solve problems with errors encountered while trying to connect. This resets the modem and the Windows software to optimal operating conditions. This is highly recommended if your computer has been on for hours, and you have dialed up several times in a day.
Sometimes your Windows environmental settings get corrupted (I have personally experienced this). If repeated attempts to dial go smoothly but die when you reach the verification process, this can be the case sometimes. Dial-up Networking is the culprit, and it must be uninstalled and re-installed. Call the office for assistance if you need it (360-568-1887).
Once in a great while, the modem racks won't respond because, although they are taking phone calls, they aren't connected to the network, so they can't pass any information to you. When this occurs, please be patient, as 473,010,029 people will try to call in all at once while we are busy fixing the problem, which tends to make people upset that we won't pick up the phone! If you continuously get busy signals when calling under suspicious behavior by your modem (which worked perfectly fine for weeks!) this is probably what is going on. Often after a few minutes the problem will clear up, and you'll get an email from us saying 'Our network experienced a hiccup today...'

"It sure takes a long time to verify my username and password"
Make sure you have unchecked 'Log on to network' in your dialup networking connection to the Virtual Cafe.
Follow this path: My Computer/Dialup Networking/

RIGHT click on the connection that you have for the Virtual Cafe.
Select 'Properties'
Select the tab 'Server Types'

Make sure that there are only TWO items checked in this configuration window. Every other box should be UNCHECKED.

Enable Software Compression
TCP/IP

If it still takes a long time to verify your username and password after unchecking 'Log on to network', please call the office.

"I can't stay connected"
There can be a variety of reasons for this. The number one cause is bad communication between modem chipsets. There are only a few major manufacturers of modem chipsets (Lucent - USRobotics - Rockwell, to name three), but there are MANY modem manufacturers using chipsets from these companies. These chipset companies didn't get along for a long while, until standards were implemented. The current standard protocol for connecting two modems to each other is 'V.90'. If you have an older modem, and it can be upgraded, we recommend you do so as the first step in resolving modem disconnection issues. If you have an older modem, and it can't be upgraded, do yourself a favor and buy a new modem! However, there are some initialization strings that can help in the communication between different chipsets.

Here is a breakdown of what kinds of chipsets are running on what numbers for The Virtual Cafe & Zipcon.net:

425-405-7501 - V.90, X2 (once a standard) and ISDN - USR Robotics chipset, which can handle any modem
425-405-7500 - V.90, K56Flex (another standard) and ISDN - Lucent Technologies chipset
360-568-8380 - V.34 (non-upgraded, simple connections at 33.6k) - Rockwell chipset

Another reason for modem disconnections can be attributed to user 'line noise'. The modem in your computer and the modem on our side at the other end of the telephone line don't deal very well with pops or clicks on telephone circuits. This 'noise' is interpreted as 'data' and messes up the transfer of bits and bytes. Do you have 'noise' on your line? Well, pick up any telephone in the house that connects to your modem line (that ISN'T a portable phone) and dial a single digit. Then listen... If you hear strange little hissing noises, or popping sounds now and then, you have noise on your line. This scenario, thankfully, is pretty rare. That is why it is at the end of this section, and the only thing you can do about it is call your local phone company and get a tech to come out. Back to top

Checking/Configuring your email settings
There are a variety of email programs on the market today, so this troubleshooting section will deal with information that is neccessary to every program in order to send and receive email. Other configurations may be needed, but we can't be everything to everyone, so call the office if you find your email settings are correct, but you are still getting errors (360-568-1887). If you can't find where to look at your settings, poke around a little. They should be there somewhere... When you find them, please make sure that the following information is input correctly:

Information needed by every email program -

Make sure that your 'Reply to' address is: your_user_name@virtual-cafe.com
Check your username and password (in an email program, you DON'T need the '@cafe' after your username, which is only used when you dial to the numbers listed above).
Both 'incoming (POP3)' & 'outgoing (SMTP)' servers are: virtual-cafe.com
The Virtual Cafe has no proxy server, so you never need to worry about that if you see a place to enter one.

That is all that is critical to sending and receiving email. Email programs have other non-critical settings that you can adjust (like IMAP vs. POP3), and it is up to you how you would like to adjust those settings. If you don't know what IMAP is, please read the help file. Most help files in your email software can tell you how and what to adjust in order to send and receive email correctly. More troubleshooting follows...

Troubleshooting your Dial-up Email settings

"I can't remember my password"
There is nothing we can do for this. Your email is lost forever.

Just kidding. Call the office (360-568-1887)

"I can receive email, but I can't send it."
If you are unable to send email, check your 'outgoing (SMTP)' server name in your email program. If after checking you still cannot send email, here are some questions for you:

Are you on a dialup or a DSL? If you are on a DSL, please read the Email Troubleshooting section of the DSL info page.
Are you travelling and connecting through a dialup on the road? Our system has been recently changed to block people outside of our network from sending email off of our server (spamming). If you are travelling, the service you are connecting to will be blocked from sending email through our outgoing server (virtual-cafe.com). Please set your outgoing email server in your email program to the outgoing email server name of the provider you are connected to.
Are you at home and having a nice meal? If you are at home having a nice meal, relax and enjoy it. Don't worry so much about email. Food is more important.

IF YOU STILL CAN'T SEND OUT EMAIL please call the office at (360) 568-1887.

"I can send email, but I can't receive it".
If you get an error while trying to receive email, check your 'incoming (POP3)' server name in your email program. Make sure your username (without '@cafe') and password are correct. If after checking your settings, you still cannot receive email, please call the office (360) 568-1887. These kinds of errors can have a variety of reasons, but are a rare occurrence. We can troubleshoot it with you over the phone.

"I am getting an error that says 'We do not relay' or 'relay not allowed'."
You will receive this error if:

You are currently not dialed up to the Virtual Cafe through our network (i.e., you are away from home using a modem that is connected to another ISP).
You are at home, but don't have your 'outgoing email (SMTP)' set to: virtual-cafe.com (try checking your email settings).

There could be other reason's why you get the 'no relay' error, but these are the two main reasons. Call the office if your settings are correct, you're dialed into the Virtual Cafe, and you still get an error.

"My email program is just sitting there, trying to download, and it won't stop, the darn thing"
If someone sent you an email with a large file in it, this can sometimes cause Outlook (Express) to place a 'lock' on the rest of your email sitting on our server. Our email server has a lot to do in the transfer of mail, and large files often cause them to choke. The lock caused by Outlook (Express) as it trys to grab that large file needs to be deleted and the files saved separately in order to retreive the rest of your email. We can do this on the phone, so please call the office (360-568-1887).

"I re-installed Windows 9x and my email and address book are gone!"
Outlook, and several other email programs have an 'Import' tool that can help you recover email that may still be on your harddisk. Making sure you have backed up your email and address book by 'Exporting' it is a good policy to remember. I know that doesn't help you now, but in the future, you'll thank me for reminding you.

Home

Members Page

Back to top