FAQ for MCSnet internet & phone service

To change the homepage of your browser to mcsnet.ca:

In Internet Explorer:

• Open Internet Explorer
• Open the tools menu at the top
• Open the Internet options
• Type mcsnet.ca in the homepage area
• Click Apply and then OK

In Mozilla Firefox:

• Open Firefox
• Open the tools menu at the top
• Open options…
• Click on the Main icon at the top
• Type mcsnet.ca in the homepage area
• Click OK

Delete it. MCSnet will never email you requesting personal information. Be careful about email con-artists who may try to pretend to be your bank or credit card company, and ask you to verify your data (called a phishing attack). They will create false bank or financial sites (Royal Bank, CIBC, PayPal, MCSnet etc) and then attempt to capture your username and password. Do not respond to email requests to login to your financial accounts and do not click on links contained in suspicious email messages. The website will look exactly like the institution you are expecting to see, do not be fooled by this.

Usage is tracked to ensure the highest quality of service for all of our subscribers. Limits on downloads affect only a small percentage of users and ensures that network resources are not tied up amongst a smaller amount of heavy users. The available bandwidth at a tower site or access point is shared amongst the connections using it, by using a traffic cap we can allow for faster per second speeds while limiting the slowdowns that might be associated with several heavy users on the same node. The alternative strategy is to have no limit on the amount of usage but severely limit the top speed to ensure even distribution. MCSnet does not track your specific usage of websites you visit or the content of the files that you may download.

There are approximately 1,000 MB in a GB. A typical song can be about 5 MB in size. You will be able to download about 200 songs with 1 GB of downstream traffic. Websites are typically only kB in size (this page is approx. 0.000070 GB); you normally will be able to visit thousands of websites before using a GB of data (not including sites that host videos and other multimedia content). The highest usage is from streaming video like Netflix, where an hour of video can use more than 1 GB of data.

After reaching the cap for your package you will be presented with a webpage explaining that you have reached your usage cap. Some additional leeway has been provided on all packages before the service is disrupted.

You can monitor your usage through the MyAccount section of our website or via our app. Click on this page to learn more about MyAccount.

The most economical upgrade is to increase your package to the next one up.

We have introduced a new option called ‘Unlimited Mode’. Unlimited mode will allow you to continue to use the internet beyond the monthly usage cap at a severely reduced rate of speed of 200 kbps.

Usage can be tracked by downloading the MCSnet app. If you have usage that is beyond what you expect, this is usually caused by:

• Streaming video from services like Netflix and YouTube
• Peer to Peer file sharing programs, commonly used with the downloading of music and movies (bit torrent like utorrent, etc.)
• Many hours of online gaming, especially if hosting a server
• Someone else connecting to your wireless router (please use a password with wireless routers)
• Viruses and spyware

Usage is tracked only as an amount of data, the traffic you transfer to and from the internet is not logged, we do not track where you go on the internet. If you are looking for help determining the source of unknown usage, MCSnet may not be able to help you with unknown computer issues.

Netflix has settings to adjust the quality, which can affect how much traffic it uses. Please see this page for more info on the settings.

You can monitor your usage by downloading the MCSnet app and clicking on Traffic Monitor.

You can administer your account by logging into the My Account page or by downloading the MCSnet app. In My Account you can monitor your usage, review previous invoices, change the password for other emails associated with your account, change the password of the Admin account that you used to login here, and register a new device to the connection.

Here’s a guide with more details on administration settings.

Your original username and password should be labelled on your copy of your contract. If you require assistance, please call us to find out your username or to reset your password.

Absolutely. You will be sharing the same internet connection among all of your devices. A router is required for splitting the connection. You can purchase or lease a MCSnet router by visiting this page.

With our new MCSnet routers, you just need to plug and play. If you have any issues, please contact Tech Suport.

We have some older guides on setting up some routers like Netgear, D-Link, Linksys, and Asus.

The normal configuration for a MCSnet connection that goes directly to your computer will have NAT translation active with the radio. Some ports may be blocked due to this translation. If you would like the ports to be available, you will need to use a router as a gateway for your connection. If you get a router, the NAT translation can be disabled (please contact us), and then the connection will be open where you can manage use through port forwarding on your router.

If NAT is disabled on your radio, only port 25 (that does not go through our mail server) is blocked. If you are administrating your own mail server, you may need to have this port opened up (please contact us). To open port 25 you will have to have a static IP address (available through some of our business packages). If, after opening port 25, your connection is responsible for mail (spam) abuse, your account may be subject to additional fees and/or suspension.

If you are moving to a location where MCSnet provides service, we can move the equipment to the new location and align it. A new contract will apply like with a new installation. Please contact our scheduling department 30 days prior to make these arrangements and schedule the appointments. The radio (on the roof) and associated power adapter remain the property of MCSnet. If you are moving out of the coverage area, we will have to make arrangements to uninstall the equipment.

For transfers of service to new tenants, if the new owners are moving into your current location and they would like to assume use of the equipment, please have them fill out the sign-up form from our website. You will have to contact MCSnet to inform and authorize this change. If the new owners use the equipment with no servicing necessary (please do not take the power adapter with you). The new owners must sign a standard contract.

If there is a period of time where no one will be using the service, then you may want to make use of our parked package. Parking the service places it in a dormant state for a monthly rate of $19.95 per month.

Please visit our printable Connection Troubleshooting page for step by step help. Steps normally involve rebooting your router, or renewing the IP address on your computer.

You can check your internet speed conveniently and quickly by:

1. Open our speed test tool.
2. Click on the button that reads “Test Your Speed Now.”
3. Hit the “Go” button when prompted.
4. You will notice that it will reveal the IP address owner and the location of the IP address you are using.
5. You will see your download speed and upload speed momentarily.

There are some common factors that may cause an interruption of your surfing.

Wireless Interference with Your Wireless Router

First you should eliminate the possibility of any problems on your computer or local network. Wireless networks are sensitive to interference from similar frequencies. If you are using a wireless connection with a wireless router, please be aware that 2.4 GHz phones, microwave ovens, baby monitors, and other electronic devices may interfere with your wireless network. You may be able to resolve these issues by changing the locations of these devices and/or selecting different channels for your 2.4 GHz cordless phone. Running a cable from the router to your computer to replace a wireless shot may save a lot of problems in the future.

Firewall Flooding from Excessive Number of Connections

If your computer is directly connected to the Internet, the firewall (NAT) table may be flooded due to unrequited requests (most common with peer to peer programs). If this is the case, it should start working again when you unplug the Motorola power adapter and reconnect it. After reconnecting power, you will have to wait about 2 minutes for the radio to reboot and your computer to negotiate a new address. If this is a constant problem for you, please contact us so that we can change the nature of how these unrequited requests are handled. We can also disable NAT if you are using a router, please call us if you would like to have this changed.

Interference with Wireless Feed to Tower Site

The other type of interference will be where the wireless Internet connection MCSnet is providing is disrupted because of local or remote crosstalk on the wireless frequencies. The most common application is cause by 900 MHz cordless phones when a 900 MHz radio is used for the Internet connection. 900 MHz radios are used most often when the line of site to the tower includes trees. MCSnet recommends replacing your cordless phone if it is causing drops in your Internet. Cordless phones have started the transition to a new wireless standard referred to as DECT to provide them their own frequency to avoid creating noise on commonly used bands. You can read about DECT here.

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is where a connection is flooded with traffic in an attempt to overload it. Please check our our DDoS info page for more details. Here is another great guide on DDos.

MCSnet generally discourages the use of Norton and Mcafee products as well as software firewalls unless you are familiar with how to configure and repair them. Although the Norton products have improved in some areas over the last few years, there are free alternatives to Norton (Microsoft Security Essentials) that have proven to be much more trouble free and efficient to keep your computer running quickly (Here’s some details on what slows computers down the most). To uninstall Norton properly, you will have to download and run symnrt (Symantec Norton removal tool available here)

For good alternatives please visit our recommendations page.

Rebooting your router

If your internet is having connection issues, try rebooting your router. Do this before trying a reset to factory settings.

1. Unplug the power supply to the router. Check to make sure all the lights on the router are off.
2. Wait one minute.
3. Plug the router back in.
4. Wait for all the lights to turn on.
5. Connect to the internet again.

If you are still having issues with your connection, please contact Tech Support.

With a MCSnet router, download the MCSnet app, click on Wi-Fi and “edit”. Here you can edit your Wi-Fi Name and your Password.

Here’s how to change your Wi-Fi password on routers other than MCSnet routers.

1. You will need to log into your router’s configuration page.
2. Open a browser and input the appropriate IP address into the search bar.
3. You will need to know the admin username and password.
4. Once logged in you will see a tab that will likely say “Wireless Security” or “Password Settings.”
5. Select the router you need. You should then be prompted to select a new password.
6. Save the new password.
7. Devices may need to be reconnected to the internet by entering the new password.
8. It’s a good idea to keep the new password recorded in a secure place.