13 Mar 2008 - Web Mail maintenance has been completed PLEASE READ! RIVA.NET engineers have finished the restoral of the Web Mail server, and Web Mail has been upgraded to a more enhanced and easy-to-use format than ever before. That restoral was accomplished at the same time as the upgrade to the secure server (a couple of days early). The secure server now requires the use of "Outgoing SMTP Authentication" to send email. You will not be able to send outgoing email now unless you are using our Web Mail or a modern email client program that features Outgoing SMTP Authentication, and you change your SMTP port from 25 to 587. All modern programs today feature Outgoing SMTP Authentication and allow the changing of the outgoing SMTP port number from 25 to 587. Some even do it by default (such as Apple Mail and both Windows and Mac Eudora), so you may need to change nothing. Instructions on how to make sure that "Outgoing SMTP Authentication" is set may be found under the blue "Setup Help" menu button above. Please note: the host names for both the incoming and outgoing servers are still "mail.riva.net", and the Incoming POP server port stays 110 - it does not change. Incoming mail will NOT work right if you are using "riva.net" as the incoming mail server host name. Use "mail.riva.net" instead.

11 Mar 2008 - Web Mail maintenance RIVA.NET maintains a high-volume POP email server for use by our subscribers. That server is working fine today. We also maintain, for use only when "on the road" or for emergency use, a Web Mail server, through which you can view a copy of any mail that your POP mail client program leaves on the server, using only a web browser such as FireFox or Internet Explorer. Our engineers have identified a problem with the Web Mail server and are working to upgrade and restore that server. We apologize for any inconvenience, but our engineers have not given us a time yet for when that restoral will be complete. Until that time, we advise that all customers use the POP server only to retrieve email, using your regular email client program. As soon as we have any updates on the expected time to repair of the Web Mail server, we will post it here.

Please remember that the time to our shutoff of the unfiltered outgoing SMTP server on March 15th 2008 is drawing close. As part of the continuing improvement program to eliminate SPAM (unsolicited commercial email), we are now requiring that all email client programs be set to use "outgoing SMTP authentication" and to use SMTP port 587 for outgoing email, instead of SMTP port 25. Please be advised that, if necessary, we may wind up going ahead and implementing the new service earlier than 15 March 2008 by a few days, in order to solve the web mail problem, since web mail works fine on the new servers. So, if you have not yet made this adjustment to the settings of your email program, please go ahead and do it now. As always, thank you!

01 Jun 2007 - Outgoing email change RIVA.NET email servers are being upgraded to help reduce the impact of the SPAM epidemic on our email users, and one important change is that we have enabled "Outgoing SMTP Authentication" in our servers for all users, and are asking that everyone who uses our POP and SMTP email (with programs such as Outlook Express, Thunderbird, and Eudora) please click the option setting that says "My server requires outgoing SMTP authentication" on the "server" tab on their email properties, or its equivalent on other email client programs. It is also recommended that you change the outgoing SMTP port 25 setting, by replacing the number 25 with the number 587 on the "advanced" tab (in Outlook Express for example). By doing this, you send your outgoing email through a path to our servers unknown to spammers. Without your enabling "outgoing SMTP authentication", you may have problems sending outgoing email after the March 15th 2008 switchover date, using some conventional email client programs. As always, there is a very good reason for making this change. Requiring authentication for outgoing email prevents spammers from using your email account to "spoof" the server to send out their spam using your account. This will greatly reduce the possibility that your email address will get inadvertently blacklisted by certain other major providers of "free" or anonymous email accounts. In the past year, all our new customers have been set up with the new settings, so this will come as "news" primarily to our long-term customers.

01 May 2007 - Baltimore/Annapolis area Number Changes RIVA.NET has finally completed the conversion of our dial systems over to our new, higher-reliability server platform! We began this five-month project 01 Dec 2006, following problems with Verizon in mid-November 2006. We no longer depend upon Verizon for trunking or transport. Starting May 1st 2007, all customers are asked to change their DialUp Networking phone number immediately for connecting to the Internet, if you have not already. The old numbers will stop working soon, so please make this change as soon as possible. If the number you are currently using does not end in "208" or "207", you need to change it right away! Until our online number list is completely changed over, please refer to the Setup Help screens on this web site for your particular version operating system, and change to the following numbers in the Maryland area. Other areas of the country are in the web site Number List above. Here are the central Maryland new numbers, for your convenience::

14 Nov 2006 - Baltimore/Annapolis area incoming POP number outage Several of our incoming POP numbers in the Annapolis and Baltimore area are experiencing fast-busy today due to a technical difficulty within the phone company's systems. Many customers have called and are unaware that they can always switch to one of our many alternate numbers, such as 4108584208 in Annapolis, 4434550208 in Baltimore, or any other number any time they want. We are introducing new numbers nationwide and asking that all customers change to them now, since we will be deactivating the old numbers that were with the troublesome phone company in six month's time. Customers are always encouraged to enter a main number and one or more alternate numbers in their DialUp Networking settings. Other numbers besides the above main numbers for any area are always found in our Phone Number list above..

25 Oct 2006 - Baltimore/Annapolis area incoming POP number outage One of our 15-plus incoming POP numbers in the Annapolis area was experiencing slow logons this morning, 25 Oct 2006. Service was restored later in the morning. Customers are always encouraged to enter a main number and one or more alternate numbers in their DialUp Networking settings, just for the rare occasions when the main number experiences any problems.

26 May 2006 - Memorial Day Holiday and Observance Our live telephone Customer Support is closing early today, Friday 26 May 2006, at 3:00pm EDT, for the Memorial Day Weekend, and will be closed tomorrow, Saturday 27 May 2006. Server techs will of course remain on-duty 24 hours a day through the weekend to handle emergencies. Please feel free to leave voicemail on our Customer Service numbers starting at 3:00pm, and our night staff will screen them and make return calls as soon as possible to those who are reporting true systems outages or server outages.

Please keep our troops and families uppermost in your hearts this Memorial Day weekend, as we honor and commemorate the sacrifices of life and bodies in World War II and other wars and conflicts as well. These soldiers fought for many reasons, but we are all free today because of them and not all speaking German or Japanese, so they deserve honor and respect. Accordingly, we are asking that everyone pause for a moment on Monday 29 May 2006 around 3pm, and observe a moment of silence, say a prayer, and think perhaps of a bugler playing taps for the thousands who gave their lives for our Country and its way of life.

20 May 2006 - Mail Server and Account Manager update Our primary mail server was down earlier this week, and was successfully restored. Most passwords have now been restored as well, so there should be no trouble receiving email. There may be a few remaining users whose email passwords were not known to us, and who consequently have had their email passwords set back to their default values. Before those users can use an email client program such as Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, or Thunderbird, they must first log in to Account Manager using their regular Account Manager password (which was never lost). Then, simply click "My Account" and "Plans" to view and edit your email password. Make your password anything you like, as long as it matches what you have already programmed into your email client program. Once again, if and only if your regular email password is not working, please log in to your Account Manager immediately (using your normal Account Manager password) and change your email password back to what you wish it to be.

As always, you can use Web Mail to change your password too, but we recommend Account Manager since it is the central control center for all your accounts with us. Remember, if you have a custom email domain with us, where your email address is johndoe@yourdomain.com, your Web Mail login is http://mail.yourdomain.com (substitute your actual custom email domain for the "yourdomain.com"). Do not try to use the main http://mail.riva.net Web Mail site to modify your custom domain password.

01 May 2006 - Please update your PC's email program settings for Outgoing (SMTP) Authentication by 31 May 2006 In an effort to combat the rising tide of Unsolicited Commercial Email, or "spam", all RIVA.NET email servers after 31 May 2006 will no longer allow the sending of outgoing (SMTP) email for anyone who has not already set their PC's email program to use "Outgoing (SMTP) Authentication by username and password". If you find that you are not able to send outgoing email, the steps for making the necessary changes are given in our "Setup Help" menu pages above. By making these changes, you will further enhance the anti-spam protection that we already provide and further reduce the very few spam messages that do get through to your email inbox. The instructions for your PC's email program can always be found in our "Setup Help" pages. If your email program is not specifically listed, then let us know and we will do our best to add it. All modern email programs have the same or similar settings that allow for Outgoing (SMTP) Authentication.

04 May 2005 - Beware phony emails from Sober-N virus Earlier this week, our users began calling us to ask if we were sending them email with a strange footer, or perhaps blocking their email to other ISPs. We said we were not, and upon research we discovered that yet another virus, the Sober-N virus, is forging the domain of people's email domain onto spam messages. These messages have one sole purpose - to get you curious so that you will click them and become infected with the Sober-N virus. The good news is that, as always, we are killing 100 percent of all known email viruses - including the Sober-N virus - in our servers before they can even get to you through our email. That still leaves other mail systems out there responding to the forged email messages, and you may see those forged reply messages appear in your inbox

Just ignore such messages - they do not come from RIVA.NET or from any of the other ISPs which may appear in them. You will know it is the remnants of the Sober-N virus if the end of the message has three lines, each of which begins with three asterisks followed by an ISP's domain name and weblink. The message is harmless, and our standard advice is, as always. don't click any web links that may appear in such messages, and don't reply to any spam messages, ever! Hope this answers your questions about those weird emails you have been seeing this week, and thank you once again for the opportunity to be of service to you!

04 Jan 2005 - Telco issue in Maryland Earlier this morning there was a Verizon-related technical issue with 1 of our over 50000 dialup numbers. As of 9am this morning, the issue was resolved and all numbers are now working fine and have no busy signals or other connection problems. Thank you once again from RIVA.NET!

11 Nov 2004 - New RIVA.NET Account Manager available! Our new customer Account Manager (button above) allows you to see and control your own RIVA.NET account! You can now log in and change your dialup password, check your current usage this month or for any past month, check on the status of online payments made to your account, view invoices and statements online, and make payments to your account anytime 24 hours a day, using stored credit card or electronic check accounts. Just enter your dialup username and password to login. Soon, you will be able to create and edit your email accounts, and control your web site accounts using this same interface. We hope you find these tools helpful, and we will be enabling more and more users for this option in the near future, as well as making a continuing series of improvements to the interface in response to further feature requests from you, our members. Thank you once again for your support!

05 Nov 2004 - RivaFast Software Updated - FREE 14-day trial Following apparently an unannounced software update that Microsoft has made to their Windows operating system, we have had reports of the RivaFast software malfunctioning. If you are experiencing this problem, you will notice that the software continually asks for your username and password, even though you are already logged on. We have issued a fix that is available by clicking HERE or by clicking on the above blue menu button entitled "Try RivaFast!". When the first screen loads, click the button named "Try It!". Read through and print the instruction page, and then click "Start Download". Follow the instructions, being sure to enter your correct primary email address when prompted, or you will not receive your password numbers by reply email. Disable any popup blockers before installing. Completing these steps will install our improved RivaFast software with greatly expanded functionality, including a new Ad Blocker and a new Firewall to help protect your PC from hackers and trojans. You may give the service a FREE 14-day trial using this link. You will need to remove (un-install) the old RivaFast software and restart your computer before installing the new version. We apologize for the inconvenience, doubly so given that there was no way this Microsoft action could have been foreseen. NOTE- if you are an existing RivaFast customer, please use this link anyway to sign up again- we will automatically convert the trial to active status after you sign up in the new interface.

01 Feb 2004 - RIVA.NET announces price reductions! Our Nationwide Dial-Up ISDN and Dial-up Services just got even more affordable :-)

Effective 01 Feb 04, all new subscribers to RIVA.NET will be given our Nationwide Service at the same prices as our former Regional Service. And, all our existing subscribers with current accounts in good standing have been upgraded to full Premium Nationwide as well. From now on, every RIVA.NET subscriber has full access to our over 50,000 local dialup numbers nationwide! To see how the pricing table for dial-up services has been simplified, just click HERE. It is our way of saying "Thank you from all of us at RIVA.NET" for having been subscribers for so long - we value each and every one of you!

01 Dec 2003 - RIVA.NET announces Accelerated Dialup Service! And just in time for Christmas, too :-)

To sign up for your FREE 7 day trial of the RIVAfast service, click HERE and follow the instructions. Use your existing RIVA.NET dial-up username and password to enroll. If you like the service, just click "activate" at any time during the 7-day trial, and we will start applying the $3.95 (times the number of months remaining in your term) automatically. Or, just uninstall the Accelerator and there will be no charge.

We are now offering our new RivaFast Accelerated Dialup Service for a 7 day free trial. For a small additional monthly fee, this new service speeds up your web browsing and other Internet activity. It requires only your existing RIVA.NET dialup connection and a free new software program, our own RIVAfast Accelerator, that you download from our web site during the signup process and install on your Windows PC. After activating the service, you will see dramatic speed increases, as fast as three to five times the speed of your current RIVA.NET dialup connection or more. This is the next best thing to DSL or cable for a lot less money, and in some cases is just as fast or faster (when compared to a long loop-length DSL installation with rates reduced by wire length to as low as 150K or less, an accelerated dial solution using a dialup phone connection which previously ran at 53K may now exceed real rates of 180K or more in real-world web browsing and 250K or more for email)! RivaFast uses our own InterCache Accelerator, a special high-speed compression technology which squeezes more data through your existing phone line and modem then expands it in your computer to yield dramatically faster web surfing, email, and noticeable speedups on even the toughest and longest web file downloads.

Initial pricing is set at just $3.95 per month-equivalent, and can be added on to your existing dialup service term. Discounts are available for adding the service to the remainder of your annual term plan. We look forward to your signing up for this new and extremely inexpensive opportunity to beat high cable and DSL pricing and make your dialup connection faster - RivaFast!

Please note that this service is, at present, only for WIndows 98 or later PCs running at least Internet Explorer 5.0 or above, and either Outlook Express or Outlook. Regrettably, it does not yet run on our beloved Macs, nor does it yet work with Netscape or other non-Microsoft browsers :-(

01 Sept 2003 - RIVA.NET expands its Nationwide Service! Our Nationwide Service now covers over 50,000 local dialup city locations across the United States! Detailed prices and terms now on our Dial-up Services page!

30 May 2003 - RivaDSL is now available to populous areas of Maryland as well as our Nationwide coverage, providing those businesses and households are within 10,000 feet or less of a qualified telephone company Central Office. With speeds as fast as 1.5 Mb/s in and out, and prices starting at $36.00 per month-equivalent, our DSL packages with full ISP services and a free backup nationwide unlimited dialup account are superior to other DSL providers - and we guarantee the famous RIVA.NET one-stop personal customer service for both technical and billing issues! For those households and businesses which are unable to be served by DSL, we still offer RIVAfast Portable DSL and ISDN broadband at 128 kb/s in and out.

Try our RIVA.NET Web-based email! Click HERE to see your RIVA.NET mail via web! Or, just type http://mail.riva.net into any standards-compliant web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.

As always, we offer 100% filtering of known email viruses at no extra charge on all our dialup services plans, as well as aggressive SPAM filtering.

Come Join Us ! Money-Back Pro-rata Guarantee! Call 410.956.0500 today !

Click HERE for Dialup PRICES and PLAN DETAILS

We have been an ISP for over fourteen years now - longer than anyone else in Maryland. After you have read these pages and explored our site, we hope you will agree that we are Simply The Best choice for your Internet access, and will decide to make us your ISP too! We provide exceedingly high quality services for both the home modem user and the dedicated high-reliability business user. Our technical staff is composed entirely of degreed, experienced professional electrical engineers, computer engineers, and software engineers.

Come Join Us ! Call 410.956.0500 today !

Give us a call at 410.956.0500 or drop us an email, and see just how fast we can convince you that you will be making the best choice of your life by switching to us now and letting us be your Total Solution Internet Service Provider.

Our Price Protection Program - These Term Plans guarantee your prices will not go up...

We offer several Term Pricing Plans for Dial-up Services, that both protect you from the inevitable price increase in this industry in the upcoming months and years, and provide the guarantee that when the next speed jump in technology comes your service will be automatically upgraded to the higher speeds at no cost. See our Dial-up Services page for more details!

Situated on the Chesapeake Bay off the South River, Riva MD is a small waterfront community of several thousand vacationers, fishermen, and professionals. Just a short drive across the Riva Bridge from Annapolis, and minutes from Washington DC or Baltimore MD, the little community of Riva is a refuge in the evenings from the busy work day for those in government, military, industry, and the arts.

For over eighteen years, one of the best-kept secrets in the Annapolis Maryland area was a well-camouflaged high-speed computing and telecommunications facility run by a small company of highly-educated degreed engineers providing communications, computer, and data network design engineering services to NASA, Department of Defense, and intelligence-community customers. Today, that company has opened their doors to the public and converted their state-of-the-art high speed computer facilities, leased-lines, and fiber-optic communications network into the area's fastest, most efficient, and best-engineered Internet Service Provider, and a major nationwide telecommunications carrier offerring retail and wholesale dial solutions across the United States to hundreds of other ISPs.

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