Wireless Access
Procedures and Regulations
THE WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS PAYMENT PROCESS IN NOW IN PLACE. Please procede to this link to complete your order. You will be making payment directly to the PA Parks and Forests Foundation, our parent organization. www.PaParksandForests.org
At the very top you will see a tab for STORE, click on this then along the left side margin will be a tab for WIRELESS FEE. Click here to complete your transaction. You will recieve either a transaction or receipt number which you must then email back to me so I can either activate your 2009 account for 2010, activate a new account for you that you have already applied for over the winter, or also send me the following information. Your username will be your first initial and you last name - small case. Send me a password of 6 to 8 characters, keep it simple and also small case. I will need your contact information as well please, full name, address, email address and phone. Authorization will be for one device only, not multiple devices. Contact me at csspdsf@gmail.com
If you have any problems with your transaction, please let me know immediately so I can contact PPFF on your behalf.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PAY AS YOU GO on the wireless, the cost is $10.oo for a 2 day use pass. You pay for this at the Lyman Run Park Office, or you can pay me (Maxine Harrison) if you see me at the park, or one of our rangers, RangerWill Davis, Ranger Dennis Krushinski or Ranger Jason Patterson. Maintenance personnel are not permitted to collect this fee. You will then be issued a username and password that will expire after 2 days.
You are reponsible for knowing the Terms of Service (which will be your opening page the first time you use the system and it is implied that you agree to all conditions of use. Failure to disable your auto update s for ANY of your programs could result in a loss of signal to the entire system for a 24 hour period. If you are found to be the responsible party, you will lose your access to the system and there will be no refund.
See you under the stars!
YOU MUST HAVE YOUR AUTOMATIC UPDATES FOR ALL SOFTWARE (including virus ware) TURNED OFF PRIOR TO LOGGING ONTO THE WIRELESS SYSTEM. LARGE DOWNLOADS CAN CAUSE THE BANDWIDTH TO BE REDUCED TO EXTREMELY LOW LEVELS AND THIS REDUCED BANDWIDTH WILL CONTINUE FOR A 24 HOUR PERIOD. SEE BELOW FOR INSTRUCTIONS TO DISABLE YOUR AUTO UPDATES:
For instance - for Windows XP, go to Control Panel, then click on Microsoft Updates. The dialog box that comes up with show you if you are on Automatic updates or not. If so, click on "Pick at Time to Install Updates". This will bring you to another dialog box that will allow you to turn your automatic updates off. You must do this PRIOR to logging into the wireless internet at the park. Failure to do so could result in you received a large update file that will close the system down and you can be removed from the wireless access permanently if you fail to adjust your computer settings. For other operating systems, please consult your HELP files to get instructions for temporarily turning off your automatic updates.
Also good advice from Astronomer Mark Starner:
Please refrain from using programs such as Skype, which uses a video interface..this is also a big use of bandwidth...save these activities for when you are at home, please. Once issued a username and password, you will be solely responsible for their usage and again, abuses of the system will not be tolerated. Please respect your other astronomers and their need for checking into weather sites or to check their email.
If you are set up in the very back portion of the field, you may experience too weak of a signal and might need to move up towards the center of the field to use the internet. Security software will be able to detect if someone is abusing the system by downloading large files or going into illegal websites. In that case, the person doing so will be permanently removed from the system. If you have any questions at this time, please email me at the above address. If it is a technical questions, I can pass it on to our installer.
Wireless access installation was in part financed with a grant from the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation - of which the Dark Sky Fund/Association is a part. For further information about PPFF, please click on the link provided on the side-bar menu. Many thanks to the great folks at PPFF and to those astronomers who donated money to match the grant for this project!
