Mid-Atlantic Internet Cooperative

1. MAIC Affiliated ISPs
2. List of Home Internet Service Resellers

MAIC is the result of ISPs in the Mid-Atlantic Region combining efforts to provide a larger customer base with expanded coverage areas while maintaining the local ISP service level.

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MAIC's Dedicated Connection Service is provided for individuals who are looking for an uninterrupted connection to the Internet. Telecommuters, power users, and individuals working from their home office are all prime candidates for a dedicated connection. Along with all the benefits of a regular dial up connection, a dedicated connection provides the customer a static IP address. A static address allows your computer to act as a host on the Internet. If you think you might be interested in a dedicated connection for your home or home office, our circuits representatives, who can be reached by e-mail or by phone, would be happy to discuss your needs, the options avialable to you, and the pros and cons of each.

Wide Area Networking is the art of connecting two networks that are not networkable by conventional Local Area Networking means(ethernet and token ring). As that standard definition is fairly nebulous, there are many options available, ranging from standard T1s(1.544Mbps) to Multi- Megabit Wireless Radio(2-10Mbps) to SONET fiber optic rings(155+Mbps-- Not Yet Available).

When you connect your network to the Internet, you should consider protecting your network from the ravages of the Internet. The best way to do this is to purchase a firewall for your network. A firewall allows your network to retrieve data from the Internet, but at the same time, prevents the Internet from retrieving data from machines on your network. More information on firewalls can be found on our Firewall Homepage.

If you wish to connect multiple office networks to the Internet, and share data between them, you should consider installing a Virtual Private Network(VPN). A VPN encrypts all data from one office and tunnels it through the Internet to the other office, where it is decrypted and forwarded to the destination. Our COMSEC Firewall can be optionally configured to act as a node on a VPN, encrypting all data sent to the other nodes in the VPN. If you have any questions, please call us at 1.717.249.7270 or write us at wan@pa.net.

For information on how to become a MAIC host site for an affiliated ISP click here.