You connect to the Internet by first dialing with your modem, and connecting to Primary's server. Click here for more information about Internet Dialer software.
If you are having problems dialing and connecting, select your operating system from the list below to check the dialer setups for your system:

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DIALING AND CONNECTING
TCP/IP

By becoming a member of the Primary Network Internet service you are making your computer part of the Internet community. Unlike the a BBS (bulletin board system) your system is the Internet. Every system on the Internet uses a protocol called TCP/IP to communicate with other systems. There are many versions of TCP/IP. All meet a specification set for TCP/IP but each has its own features added in.

If you are using Windows 95 or Windows 98 there is a TCP/IP stack built into the basic system software and is written specifically for these platforms by Microsoft. This software is a part of the Communications bundle in Windows and allows the user to dial out,  using a modem, to a location of their choice. If you are a customer of Primary who has previously had  America On Line installed, there is a chance that the TCP/IP stack may be corrupt and you might have difficulty getting this software to work. If this is the case, call Primary Tech Support, 1-800-420-5682, for help.  A.O.L. includes it's own TCP/IP with it's software and does not use the Microsoft software included with the operating system.

Macintosh systems, depending on the version of the operating system, will have it's own TCP/IP stack. If you have a Macintosh running a version of the operating system before 7.5 you may not have the necessary TCP/IP software to complete your Internet installation.

Primary cannot provide TCP/IP software for any system, PC or Macintosh. If the customer does not have a valid copy of the operating system software Primary cannot assist in the Internet installation until the customer has provided the operating system software with the appropriate TCP/IP.

I.P. ADDRESSES

Each system on the Internet is assigned an address. This address is called an IP address and is represented in decimal form like this, 205.136.36.145. From this number is derived what network your system is part of, and which system it is. You will also see this number represented with a name like www.primary.net.

Most users of Primary Network will have their address assigned from a pool of addresses allotted from our authorization system. This is called Dynamic addressing and it allows multiple users to share the finite number of addresses available. Static IP addresses are available for systems that are up on the Internet permanently and are expecting to receive requests from other systems on the net, for example a Web or FTP server. Requests for Static IP Addresses must be directed to Primary Network Sales.