Frequently Asked Questions

We are a privately owned central Texas-based company striving to bring high quality, high speed internet service at a very affordable price to the central Texas area. CellTex Networks owns and operates the ZipLink Internet service network.

Depending on location, it is available now. See the Service Areas page for up-to-date information.

The Internet service works for both residental and small business situations.  We do offer public IP addresses for an additional fee.  Please go to our Contact Us page and select 'Inquiry About Service For Business' to send us an email inquiry.

For apartment complex owners we can set up a custom system tailored for your property. You will not have to share that bandwidth with any other users. We have flexible business models, including revenue sharing. Please go to our Contact Us page and select 'Inquiry About Service For apartments' to send us an email inquiry.

Standard internet connection equipment such as a wired our wireless router should be used to connect to the Wireless Modem. From there,

1. Any computer with any operating system that has an "Internet Browser" such as "Microsoft Internet Explorer", "Apple Safari", "Mozilla Firefox" etc.
2. Other devices that are capable of connecting to your router equipment.

 That's all!

Yes but you may be restricted on where you can mount the Wireless Modem unit. If you have an exterior window that faces one of our towers, you may be able to use the window mount included with your Wireless Modem. If a mount on the exterior of the building is required, permission from the appartment management should be obtained. See the Service Areas page for tower locations relative to your apartment complex.

The service can be used anywhere we offer service. Your Wireless Modem can be moved or you can purchase additional Wireless Modem so you can access your service from other locations. Check the Service Areas page often as we are adding new tower locations frequently.

Our aim is to provide you a superior service for a lower cost. Upload speeds, especially, should be notably faster. This means backup services such as Carbonite and sending large email attachements will be much faster.

If you would like us to install the Wireless Modem for you, we are happy to do that. When signing up for your plan, simply choose a plan that includes technician installation service. A one time nominal fee is charged for the install service.

Yes! Our most basic service plan will be fine for the occasional VoIP or Skype call, but you should really consider our higher speed plans for a better voice quality experience.

With Ziplink Internet you can use your existing email account if accessable from the internet, or you can use the Ziplink email system.

If you use a Non-Ziplink email account with a local email client tool like Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, etc, you need to set up your email tool to use the email servers associated with your email provider.  Some email spam filters and email servers may reject emails that do not come from an ISP associated with the mail servers.

If experiencing problems with you emails getting to the recepient, make sure to direct your outgoing email to your email provider mail servers.

If you use a web based email such as Yahoo or Gmail and use a web browers, no changes are necessary.

To set up and use the Ziplink email system, click here for more information.

Please go to our Contact Us page and select 'General Inquiry' to send us an email inquiry or give us a call.

Sure! Your 1^st month is free for credit card accounts! Just sign-up using your credit card and then cancel before the end of the month.

Black Hill Area customer, please check the User Guide for more information

Please see the home page at www.ZipLinkInternet.com site for current rates as they may change from time to time.

We accept all the common credit cards. You can be billed monthly or pay for one whole year in advance (coming soon), which will give you a discount (see the www.ZipLinkInternet.com page for current offers). If you don't have a credit card, then you can use one of our pre-paid cards. You can buy these at selected locations in your area. See web site for details.

Sorry, no. ZipLink Internet requires at least one account per household.

Yes!  Once you connect your router to the Wireless Modem, all computers connected to your router, whether wired or wireless, will have internet access once you are logged on.

Maybe! ZipLink Internet has a roaming agreement with Boingo, IPASS and Syniverse. You will, however still need the Wireless Modem. Just use your existing user name and password.

Yes, just contact us through the Contact Us page and tell us what you want to change or call 800-281-4ZIP(4947). Plan changes will be prorated from date of change.

More details are on our How It Works page. But, briefly:

• Connect the Wireless Modem to your routers
• Plug your computer Ethernet cable to your computer or if you have a wireless router, connect wirelessly.
• After logging into your account, use the internet, email tools, etc as usual.

Our technical support staff is available to help you with these steps. Just call the toll-free number indicated on our Contact Us pages.

For established customers, our technical support line is open 24x7. Our phone number is 800-281-4ZIP(4941) or send an email to support@ZipLinkInternet.com.

Some simple things to try:

• Make sure you Wireless Modem is powered on and the signal indicator lights show a good signal strength.
• Make sure your routers WAN or Internet port is connected to the Wireless Modem.
• Sometimes power cycling your equipment is helpful.  Try power cycling your Wireless Modem, then your router, in that order.
• Be sure to add www.ziplinkinternet.com to your list of trusted WWW sites in your browser's security settings.

Yes you can. Then simplest way to do this is to plug additional computers or peripherals into your router or wireless router. All devices will have access to the internet.
See the How it Works page for more detail.

You have the option.

ZipLink Internet offers a unique security feature. You have the option to "Logout" which essentially restricts traffic between the internet and your router. Internet traffice to/from your router will not be allowed until you log back in. logging out is accomplished by clicking on the "Logout" button on the www.ZipLinkInternet.com front page.

If you would like to stay logged in all the time, that is also an option by turning on the MAC Authentication feature.

If you did not enable "MAC Authentication" when setting up your account, goto www.ZipLinkInternet.com and click on the "Manage My Account" button. Once logged in, select the Account Services tab. At the bottom of the page is a a button to enable MAC Authentication, click Yes and enter "999" in the number of days box. Then click the Update button.

The system will now automatically grant internet access once you've initially logged in and you will stay logged in.

Sometimes your internet security software installs an Add-on in your browser (Internet Explorer, FireFox, etc.). It may be necessary to turn off the Add-on in order to prevent interference with the login system. If you have set up our account for an "always on" setting, you will only have to do this once.

To access your browser Add-on

In FireFox, select Tools -> Add-ons

In Interenet Explorer 8, select Tools -> Manage Add-ons

Our wireless network uses the latest techniques to keep it secure and keep hackers from disrupting the service. In addition, there are measures we take to keep valid users on the network from reaching each other.

Dispite our extra security, you should consider the Wireless Modem as your connection to the internet and you should implement standard secruity precations that you would with any internet service. Some of those being, use a firewall router, use internet security software on your computers, always use at least WPA encryption on your wireless router.

As with any Internet service you choose, including ZipLink Internet, you should take precautions against Internet threats such as virus, spam, spyware, port scans, etc. We recommend that a hardware firewall with Network Address Translation (NAT) capability (included in most standard wired and wireless routers) be used between the Internet source to your home and your computer system(s). In addition, we suggest you install and use Internet security software including firewalls. Many companies offer good tools specifically for this purpose.

Yes. Simply connect the Wireless Modem main port to WAN(or Internet) port of your router. This arrangement is very similar to connecting to a cable or DSL modem, you just connect to the ZipLink Wireless modem in stead.

Probably not, but our wireless network does use the license free 5.7-5.8GHz band. If you have one of the new "dual" band 802.11n type wireless routers and it is located close to the Wireless Modem, there could be some interference. If you are having trouble, try changing the channel on your wireless router.

Although this is not part of the service agreement, we probably wont notice until the traffic becomes heavy. In which case your service could be disconnected.

Yes you can. However, Public IP addresses do incure an extra cost. Please contact us at support@ZipLinkInternet.com if you need a public IP.

Yes you can. However, ZipLink Internet merely carries the VPN data traffic. You must provide your own VPN software, hardware and authentication systems. We cannot assist in matters related to VPN software, hardware or authentication, please contact the support desk of the company who provides you those items.

This depends on what type of user you are. If you have 2 computers or less, and no other devices connecting to your wired or wireless router, just about any router will do. However, if you run a wireless router, have many devices such as laptops, iPhones, iPads and other WiFi connected devices, you can quickly overload your router from a usable simultaneous connections point of view. There is a nice article on www.PCMech.com by Rich Menga that discribes this situation and how to deal with it.

Click here for the article.

In addition, here is a web site that rates common home routers.

We suggest that homes and business that have multiple devices accesing the network, choose a router that has a maximum Simultaneous Connections rating of 2000 or more.  Routers in that class generally cost $80 and up.