The 515 exchange is a new local exchange for the Buffalo area and the 513 exchange is a new local exchange for the Niagara County area.

If you are having difficulty getting your 56K modem to negotiate a connection with the Buffalo Free-Net modems, please read the 56K Workaround information that we have collected. (3/3/1999)

Special Announcement

We are pleased to announce that the Buffalo Free-Net is the recipient of two significant grants of financial support.

The School of Information and Library Studies at the University at Buffalo has generously underwritten a portion of the cost of our dial-in telephone lines, assuring the community, along with your continuing individual donation support, of dial-in access for the next year.

Subscribers to the Buffalo Free-Net (BFN) will be able to access their e-mail a little easier and faster now thanks to a $2000 Special Member Item Grant from Assemblyman Sam Hoyt.

With this funding the BFN will be able to upgrade their mail server and begin to provide WEB-based logins to e-mail. Western New Yorkers who do not own a computer can still have e-mail accounts by going to the public library, sitting at a computer and with one or two mouse clicks connect to their e-mail. Non-profit organizations can have free space on BFN's server for their web sites.

Assemblyman Hoyt said, "I recognize the importance of this great service to the community for accessing information. Upgrading this service enables Western New Yorkers, regardless of their socio-economic status, to access e-mail accounts and the Internet."

Dr. Neil Yerkey, President of the BFN accepted the grant and said, "This upgrade will allow people to access e-mail without having to dial into the BFN first." The BFN is staffed by volunteers and funded by community, corporate and individual donations.

The Western New York Library Resources Council in partnership with the State University of New York at Buffalo co-founded the Buffalo Free-Net in 1993 in order to offer free access to the Internet and serve as a WEB host to non-profit organizations. BFN's website is at www.bfn.org.

Tax deductible donations can be sent

c/o Western New York Library Resources Council
P.O. Box 400
Buffalo, NY 14225

December 1999

Statistics for November posted. (12/1/1999)

November 1999

The Christmas and Kwanzaa pages have been updated with lots of fun and interesting new content.

Visit the Christmas & Kwanzaa pages at http://holidays.bfn.org/ (11/28/1999)

Don't forget to visit the Thanksgiving page! (11/12/1999)

New SIG: NY State Odyssey of the Mind Association jump word: 'nysoma'. (11/5/1999)

Statistics for October posted. (11/1/1999)

October 1999

Halloween is October 31st. Ghosts, ghouls, spooky stories and more online on the Halloween page.

New SIG: Quaker Road United Methodist Church jump word: 'qrumc'. (10/6/1999)

Statistics for September posted. (10/4/1999)

September 1999

The complete U.S.Government TTY Directory is now online in the Disabilities Forum (9/26/1999)

New SIG: Kleinhans Community Association Block Club jump word: 'kca'. (9/22/1999)

Statistics for August posted. (9/2/1999)

August 1999

New SIG: Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo jump word: 'grgardens'. (8/31/1999)

Labor Day is the 6th of September. Celebrate the spirit of the working men and women on the Holiday Pages. (8/22/1999)

The Government Information center updated. (8/3/1999)

Statistics for July posted. (8/2/1999)

July 1999

Statistics for June posted. (7/1/1999)

June 1999

New SIG: Buffalo Choral Arts Society jump word: 'bcas'. (6/21/1999)

A celebration of emancipation, Juneteenth, on the Holiday Pages. (6/10/1999)

New SIG: North Presbytarian Church jump word: 'npc'. (6/7/1999)

New SIG: Buffalo Institute of Urban Ecology jump word: 'bioue'. (6/6/1999)

Statistics for May posted. (6/1/1999)

May 1999

Celebrate Memorial Day on the Holiday Pages. (5/20/1999)

New SIG: Boy Scout Troop 286 jump word: 'troop286'. (5/10/1999)

Celebrate Mother's Day on the Holiday Pages. (5/5/1999)

Statistics for April posted. (5/3/1999)

April 1999

New SIG: Planned Parenthood jump word: 'ppbec'. (4/19/1999)

New SIG: Habitat For Humanity jump word: 'habitat'. (4/19/1999)

New SIG: Graycliff Conservancy jump word: 'grayclif'. (4/19/1999)

New SIG: Western New York Digital Access Project jump word: 'wnydap'. (4/13/1999)

Change in Pine
Due to a change in Pine you may see a warning message at startup saying that some of your settings conflict with site policy. This is a harmless message which you may correct by selecting 'S'etup from Pine's main menu then 'C'onfig. Answer 'y'es when asked to investigate and 'y'es again when asked if it should delete the empty 'saved-messages' item.

Some users may also notice minor cosmetic changes depending on their individual communications programs. (4/6/1999)

New SIG: Cephas Buffalo jump word: 'cephas'. (4/4/1999)

Statistics for March posted. (4/1/1999)

March 1999

New SIG: Society For Contemporary American Literature In German jump word: 'scalg'. (3/13/1999)

Statistics for February posted. (3/1/1999)

February 1999

New SIG: Preservation Coalition of Erie County jump word: 'preserve'. (2/16/1999)

Looking for information from the eight counties of Western New York, or for local broadcast and print media information? Visit the Western New York Information Center (2/3/1999)

Celebrate Valentine's Day online. (2/2/1999)

Statistics for January posted. (2/1/1999)

January 1999

The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library is now on the web at http://www.buffalolib.org. You can search the library's catalog, or find information about library programs, services and locations. With a valid B&ECPL library card, you can search for information on general, health or business topics and retrieve full-text articles. For basic Internet training try the tutorials created by B&ECPL staff. (1/12/1999)

Statistics for December posted. (1/5/1999)

Scheduled Downtime

Due to scheduled maintenance at the University's Computing Center, the Free-Net will be unavailable on the following date for the time listed:

Saturday, October 16, 1999
Midnight Friday to 9:00am Saturday morning

Please note, these times are approximate.