You can access your webmail in two different ways:

• Type in the address http://webmail.alliancecom.net in your browser window and hit enter. In the Webmail box, type in your e-mail address and password. Open, read, save or delete messages, just as you would on your home computer.
• Click on the Webmail Login tab at the top of the Alliance Web site.  This link will take you to the Alliance webmail login.

In the past several years, numerous emails have been sent to Alliance customers, purporting to be from Alliance Communications.  The subject lines of these emails are usually something to the effect of “Alliance Customer Care”, “Dear Alliancecom Account Subscriber”, “Confirm your Alliancecom.net Webmail Account to Avoid Closure”, “Dear Valuable Customer”, etc.  The messages ostensibly come from “Alliance Internet Support”, “Alliance System Support”, “Alliancecom.net Support Team”, or some other variation.  The content of these messages usually warns of a variety of webmail account problems the recipient will encounter if they do not promptly reply:

• Compromised accounts are being restricted
• Account deletion is being conducted in preparation for a system upgrade
• Unused accounts are being deleted
• Mailbox storage limit has been reached
• Accounts are being migrated to a new system
• A maintenance process to fight spam is being conducted
• Webmail is being upgraded

These emails are referred to as a phishing scheme, which can be defined as an attempt by someone to gain access to personal information that they should not have.  In the case of this particular scheme, the sender is targeting ISPs like Alliance, and they are asking the recipient to either reply to the message the his/her email username or password.

Do not respond to these emails, as they are not legitimate.. The best course of action when you receive such an email is to delete it.

Ways to spot these fraudulent phishing attempts include utilizing the SLAM method which consists of Sender, Links, Attachments, and Message:

• Broken English
• Bad grammar
• Numerous typos
• Messages are not directly addressed to the recipient
• Links in the email contain alliancecom.net on the end, but have other elements that don’t look quite right: e.g.http://www.somephishingguy.ru/email/alliancecom.net
• Emails with FROM: addresses or URLs with hostnames ending in foreign countries or non-AllianceCom.net addressees:
  e.g. Alliance Support [ viktorb@kgb.ru], Internet Team [ igor@cialis4u.bg], Alliance Web Support Team [support@alliancecom.gnic.fr], etc.

Also, if you subscribe to the Alliance Communications Spam and Virus Filter, these messages will be quarantined.  If you receive a message in your quarantine, purporting to be from Alliance Communications, disregard it.  All email correspondence sent by Alliance Communications to its customers is not filtered by the Spam and Virus firewall.  These messages should be treated like any other spam message and deleted.  Whether you subscribe to the Spam and Virus filter or not, always remember that Alliance Communications never solicits account information from its customers via email.

The e-mail server settings are listed below:

Incoming Mail (POP3): pop.alliancecom.net
-Port:110
Incoming Mail (IMAP): imap.alliancecom.net
-Port: 143
Outgoing Mail (SMTP): smtp.alliancecom.net
-Port: 465
-Security: SSL
-Authentication: email address/password (Required) (Case Sensitive)

If you have any questions, dial 611 from any phone with Alliance service or (605) 582-6311 from your cell phone.

If you are traveling outside of the Alliance service area and find that you cannot send email, the local ISP is probably blocking outgoing email on port 25 (the standard SMTP email port).  Many ISPs do this to prevent infected customer computers from sending email out from their network.

To get around this problem, open your email settings and edit the outgoing server configuration.  You will need to enableSSL encryption on the outgoing connection and change the port number from 25 to 465.  These settings can usually be found in the advanced settings (or MORE SETTINGS, in the case of Microsoft Outlook).

If this fails to resolve the problem, then the ISP does not allow any outgoing email that is not from their email servers, or a firewall is blocking the connection to the server.  The next best solution would be to log into Alliance webmail and use that service to send and receive emails while traveling.  The address is http://webmail.alliancecom.net.  Simply log in with your Alliance email address and password.

To change your password, you may contact our office during business hours by dialing 611 from any phone with Alliance service or call 605-594-3411.  In addition, if you go to https://webmail.alliancecom.net while you are in Alliance’s territory, you can change it from there as well.

To set up secure e-mail, your e-mail program must support it.  Please consult the documentation for your e-mail program for support and setup information.  To send and receive e-mail securely via your Alliance e-mail account, use the following settings:

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.alliancecom.net
Incoming Server (POP3) SSL Port Number: 995
Outgoing Server (SMTP) SSL Port Number: 465

• Setting up email on an Android device involves the following steps.
  • Verify that your device has internet access before continuing.
  • In your device, tap the Settings button.
  • In the device settings window, scroll down and select Accounts and Backup.
  • Choose Manage Accounts, then Add Account.
  • Choose Personal (IMAP).
  • Enter your email address.
  • Press Manual Setup.
  • * In the video, the screen share was disabled for security purposes (1:41-2:54).  Please follow the steps below for the missing screen content.
    • Choose IMAP account type and enter your password (case sensitive).
    • Press Next.
    • Your username and password will display.
    • Update the server field.  Since you chose IMAP for the account type, you will enter imap.alliancecom.net.
    • Press Next.
    • On the Outgoing Server Settings screen, you will see your email address and password.  Under the SMTP server field, you will enter smtp.alliancecom.net.
    • Press Next.
  • Select your Account Options.
  • Press Next.
  • Update your account name and how you want your name to display.
  • Press Next.
  • Your email account is now set up.  Go back to your main screen and choose your mail envelope to start using your account.

• Below are the instructions for setting up an Alliance email address on the Macintosh email program. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them. Click outside of the picture to return them to normal size.
• Start the Apple Mail program
• Choose “Add Other Mail Account” and click “Continue”
• Enter your Full Name, Email Address, Password (Case Sensitive), and then click “Create”
• Mac Mail will then tell you that the account must be manually configured. Click “Next”
• Enter the following Incoming Mail Server Info:Account Type: POP
  Mail Server: pop.alliancecom.net
  Username: full e-mail address (Case Sensitive)
  Password: (Case Sensitive)Click on the “Next” button
• Enter the following Outgoing Mail Server Info:SMTP Server: smtp.alliancecom.net
  Username: full e-mail address (Case Sensitive)
  Password: NOTE: OUR SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION SO THESE BOXES ARE NOT OPTIONAL EVEN THOUGH THE PROGRAM MAY SAY IT IS Click on the “Create” button
• Mac Mail will tell you “Additional Account Information Required”. Click “Next”
• Please change the SMTP Server info to match the settings below exactly
  -Port: 465
  -SSL: Checked
  -Authentication: Password
  -Click Create
• Your Account should now be setup and ready to use

Setting up email in an iOS Apple device involves the following steps.

 

• Verify that your device has Internet access before continuing.
• In your device, tap the Settings button.
• In the device settings window, tap Apps (or tap “Mail” or “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” for older iOS software).  Scroll down and select Mail.
• Tap Mail Accounts.
• Tap Add Account.
• Enter your Alliance email address.  Press Next.
• From the list of email types, tap Add Other Account.
• Under the Mail field, tap Add Mail Account.
• In the New Account window, type in your name, Alliance email address and password (Case Sensitive). The description field should be filled already. Click Next.
• When asked to specify either IMAP or POP3, choose IMAP. For the incoming mail server host name, enter imap.alliancecom.net, along with your email address/username and password (Case Sensitive). For the outgoing mail server host name, enter smtp.alliancecom.net, along with your email address and password (Case Sensitive). Note that this step is not optional.  Click Save
• After the email setup returns you to the IMAP screen.  Press Save.
• Choose your alliancecom account you just created under the Accounts section.  Press Account Settings.
• Under the Outgoing Mail Server click on the SMTP section
• Click on the smtp.alliancecom.net underneath the Primary Section (If your Primary Server is empty, click on the smtp.alliancecom.net server listed under the “others” section)
•  Verify that the server is turned on by making sure the toggle bar is green. Next, verify that your outgoing server settings match the settings below and then choose Done:
  Host Name: smtp.alliancecom.net
  User Name:  (Case Sensitive)
  Password:  Required (Case Sensitive)
  Use SSL : On (toggle bar is green)
  Authentication: Password
  Server Port: Change to 465
• At this point your email should be set up. Go back to your main screen and choose your mail envelope to start using your account.

• Open Thunderbird, and choose Create a new Account.
• Choose “Skip this and use my existing e-mail”
• Type in your Name, full e-mail address, and your password (Case Sensitive) and choose continue (it is your personal preference to leave the remember password box checked or unchecked)
• Choose Manual Config
• Copy the server settings in the picture below
• Incoming Settings:
  Choose POP3 for Incoming.
  Type in pop.alliancecom.net into the server hostname
  Choose Port 110
  Choose STARTTLS
  Choose Normal Password
  Enter your username: full e-mail address (Case Sensitive)
• Outgoing Settings:
  Type in smtp.alliancecom.net for the server hostname
  Choose port 465
  Choose SSL/TLS under the SSL section
  Choose Normal Password
  Enter your username: full e-mail address (Case Sensitive)
• Click Done. Thunderbird should now be setup and ready for use.

Below are the instructions for setting up an Alliance email address in Outlook 2024.

Follow these steps to manage your spam filter if you use an alliancecom.net email address. Even if you use a program like Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird or others for your email, you should manage your spam filter at spam.alliancecom.net to achieve the best results.

Step 1. Go to spam.alliancecom.net and login using your email address and password.

Step 2. Click on the Policies tab.

Step 3. In Filter by Sender, find the Enemies section.

Step 4. If you want to filter ALL messages from a company, not just a single email address, enter the domain name into the Enemies box. The domain is the portion that comes after the @ symbol. Then hit the green + button.

• In the example below, entering badguys.com into the Enemies section will block all messages from email addresses that contain badguys.com.
• Entering bounce5585464131@badguys.com into the Enemies section will only block messages specifically from bounce5585464131@badguys.com. Spammers are smart. They change email addresses often to bypass spam filters. If you enter a specific email address instead of the domain name, you’ll probably still receive spam from the company.
• Important: Make sure you don’t accidentally add spammers into your Friends section.

If you need additional help, don’t hesitate to contact us. Dial 611 from any phone with Alliance service of (605) 582-6311.

 

PRINTABLE VERSION

Login

To log in, enter your full email address and password and click Login button.

2-factor login

If you have 2-factor authentication enabled, it will ask you for your code.

(On first login you will not have this prompt. How to setup 2-factor is listed below)

Managing Quarantine Email

Go to Quarantine > Manage Quarantine. Use Search Filters and Display Settings to manage the list of emails in quarantine.

Messages will reside in quarantine for 30 days after that they are deleted from quarantine.

The following actions can be performed on email in quarantine:

View Message
Click any message in quarantine to view it in a separate window. Click on one of the four tabs to view more information on the quarantined email – Details, View Message, View Source, and Options.

All images are blocked in review to prevent possible inappropriate content. If a message is subsequently released and delivered then the original images will be present.

Release Message
On a rare occasion, an email in quarantine may have been incorrectly identified as spam. This is known as a ‘false positive’. To release a message, click the checkbox to the left of the email address and click the Release button. This will automatically forward the email to the recipient.

Allow a Sender
To add the email address of an email in quarantine to your Allow List, click the checkbox to the left of the email address and click the Allow button. The email address then is added to the email recipients allow list and the email is released from quarantine and delivered to the recipient.

Delete Message
To delete a message, click the checkbox to the left of the email address and click the Delete button. Delete multiple messages at the same time by selecting several email addresses at once before clicking Delete.

Change User Password

Your email credentials are synced with the filter so you will not be able to change your password from the filter.

Two factor authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an additional layer of security used to protect your mail filter account from unauthorized access. If 2FA is enabled, a user provides their username and password on login and then must also provide an additional piece of information known only to them. This additional piece of information is a one-time password, regenerated every thirty seconds.

Go to Settings > User Management > Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) to manage 2FA settings.

Follow the steps below to set up two-factor authentication:

1. Before continuing, you must download and install an authenticator phone app, e.g., Google Authenticator or FreeOTP.

2. Scan the QR code using the authenticator app installed in step 1. If you are unable to scan the QR code, manually enter the OTP (One Time Password) secret provided in the OTP Secret: field.

3. In the Code: field, enter the code generated from the authenticator phone app.

4. Click Register.

Recovery Codes
A set of recovery codes are generated when 2FA is enabled. Store these codes carefully as they are the only way to access your mail filter account if the device you registered 2FA on is lost.

The recovery codes are one-time use, and they must be used in sequential order.

Quarantine Report Settings

This page allows you to manage the language, frequency, and content of your own Quarantine Report.

Spam Quarantine Report

A quarantine report contains a list of emails that have been caught and quarantined. Users can directly manage their quarantined mail through these reports, which are emailed to them on a periodic basis.

A quarantine report provides links for a user to manage their quarantined emails directly from the report. See a sample quarantine report below.

User Block List

Go to Filter Rules > User Block List to manage block list entries.

If you Block an address or domain, then mail from that address or domain to your account will be blocked before it reaches your inbox.

Adding a Block List Entry

1. Go to Filter Rules > Block List > Blocked Email Addresses to add an email address to the block list or go to Filter Rules > Block List > Blocked Domains to add a domain.
2. Click Add… and the Add window displays.
3. Enter the Sender Email: in the form of user@example.com or Sender Domain: in the form of example.com.
4. For a domain entry, check Include Subdomains: for subdomains to also be blocked.
5. Enter any optional comments in the Comments: field.
6. Click Save.

Deleting a Block List Entry

1. To delete an individual email address or domain, click the delete icon in the Options column to the right of the listing. To delete multiple entries at once, check the box  to the left of the listings you want to delete.
2. Click Delete… under Blocked Email Addresses or Blocked Domains.

Importing Block List Entries

1. Create a single text file containing the entries to import. Both email addresses and domains can be imported together from the same text file. The file must have one email address or domain (preceded by the ‘@’ sign) per line. For example:

• john@example.com
• @example.com

2. Click Import… and select the text file to import. Click Open.
3. Email addresses will be imported to the Blocked Email Addresses and domains will be imported to the Blocked Domains.

User Allow List

No spam checking is performed for domains or email addresses that are added to an allow list, they are automatically forwarded to the recipient.

Go to Filter Rules > Allow List to manage allow list entries.

If you Allow a particular email address or domain then all mail from that user, or that domain to your account will be passed through by the Spam Filter with no questions – even if the message were recognized as spam. In effect it will bypass the spam filters.

Adding an Allow List Entry

1. Go to Filter Rules > Allow List > Allowed Email Addresses to add an email address to the allow list or go to Filter Rules > Allow List > Allowed Domains to add a domain.
2. Enter a Sender Email: in the form of user@example.com or Sender Domain: in the form of example.com.
3. Enter Comments: as required.
4. Click Save.

Deleting an Allow List Entry

1. To delete an individual email address or domain, click the icon in the Options column to the right of the listing. To delete multiple entries at once, check the box  to the left of the listings you want to delete.
2. Click Delete… under Allowed Email Addresses or Allowed Domains.

Importing Allow List Entries

1. Create a single text file with all the entries to import. Both email addresses and domains can be imported together from the same text file. The file must have one email address or domain (preceded by the ‘@’ sign) per line. For example:
   • john@example.com
   • @example.com
2. Click Import… to select the text file. Click Open.

Geoblocking

Geoblocking restricts email based on a sender’s geographic location, which is identified by the sending server’s IP address.

Geoblocking is off by default to turn it on click “Enable.”

Go to Filter Rules > Geoblocking and follow the steps below to add a geoblocking rule for a country.

1. Click Enable to turn Policy Based Geoblocking: ON (default: disabled).
2. Click Add… and the Add Geoblocking Rule window displays.

• Country: Select a country to allow or block. This field auto-populates as you type.
• Status: Select Allow or Block to allow/block the country you selected.
• Comment: Enter an optional description of this geoblocking rule.

3. Click Save to save this geoblocking rule or cancel to discard.

Once a geoblocking rule has been added, it can be edited or deleted. Click the edit  icon to edit a rule or click the  delete icon to delete a rule.

Mail History

The mail filter keeps a record of all mail that it processes. This information is available in Reporting > History.

Click the Refresh button to refresh the history list.

To view mail history by date, click the Date Range button and select from the list of available options. Choose Custom Date range… to set your own date range.

History contains the following information about each email. Click an email in the list to show more.

If a message type is clean this mail can be redelivered to the user’s mailbox for a period of 30 days. This will allow the user to “restore” an email they have deleted from their inbox.

Details

• Date: date and time the email was received.
• Msg ID: a unique internal message identification number that the mail filter assigns to each email (also known as SpamTitan ID). Click to view extended details on an email:
• Client Address: source IP address a mail was received from.
• Type: message type as classified by the mail filter, e.g., Clean, Spam, RBL Reject, SPF Reject, etc.
• From: sender email address.
• To: recipient email address.
• Subject: subject header of the received message.
• Size: size of the message.
• Flow: The direction of the message (Inbound, Outbound or Internal).
• TLS: indicates if TLS (Transport Layer Security) was applied to the message.
• Delivery: Indicates the delivery status of a message (Sent/Deferred/Bounced).
• Delivery Response: This shows the SMTP response from the destination server. This can be useful to indicate, for example, why a remote server rejected a message.

View Message

This will show the contents of the email.

View Source

This shows specific header information for the email. (Useful for troubleshooting mail issues).

Options

• Release: Delivers the mail to the inbox, mail can be redelivered to the user’s mailbox for a period of 30 days.
• Allow: Adds the email sender to you allow list and delivers the mail to the inbox.
• Delete: Removes the message from the filter.
• Mark message as spam: Marks the message in the filter as spam.

Alliance’s High-Speed Internet over Fiber Optics service will allow you to connect to the Internet through most routers, without the need for configuration changes.  Alliance uses DHCP as the method of connecting its customers, so all necessary IP settings are assigned to your router automatically.

Although there is no configuration needed to connect to the Internet, different routers have different security features.  Alliance recommends that you change the management password on your router to something other than the default.  Wireless routers also offer a number of security options.  To enable these options, please consult the documentation that came with your router.

If you discover that both your Alliance cable and fiber Internet services are not working, this usually indicates a problem with your uninterruptible power supply, or UPS.  The UPS is a white box labeled CyberPower, and it is usually located in the room where your utilities come into your house.  This box contains a battery that provides power for your telephone service in the event of a power outage, and it is plugged into a standard 110 volt wall outlet.

Check to make sure that the green light labeled AC is lit on the CyberPower UPS.  If not, the battery is no longer being charged, and the fiber equipment has disabled all services except telephone to conserve energy.  If the green AC light is out, check the outlet to see if the power cord is plugged in.  If the UPS power cord is plugged in, check the outlet for GFI buttons.  If this outlet is equipped with a GFI, there will be two buttons, one labeled test and another labeled reset, located in the middle of the outlet.  Push the reset button to restore power to the outlet.  This should cause the AC light on the battery backup to come back on.

If following these instructions does not restore your service, call for more support by dialing 611 from any phone with Alliance service, or call 605-594-3411.

• Verify that the power to the router is on, and that the router’s internet/WAN port is properly connected to our Internet service with a straight-through network cable.
• If you have a wireless router and you are connecting via a wireless network adapter, verify that you are getting a wireless connection to the router.  If you are connected via the wireless adapter, there should be an icon in the system tray that shows the wireless network name (SSID) and signal strength.  If your wireless icon does not have this information, your computer is not connecting to the wireless router.  Connect with a network cable and try again.
• If your computer is plugged into the router with a network cable and it still cannot connect to the Internet, reboot the router and the computer and try again.
• If rebooting the router and PC does not solve the problem, check the IP address on the PC via the ipconfig command.  To do this, follow these instructions:1. In Windows 10, click the Windows button, type cmd in the START SEARCH box, and press enter.2. In the black command prompt screen, type in the command ipconfig and press enter.3. If everything is working correctly, the network adapter labeled Local Area Connection should have an IP address of 192.168.x.x, 172.16.x.x, or 10.x.x.x (the x characters represent any number between 1-254).4. If the above steps do not resolve the problem.  Remove the router and plug the computer directly into the fiber service.  Reboot the computer.

Because a modem is no longer needed, your computer or router will have a public IP address. If you have a router, you should consider changing the management login/password to something other than the default. This will prevent malicious users from logging onto your router. Be sure to enable firewall services on your router.

If your router doesn’t have firewall services, you should consider purchasing a hardware or software firewall solution. If your PC is directly on the network (no router), you should have some sort of software firewall running. Windows 8 and 10 have a built-in software firewall, and there are many others that can be purchased separately.

PRINTABLE INSTRUCTIONS

An introduction to the Main Dashboard of your My Alliance WiFi App.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Alliance Giga Blast WiFi 6 Router can connect with Amazon Alexa. Setting it up is a simple process.

Connecting wired devices to your router doesn’t get any easier than this.

Yes. Several are available to help protect you from a variety of online threats. Please conduct your own research to find the program that’s right for you.

It’s only a matter of time before you run into trouble if you don’t protect your computer.

Online safety remains an important concern for families. While the Internet provides valuable educational and entertainment resources, parents should take steps to help ensure a safe online experience for their children.

Please go to sos.splashtop.com and download the file for your system.  Once the file is downloaded, please run the downloaded file and call our office at (605)594-3411 or x611 from your Alliance phone.  You can also click here and be redirected to the website.

Provide the 9 digit number that pops up after downloading the splashtop file.  For further assistance, please call our office.  Thank you.