FAQ's, assistance & more.

On the bottom middle of this page is our PIN card checker. Use the drop down to choose FireStar for FireStar PINs or Hotlink for Hotlink PINs. Enter the PIN in the space provided and click “Check Now” to view the usage and time remaining.

Credit Card:
Minimum transaction is NZD$10.00 for 100 Mbytes.


PIN Cards:
PIN cards may be purchased at any location where cards are sold.
For all practical purposes, multi log on and log off applies until traffic expires. There is a time limit set but this is very rarely reached or exceeded.

$5	=	50MB
$10	=	100MB

These are subject to change – check your account for latest pricing info.

 

 

MB is the abbreviation of the word megabyte which is download and upload of data (traffic) over an internet connection.
100MB roughly equals

• 500 web pages
• 10-20 minutes of YouTube videos (depending on the quality)
• 150 minutes of Skype
• 25 MP3 files
• 30-40 high resolution digital camera photos

 

To enable everyone to connect to our network we can’t encrypt the wireless signal, thus the warning about it being unsecured. However to ensure security of your important information like your credit card and login details we encrypt it all inside a 128 bit SSL session to our web server.

FireStar creates a secure tunnel through our webserver meaning the wireless network itself can be unencrypted. Once you are connected, this tunnel works in two ways to protect you. Firstly all of your data is encrypted using an industry proven 128bit SSL session and to totally ensure your privacy and security, all computers connected to our network are invisible to each other. This means that all your private information (such as shared files) and any other data transmitted to and from your computer cannot be seen by any other computers on our network.

If you are using your credit card on another internet website, then it is the responsibility of that website to protect any information you provide it.

A FireStar WiFi connection is no less secure than any other internet connection. It is the responsibility of the Wireless user to ensure that adequate safeguards against viruses etc are installed on the device and protection software should be kept up to date.

While most operating systems are able to connect to our FireStar WiFi Connection, FireStar Connect only offers technical support for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

All laptops have a switch or soft button to turn the wireless off or on. Please ensure the wireless connection is switched on and try again.

If the session repeatedly ends then it may be one of two things:

• the 5min inactivity timer is ending the session
• you may have connectivity issues to the WiFi

For further assistance please contact FireStar Connect

 

The wireless coverage of FireStar WiFi is comprehensive but sometimes there may still be connection problems. For further assistance please contact FireStar Connect

Any computer with 802.11b or 802.11g WiFi connection. In our experience, built in wireless connections on portable computers (such as laptops) tend to perform the best. PCMCIA wireless plugin cards have medium performance, and USB dongles have poor performance.

To ensure there is connectivity, please login to the email via a browser (webmail) before using the email client software (e.g. Outlook), or the SMTP server may need to be changed.

In most cases changing the SMTP server setting in an email client is NOT required, but in certain situations when the current settings may not be working, inquire at reception for their smtp details or use “smtp.world-net.co.nz”. For further assistance please contact FireStar Connect

Yes – all common client VPN types work through FireStar WiFi Connection.

Some locations offer a workstation area that have a RJ45 socket suitable for a patch cable connection directly into the Ethernet port on your laptop. This will enable connection to the FireStar Login screen.

We don’t block any access to any resource on the internet or provide any level of filtering, all outbound connects are permitted. If there are problems with certain applications please contact the application provider for support. Before doing so, check the connectivity by going to a common site on the web browser. Choose a site that is regularly updated with new information eg, www.nzherald.co.nz or yahoo.co.nz

FireStar Kiosks use the Windows XP platform alongside our very own “Guardian” software. The end result is a relatively open system with minimised restrictions. Every Kiosk starts its service life with a brand new fresh installation of all software and that’s how it remains after every log off, shut down or restart. A completely refreshed, clean, rebuild every time. This is our Guarantee.

FireStar kiosks have no anti-virus or spyware protection installed!!

So we advise all customers to stay away from the nasty sites, downloads and doubtful attachments in their emails if security is a concern. Otherwise nasties are never a problem to anyone except the current user.

On the top right of this page are our two PIN card checkers.
Choose FireStar for FireStar PINs or Hotlink for Hotlink PINs.
Enter the PIN in the space provided and click “Check Now” to view the usage and time remaining.

PIN Cards may be purchased from the reception or office area.

• $2 Cards – 20 Minutes Single Login Cards
• $5 Cards – 50 Minutes Multi Login Cards

The above is a guide only as pricing may change or vary from site to site.
NB: All time is deducted in blocks of 5 minutes.
PINs with less than 5 minutes remaining become invalid.
These are subject to change – check your account for latest pricing info.

 

“This kiosk is having Trouble connecting to the internet. Please try again . . . . .”
...is a negative response message and indicates there may be no live connection on that computer. Try restarting the kiosk, allow time for computer to settle and enter “123″. If the message persists after several attempts on all kiosks, the internet is down. Please contact reception or freecall 0508 4 FIRESTAR.


“Sorry that PIN is invalid”
...is a positive response message and means that the connection to the internet is live and active. Please check that the PIN was entered correctly and try again. Or alternatively check the usage of the PIN using our PIN card Checker.

Some pages from the internet cannot be printed on our FireStar Kiosks.
We suggest that you copy and paste into an OpenOffice Doc and then print from there.
For printing instructions see our how to Print page.

Unfortunately changing the time and date on our Kiosks is one of the few things that cannot be done by the public. If the time and date is out then this means that the battery in the Kiosks is old or dead and needs replacing. Please inform the site owner of the issue and use a different Kiosk for the time being.

On the bottom middle of this page is our PIN card checker. Use the drop down to choose FireStar for FireStar PINs or Hotlink for Hotlink PINs. Enter the PIN in the space provided and click “Check Now” to view the usage and time remaining.

• A Broadband connection
• IP Phone and PBX equipment purchased from FireStar (Contact Us for an on-site consultation and quote on SAVINGS, equipment and Broadband plans )

When you use VoIP, one of a number of encoding algorithms is used. The ‘benchmark’ algorithm is the uncompressed one (standard phone calls). This takes up 80kbps in each direction.

 

Other algorithms (which are more commonly used with VoIP) are indistinguishable in quality, but add compression (similar to how MP3s manage to compress the music, without affecting the quality much). These encoding algorithms generally reduce the bandwidth (including overheads) to between and 40kbps.

 

In addition VoIP does ‘silence suppression’. Since for much of the phone call, one (or both) parties are not speaking, it is pointless to take up all that bandwidth transmitting silence – so this part is not transmitted.
As a general rule, you might say that 100% of the time, one party isn’t talking (in other words, each person doesn’t talk for 50% of the time). This approximately halves the bandwidth usage.

Yes you may but we highly recommend changing to FireStar as an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to take advantage of our extremely competitive rates.

It is entirely up to you whether you cancel your landline and rely solely on voice over IP. Please keep in mind that if you connect to the Internet using DSL technology, you will have to use Naked DSL (Broadband without a phone line).

Due to regulatory provision you will be assigned a new phone number. However you may still keep your 0800 or 0508 numbers.

Unfortunately faxes must be sent using uncompressed data.

If you want to get rid of your traditional fax system, you might want to consider an electronic fax service – receive and send faxes via email. There are many such services around, and we can even help you with a trial account to get you started.

Online credit card payments are taken through our secure gateway which interfaces directly with the ANZ EPOS Internet Payment Gateway.

 

Your credit card details are not stored on our server at any time, but are passed directly to the bank via a dedicated link to secure verification and processing.

 

Payment can be made using Visa, Mastercard, Bankcard and American Express. For further details, see our policy statement.

Articles on voice over IP are beginning to appear in many computer magazines and even in the mainstream media. Additionally, with the growing popularity of VoIP, a lot of consumer oriented sites are springing up. Here is a list of sites we believe contains useful information about Internet telephony – both for new and experienced users.

 

• A multitude of resources for beginners and experts alike
• Explanations of the various voice over IP protocols
• The VOIP Wiki – a reference guide to all things VOIP
• Another VOIP wiki
• Public ENUM server – register a PSTN phone number so it can be called using VOIP
• The Australian Voice over IP User Forums
• Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) – at the Wikipedia
• Voxilla – A User’s Guide to the VoIP Revolution (including great wizards for configuring Sipura adapters
• Books and more on VoIP technology at Amazon.com
• Carrier grade voice over IP technology from AudioCodes

 

If your business moves towards a complete VoIP solution, whether hosted or in-house, you will still have ‘standard’ incoming phone numbers.

 

They might be the same phone numbers as you currently have, or you might get allocated new incoming phone numbers by the VoIP provider. Either way, for all intents and purposes they are the same as other phone numbers on the telephone network.

 

Therefore, if you have a 0800 service, you can simply point that number to your new incoming phone numbers and all your 0800 calls will come through on your VoIP service.