Dear Valued Subscriber,

We're working hard to deliver the best all-around value in communications services to you. To that end, we are excited to announce a new partnership with Propel, the leader in dial-up acceleration service. Through special negotiation, we will be providing Propel Accelerator service to all Mercury dial-up customers at no additional charge.

What is Propel Accelerator?

It's the fastest Web Accelerator on the market! If you surf the Internet using a dial-up connection, you are aware of how slow Web pages can load. Propel Accelerator works with your Mercury Network dial-up connection, allowing you to increase your surfing speed up to 5 times. Pages that previously took almost 30 seconds to load can now be viewed in less than 7 seconds, on average.

Propel Accelerator is the next best thing to DSL, at a fraction of the price. Unlike costly and limited-availability broadband solutions, Propel Accelerator is:

• Available anywhere there is a telephone line.
• Requires no new hardware.
• Is easy to install -- a few clicks will download it to your PC!
• Gives you accelerated access to all your favorite Web sites.
• FREE with your Mercury Network dial-up account.

Why do I want Propel Accelerator?

Save time. While 30 seconds doesn't sound like a lot of time, it can feel like an eternity if you're waiting for a Web page to load. With Propel Accelerator, most pages can be viewed in less than 7 seconds!

Save money. Broadband options like DSL and cable are expensive. Propel Accelerator is FREE with your Mercury Network dial-up connection!

Always available. DSL and other broadband solutions are not yet available nationwide. However, Propel Accelerator works everywhere we have service! From rural country towns, to low-tech hotel rooms, Propel Accelerator speeds up your dial-up!

Easy to use. No new hardware or special equipment to install. Just download the software to your PC and you're accelerated!

How does it work?

Propel Accelerator is designed to provide maximum acceleration for the Web sites you visit regularly. So, the more you surf, the faster your favorite pages will load! Specifically, Propel Accelerator speeds up the delivery of Web pages three ways:

• Compression. Propel Accelerator delivers text and graphics more efficiently, using a proprietary compression technology that significantly reduces the size of Web pages and page elements sent to your browser.
• Caching. Propel Accelerator intelligently retains and re-uses Web pages and page elements that have previously been sent to your PC. That's why the longer Propel Accelerator is in use on your PC, the faster your Web pages will load.
• Persistent Connections. Propel Accelerator uses proprietary techniques to carefully manage and optimize the communication between your modem and our network of servers through a persistent connection. This eliminates the time wasted re-establishing and closing TCP/IP connections.

How fast is it?

With Propel Accelerator, Web pages load an average of 3 to 5 times faster. The more regularly you visit specific Web sites, the better the performance you will receive.

Here is an example of tests we ran with and without Propel Accelerator.

Popular Web Sites	*Before Propel	*With Propel	How much Faster with Propel?
	11.65 seconds	2.97 seconds	3.92 X faster!
	32.43 seconds	3.77 seconds	8.60 X faster!
	30.56 seconds	5.01 seconds	6.10 X faster!
	11.74 seconds	3.04 seconds	3.86 X faster!
	11.68 seconds	2.26 seconds	5.17 X faster!

What Gets Accelerated?

Most Web content will be accelerated, but there are certain exceptions:

What will be accelerated	What will *not* be accelerated
All text - HTML, markup, and JavaScript	Streaming media, and audio and video files
Most graphics & photos - including jpeg and gif images and most Flash images and animation	Secure pages, such as those used for online banking and credit card forms
Most banner ads	MP3 files and executable programs
All browser-based emails
All emails that contain images - even when read in a dedicated email program

Propel Accelerator will be rolled out to all Mercury dial-up customers in just a few weeks. Look for its announcement, including download and installation instructions, at that time.

Warm Regards,

David Sovereen
CEO/President