AfterNET is an Internet Relay Chat network that was founded in September 1996 and is dedicated to providing a free quality chat environment, which gives people all over the world a means to communicate with each other. We take special care to ensure that our network provides a place where the freedom of speech of all our users is respected.

• AfterNET now offers qwebirc, a web-based IRC client similar to Mibbit! qwebirc is open source, free of advertisements, and runs directly on our own servers. Our qwebirc implementation also supports login-on-connect (check the “Auth to services” box at the login screen) and encryption. We're still working out some of the bugs, but feel free to test it out and give us your feedback. Stop by #help to report any issues. We think it's the best web-based IRC client available today!
• The qwebirc client also makes it easy for you to create a custom chat link for your users or even embed the chat window directly into your website. Click the logo in the top left corner of the qwebirc interface and choose “Add webchat to your site” to get started.
• We are in the process of upgrading all the servers on our network to Nefarious IRCu 1.3. The upgrade requires each server be restarted, so you should be sure to connect to the irc.afternet.org round-robin address (and not a specific server) since we'll remove servers from it well in advance of upgrading them.
• We also recently upgraded our network services to X3 1.7. If you experience any problems, stop by #help and let us know!
• You can now connect to AfterNET via IPv6 at the address irc.ipv6.afternet.org. Check out our IPv6 page for help.

To chat on AfterNET, you can either download and install an IRC client or chat directly from your browser window. Many IRC clients are available for different operating systems. Once installed, connect to irc.afternet.org. Here are some IRC clients we like:

• Windows: mIRC, XChat, ChatZilla
• Mac OSX: XChat, Colloquy, KVIrc, ChatZilla
• Linux: XChat, KVIrc, ChatZilla, Konversation, irssi
• Additional IRC clients

If you'd rather chat from within your web browser, try one of the following:

• AfterNET qwebirc: Our new web-based IRC client. Excellent!
• AfterNET CGI:IRC: Our other very old web-based IRC client.
• Java Chat Applet: Requires that you have Java installed. Old and slow.
• Mibbit.com WebChat: Supports multiple networks. Has advertisements and frogs.

If you want to learn more about the various connection options, read this, or just /join #Help on IRC.

We pride ourselves on maintaining high-speed IRC servers around the globe, with a strong emphasis on network and service stability. The network has an average of 800 people connected to it at once, and we are fortunate to have a very loyal group of users. Our main channel is #AfterNET and our help channel is #Help.

We provide username and channel registrations via our AuthServ and X3 service bots. Many organizations that host websites dedicated to music, sports, software development, gaming, or other special interests choose AfterNET as their chat network because of our “free” nature and our supportive and friendly staff. We hope you enjoy your time on our network, and please let us know if there is anything we can do for you!

If you're interested in linking a server to AfterNET, please visit our link application. Feel free to stop by #AfterNET or #Help and discuss your plans with us. Our current client servers are located in the United States (California, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Washington), the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. In particular, if you're going to purchase a dedicated server or VPS for IRC, we'd be happy to suggest providers we've used in the past. We are currently interested in linking more servers that can provide native IPv6 connectivity (not via a tunnel), but you do not need to have IPv6 connectivity to apply for a testlink.

• Please be sure to read our acceptable use and privacy policies.