Interstate Telecommunications Coop - BellRinger April 2011

Volume 44, No 12 Clear Lake, South Dakota 57226 April 2011Volume 44 No 12 Clear Lake South Dakota 57226Volume 44 No 12 Clear Lake South Dakota 57226 April 2011April 2011Volume 44 No 12 Clear Lake South Dakota 57226Volume 44 No 12 Clear Lake South Dakota 57226 April 2011April 2011V l 44 N 12 Cl L k S th D k t 57226V l 44 N 12 Cl L k S th D k t 57226 April 2011April 2011

Refer. Subscribe. Reward. Refer: Do you know one of your friends or neighbors that could add Phone, TV, or Internet with ITC? Refer them to ITC!

Subscribe: If your friend or neighbor chooses to subscribe to Phone, TV, or Internet with ITC you will be both be rewarded!

Reward: If you refer someone, you will receive $25 off your next bill. The person you referred to add a service will also receive a $25 reward on their next bill.

This offer is valid until April 29, 2011. Please contact ITC at 1-800-417-8667 if you have questions.

If 5,280 feet equals one mile, then the “extra mile” must be a lot more than that - right? Most of us know that going the extra mile means going above and beyond what is expected, but what does that mean for the members and customers at ITC?

For more than a year and half, ITC has dedicated time to training our employees to go the extra mile. It started early in the fall of 2009 with a goal to help our employees focus on providing service that was not only better than what our customers expected, but the best it could be. This on-going process included getting to know our ITC services better so we could answer your questions and make sure you have the services that match your needs. We have also spent some time learning about some of the “gadgets” out on the market today.

Technology has been described like a runaway freight train that never slows down. It has been a challenge to stay on top of all the new gadgets and to understand the kinds of technology it takes to make them work. Ryan Dutton (pictured left), of Cronin Communications, was a guest speaker at one of our recent employee training sessions. He offered a first-hand look at some of those “gadgets.” Technologies that we only dreamed about yesterday are here and being used by our customers on a regular basis. It’s an exciting time.

Like that freight train, we don’t expect things to slow down much here at ITC either. Technologies will continue to change at an alarming pace. Employee training will continue as long

as there are new technologies. We will also continue working on building customer relationships and making the “extra mile” a priority for all those we serve. Stop by one of our offices, see what is new, and tell us how we are doing!

Sign up today!

312 Fourth St W PO Box 920

Clear Lake, SD 57226-0920http://itc-web.com

1-800-417-8667

* Published monthly for $.25 * Periodicals postage paid at Clear Lake, SD

Kathy Weitala, Editor

Bell

Ringer

Postmaster: Send address changes to:Interstate Telecommunications

Cooperative, Inc. P.O. Box 920

Clear Lake, SD 57226-0920

Simple, Honest, Clear

By Jerry Heiberger, General Manager

AA s I write this article, hundreds of rural telecom board members and management personnel from around the country are preparing to travel

to Washington D.C. on your behalf. They will converge upon the halls of Congress for a common cause and will be led by the leaders of our national and state telecom associations. The executive management team of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) will spend the first day updating all attendees on the current status of the important issues. These issues will be addressed with members of Congress, their telecom staffers, and personnel of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the course of the following two days.

The main topic for discussion, during these meetings in Washington D.C., will be the proposed rules included in the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) Docket on Reform of the Universal Service Funds (USF) and Intercarrier Compensation (ICC). As I have alluded to in previous articles, I certainly agree that reform within our industry is necessary but rural carriers such as ITC will be bearing an unfair portion of the overall cost of the changes if these rules are implemented as proposed.

Since the NPRM was published in the Federal

Register, ITC personnel have been very busy gathering data and submitting it to both our national and state associations and consultants. It is important that we assist these associations and consultants since they work on our behalf to develop additional options for the FCC to consider. I have been very impressed by the amount of time, energy, and personal commitment of those that are working on these important issues. Our collective story must be told, heard and understood, and then acted upon in a positive manner by our regulators and those that we elect and send to Washington D.C.! If our story falls on deaf ears, the members of ITC and others from around this country will suffer. Not only will the company suffer financially but many of our members may end up on the wrong side of the digital divide.

I will remain optimistic and confident that once the financial impacts and the unjust burdens are demonstrated, a fair and reasonable solution can be found. Please know that we will continue to work on your behalf to assure that our members receive to the same quality of services as all others across this country.

Call Before you Dig!Call Before you Dig!If you are planning on doing any home improvements this spring or summer, smart digging means dialing 811 fi rst! Don’t take any chances. Calling 811 will get your underground utility lines marked for free! If you hit a utility line, it could harm someone and also result in some fi nes.

This South Dakota One Call System is for excavators to notify utility companies of their intent to dig. When you call 811, the SD One Call System takes information and notifi es utility companies with buried lines in the area. The utility companies have 48 hours to mark their lines. Do not start digging until it has been 48 hours. If the utility company doesn’t respond, please call the SD One Call System again at 811. The utility companies will only mark lines that they own. Private lines need to be marked by a private locating fi rm and are your responsibility.

For Minnesota, call 811 or 1-800-252-1166.

ITC offi ces will be closing at noon on Friday, April 22nd

for Easter.

Happy Easter!

ITC’s PT Cruiser in the Clear Lake St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Construction is a fact of life for this area, especially in the spring,

summer, and even into fall.W h i l e i t m a y b e

frustrating to be delayed, please take the extra time

and drive slowly through these areas. This is for your

safety as well as safety of the construction workers.

Construction Ahead, Slow Down!

Broadband IssueBroadband IssueGoes to WashingtonGoes to Washington

By Holly Stormo,Marketing Communications Specialist

Cooperatively Speaking

High Definition

Black Bars and Today’s TVsBlack Bars and Today’s TVs

G rowing up, Travis Engelkes was always talking to “the phone guys.” Maybe that had something to do with his decision to work in the telecommunications field.

Travis has worked at ITC for the past 15 years. He attended Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Jackson, Min-

nesota. He currently works as an Installer Repair Technician (IR Tech) and serves the Clear Lake and Gary communities.

One of the things Travis likes about his job is his ability to work outside - on the nice days, he is quick to add! He is not so fond of crawl spaces though. An installation that involves a crawl space is always interesting. Travis says, “You never know what you will fi nd.”

High Defi nition TV (HDTV) is one of Travis’ favorite ITC services. The picture quality, especially for sporting events, is great and he enjoys installing it for his customers. One piece of advice he offers his ITC customers regard-

ing technology, “Be open to change because it will always be changing.”

The best part of Travis’ job, and where he is located, is that he really enjoys knowing his customers. Calling people by their fi rst name is important and Travis says that is something he really likes about working with people in the Clear Lake and Gary communities. So, the next time you see Travis...be sure to say hi!

By Kathy Weitala

If you’re like most sports lovers, you want to see every little detail of the sporting event. Of course, why wouldn’t you? With High Defi nition (HD) from ITC, you will have a crisp, clear picture for your sporting events, news programs, and movies. Colors are brighter, sounds are more intense, and details are seen that you didn’t even know existed!

HD isn’t just for sports lovers. ITC offers 48 channels of HD programming including all the local news channels, Discovery, Hallmark Movie, ESPN, Food Network, Animal Planet, and many more! There are HD channels for everyone. Check out the back of the ITC channel card for the full listing. Also, if you subscribe to Showtime or Starz and HD, you will receive Showtime HD and Starz HD! That makes 50 HD channels available to you!

To receive HD-quality programming, you need an HD television, Best Seat Digital TV, and HD programming from ITC. Call 1-800-417-8667 for more information or to sign up!

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Customers occasionally call and ask why they have black bars showing either on top and bottom, or both sides of their television picture. First, the good news...if you are seeing black bars, then you are seeing the entire picture on your television.

To answer the ‘why’ question, we need to think of older televisions that had a screen four units of width for every three units of height. That was called a 4:3 aspect ratio. When High Definition Television (HDTV) was developed, manufacturers wanted to provide a ‘theater’ experience. Since movies have always been shown on a wide screen, HDTV was engineered using a wider aspect ratio. The new HDTVs on the market offer a 16:9 aspect ratio -16 units of width for every nine units of height.

If black bars aren’t shown, what are the options? If an old picture is stretched to fit a new TV, everything gets shorter and wider (for instance, the people get fatter). If a new picture is stretched for an old TV, everything gets thinner and taller. If an old picture is cropped for a new TV, detail will be lost at the top and bottom. If a new picture is cropped for an old TV, content is lost at the sides. Complicating the story is the fact that some theater productions use an even wider aspect ratio than the 16:9 on the new televisions.

So back to the good news. Black bars are good because the picture you see is as it was originally filmed. More good news is that your television, DVD player, Blu-Ray player and ITC set top box probably have settings you can change to get the picture you want.

Bills are mailed on the fi rst of each month, and payment is due on the 19th of that month, unless otherwise indicated on the “Due Date” portion of your statement. Prompt payment is required. NO PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS WILL BE GRANTED.

586, 629, 693, 794,795, 826, 832, 873,874, 876.May 5 ----------------------- Disconnect dayfor the following prefi xes: 345, 532, 625, 628, 758, 783, 784, 785, 793, 947.

When sending payment to ITC , customers should return the TOP portion of the bill that says, “PLEASE TEAR ALONG PERFORATION AND REMIT WITH PAYMENT.”

Remit Top Portion Of Bill With PaymentRemit Top Portion Of Bill With Payment

Important DatesImportant Dates

Mar 31 -------------------Bills mailed from ITCApr 19 ---------------------------Payment dueApr 19 ------------------- Final notices mailedMay 3 ------------------------Disconnect dayfor the following prefi xes: 272, 275, 277, 368, 479, 483, 489, 542, 548,

Periodical Postage Paid At Clear Lake, South Dakota 57226

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Internet 911

Browser UpBrowser UpBy Bill Renneker, Internet Systems Administrator

Start Renting Today!

LL et’s continue from last month, exploring some basic ways of mak-ing your use of the computer more efficient and enjoyable. We’ll focus on the browser.There’s More Than One Way to Browse The Web

A Web browser is an application designed to “browse,” or view, the World Wide Web. It turns Web pages coded with HTML, XML, Java, and Flash, and who knows what else into displays that are dazzling and friendly to our eyes. The browser makes it easy to find and view the information on the Internet that we are looking for—and also the content that the site owners and designers want us to find.

Most Internet users are familiar with Internet Explorer, simply because it’s the Web browser that has been bundled with Microsoft Windows systems since Microsoft discovered that there was an Internet. Many of you have heard of and use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. There are other browsers, and some may display certain Web pages better than others. Opera is my current favorite. The Amaya browser also includes a Web editor so you can view, edit, and create Web pages. Others worth trying for their features are Maxthon and Stainless. Just search for the names, go to their Web sites, find the download button, and follow directions to install. If you decide to uninstall the program later, either go to the Program group in the Start menu and find that program’s “Uninstall” command, or open Control Panel and uninstall from the “Add or Remove Programs” or “Programs and Features” group.

Surplus ToolbarsA toolbar is an additional section across the screen and beneath

the menu bar of a browser or other program that contains menus and icons referred to as “widgets,” designed as shortcuts to menus, with convenience in mind. The program you’re using has its own set of toolbars that can be enabled, disabled, or customized (typically found in the “View” menu).

The “Google Toolbar” was one of the first third-party toolbar add-ons, popular because it could block pop-up windows. Since browsers do that now, who needs it? Others include “Yahoo! Toolbar Companion,” “Ask Jeeves Toolbar,” “Bing Bar,” and “Norton Toolbar.” Too often, these get installed whether you knowingly asked for them or not. They are designed more to get a product’s name in front of people than to help. Eventually, toolbars could occupy more of your screen real estate than the Web pages you’re struggling to see.

If the usable screen area of your Web browser has been reduced to a slit because of add-on toolbars, you can usually remove them from the screen by clicking the View menu and un-checking the specifi c toolbar. The toolbar may also have to be uninstalled in Control Panel.

Tabbed BrowsingMost Web browsers now offer “tabbed browsing,” an efficient and

organized way to open additional Web pages in the same window, in tabs (right-click a link and “Open link in new tab”). Save or “bookmark” a group of related tabs, for example, when researching and comparing car models that you’re thinking about purchasing.