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Tracy Typhair, Sales Assistant at Xplornet Authorized Dealer, 401 Connect’s service area spans from as far west as Seeley’s 401 Connect has been there from the beginning. Bay, as far North as Perth and as far East as Chesterville, Morrisburg area. Twenty years ago, she worked for a small Internet company called RipNet. When RipNet was purchased by Xplornet, she became Normally, the team enjoys being out in the community at tradeshows, an Xplornet employee, and then eight years ago when Xplornet’s an activity that Tracy misses very much. Sadly, due to COVID-19, the Brockville office was closed, the building was purchased and team at 401 Connect couldn’t get into the community this past transitioned into Authorized Xplornet Dealer 401 Connect. year like they usually do, but they have been busy addressing their community’s mounting Internet needs. Tracy was born and raised in Brockville and, and knows the community and its customers’ needs very well.

“I’m the jack of all trades. I do everything from scheduling to sales. “Now, everything is in high demand when 401 Connect is me, Melissa, who does inventory and our financial work and James, our expert installer,” she said. it comes to Internet. It’s never been more important for families to keep up with their Tracy said that she’s noticed that customers call 401 Connect again jobs, school and friends. My daughter missed and again because they are so impressed by James. one of the big milestones of her life, grade 8 “We have people who specifically request James. He goes even if graduation, and she’s now spending her first it’s snowing or raining. The reliability of a hometown dealer is very year of high school online,” Tracy said. important to our customers,” she said.

The day before we spoke with Tracy, three different people sent in positive reviews for James based on their technician visit and initial impression. Here’s what one customer had to say:

“Your technician at 401 Connect was very professional and On the plus side, she’s noticed that with Xplornet’s increased competent. He knew what he was doing.” upload speeds more families have been able to access work, school and loved ones from home. All the members of the 401 Connect team live and work in Brockville, Ontario, a place that Tracy couldn’t be fonder of. In fact, Xplornet has built over 100 new towers since the beginning of the year which are delivering our fastest speeds yet! With “My favourite part of living in Brockville is the beautiful St. Lawrence Xplore 50/10 UNLIMITED customers now have access to river. Brockville is very homey. I went out to BC for a while but came download speeds up to 50 Mbps, upload speeds up to 10 Mbps and right back home,” she said. truly unlimited data. Tracy loves speaking with their friendly rural customers. Call 1-866-673-7158 today for more information. “There are some customers that you want to sit and talk to for hours because they’re so friendly and nice,” she said.

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Rockwood Forest Nurseries have been a pillar of the area for the past 36 years.

THE NURSERY IN CAMERON, ONTARIO grows Santosh couldn’t be more grateful for the support trees, shrubs and perennials sold not only through of the Kawartha Lakes community. their retail garden centre, but whole scale to homebuilders, landscapers, golf courses and more. “The fact that my little business puts food on the table for 18 people is only possible with the “We serve everyone from homeowners to support of local community members,” he said. commercial sites at all different budget levels. We have various price points for various budgets so Last year, Rockwood started their Shopify account people can get what they need,” explained the to give customers another convenient way to meet owner, Santosh Patel. all their gardening needs.

Santosh lives at his family cottage in for the 6 months that Rockwood Forest Nurseries is open for business.

He loves the peace and quiet of rural Ontario, and the opportunity to give back to the community through employing locals, helping the environment by encouraging folks to plant trees and inspiring “We have been with the Xplornet family for the next generation through their “little growers” over 9 years now. Without their Internet program. service, we wouldn’t be able to have that as another sales channel for my customers,” “While parents are looking for shrubs in our he said. garden centre and farm, we plan to have little potting stations where the young grower would have experience potting, learn a little bit about the Supporting local businesses like Rockwood Forest tree or shrub and then have a little specimen to go Nurseries is Xplornet’s bread and butter. If you’re home with. They can then transplant it with their a local resident or business owner give us a call family when they get home,” Santosh said. today at 1-866-637-2490 for information about Internet options near you. ADVERTISEMENT

Kawartha Lakes area DOT Communications in Lindsay, Ontario have been serving As you can imagine, community-oriented people appreciate the Kawartha Lakes area as Authorized Xplornet Dealers since having a local dealer. 2018. “Our clients are pleased to hear that we are familiar with “Customer service is a top priority. Our team of where they live, or are moving to, and take comfort in that. technicians are very well trained and focused on getting We can be confident in our service delivery area and what customers the best signal strength and the best service clients can expect from our service, for folks who like to shop possible. We go out of our way to accommodate,” owner, local, it’s nice to build those rapports,” Jennifer said. Ingo Straat says. This has been a difficult year for many businesses that rely DOT Communications takes pride in delivering Internet to on storefronts and community events to succeed. The DOT every corner of their service area and when they say they go Communications team can’t wait until things are a bit better out of their way, they really mean it. so that they can participate in their favourite local events like Rib Fest and Boat Fest. “It is not uncommon for our technicians to get to a job site by boat or all-terrain vehicle. We are problem solvers, and Jennifer says that COVID-19 meant a lot more people in the we find a way to get the job done. We have continued to community looking for reliable Internet. service our water access clientele through the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, and we will continue to provide this “There’s been a lot of urban transplant, folks from the essential service through the 2021 cottage season,” DOT GTA moving out this way or spending more time at Communications Sales Manager, Jennifer Burnham said. the cottage. They want to be in the place where they feel the most comfortable, but in order to do that they The team operated out of Ingo and Jennifer’s home in need to access to a work VPN or Skype meetings and so Woodville until they outgrew the space and opened their allowing that connection is really a lifeline at this point,” Kent Street West location in Lindsay last year. she explained.

Jennifer is thrilled to do business in Lindsay, a place where she DOT Communications are determined to give back to their says community members look out for each other. community. Next month, they are running an outdoor event where they are giving out free reusable grocery bags and “Being a smaller community, we’re tight knit. Whether collecting non-perishable food items for the Kawartha Food it’s clients or neighbours you’re constantly running into Bank. people you know. We support each other’s businesses and it’s almost like a little family here in Kawartha Lakes,” For more information about this event, findDOT she explained. Communications on Facebook and for reliable Internet with speeds up to 50 Mbps and unlimited data call the team at DOT Communications at 1-833-368-2666.

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