R Bell Ringer Volume 47, No 8 Clear Lake, South Dakota 57226 December 2013

This is the day the Lord has made; let us Rejoice and be glad in it... Merry Christmas from ITC! ITC University Simple, Honest, Clear Constructing Your Future By Jerry Heiberger, General Manager

We would like to thank all of you s the year 2013 comes to a close, ITC’s construction personnel and our contractors remain who attended the ITC University quite busy. Our contracted construction crews are in the process of burying new fiber optic classes this past year! We hope cables to our members in the communities of Castlewood, Estelline, and Hayti. We are very you were able to take away A hopeful that Mother Nature will provide us with just a few more weeks of warm weather so we can some things that were useful. complete these projects as planned! We are currently working on Once all of the cables are buried, the next steps in the process are to have them spliced and tested. the class topics for next year. Be After all tests are completed successfully, ITC personnel will begin contacting the residents and businesses sure to check the January issue in these communities to schedule a time to convert their services over to the new cable facilities. These of the Bell Ringer for topics and new cable facilities will allow us the ability to meet your telecommunications and broadband needs for many class schedules. years to come. If you have a topic you would As many of you know, ITC was recently awarded a new $25 million dollar Rural Utilities Service (RUS) like us to teach, or even one you loan. Our current plan is to utilize these loan dollars to replace the remaining old copper cables in the other would like us to repeat, give us a ITC communities over the course of the next four years. Our current plans are to rebuild the community of call at 1-800-417-8667. Lake Norden and Gary (town and rural areas) in 2014. Again, as I have stated in recent articles, the decision to move forward with the 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 projects is very dependent upon the recent actions of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and their future decisions to reform regulations that pertain to our industry. The recent rules handed down by May the FCC have negatively impacted our operations and plans for the future. We will continue to stay abreast Happy Times of the decisions made by the FCC before proceeding with our goal to assure all ITC’s members have the Decorate Your Holiday Season. best facilities available to meet their future needs. May Warm,Special As I think about all that has happened throughout 2013, I certainly feel blessed and proud to have Memories Brighten had the opportunity to be a part of this exciting industry and Cooperative! Even though the future will be Your New Year. May challenging, we will continue to work with our local, state, and national association leaders to assure rural The Wonder Of Christmas America continues to play a vital role in this nation’s future. Be With You Forever. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you, the members, for your patronage throughout 2013. It is an Thank You For Supporting honor to serve you! I would also like to express my gratitude to ITC’s employees, legal counsel, consultants, Your Coop. engineers, and other industry partners for their expertise and guidance. Together and cooperatively…..we ITC make a great team! Merry Christmas! I hope you all have safe and happy holidays!

Bell Fiber-To-The-Home Customers Ringer “What happens when the power goes out?” (USPS # 155-720) Like it or not, winter weather is here. Most of you who grew up in 312 Fourth St W the Midwest are very familiar with the ice and snow and know how PO Box 920 Clear Lake, SD 57226-0920 to deal with these conditions. Sometimes, despite our best plans, http://itc-web.com that ice and snow leads to power outages. If you are a Fiber-To- 1-800-417-8667 The-Home (FTTH) customer, you need to know what will happen * Published monthly for $.25 when your power goes out. * Periodicals postage paid at Clear Lake, SD During a power outage, your ITC telephone service will continue to work with your wired (not cordless) telephone using battery power Kathy Weitala, Editor Postmaster: Send address from the ITC installed power supply. Battery life will depend on age changes to: and the amount of use. Internet and television services will go off Interstate Telecommunications until power is restored. Services will return when power returns, Cooperative, Inc. P.O. Box 920 or power is supported by a generator. If you have any questions, Clear Lake, SD 57226-0920 please contact our office at 1-800-417-8667. Cooperatively Speaking ” By Kathy Weitala This month we would like you to meet another employee from our construction crew. Kristopher Moyer has worked as a Construction Technician for ITC the past six years. Kris grew up in Clear Lake and attended Deuel School. Following graduation, he went on to get his Diesel Technology degree at Lake The Perfect Gift Area Technical Institute in Watertown, South Dakota. We’ve all got at least one on our It has been a busy season for the construction staff. As long as the ground stays thawed, their days are list...you know, the person who filled with plowing, trouble-shooting, and repairing cable. Once it freezes, the crew will help out in other areas. has everything. “My favorite part of the job is meeting new people; I really enjoy that,” says Kris. With the large territory and ITC can help make your all the interesting places they cover, working construction offers plenty of opportunities to meet a lot of new holiday shopping easy! We have people. Kris says even the occasional late night fiber cuts are not so bad. While ITC strives to keep the cable gift certificates for every budget. trouble free, its great to see how everyone works together to get things up and running as quickly as possible. You can purchase a specific ITC One service Kris especially enjoys is ITC’s Vroom High-Speed Internet. He says, “If you need to know service or pay an amount on an something or want to research a purchase, it’s all right there at your fingertips.” ITC’s recent speed increases ITC bill. have made surfing the Internet even easier. DVR (Digital Video Recorder) There’s one thing Kris says is important to know about technology. You need to stay on top of it, don’t fall makes a really good gift for behind because it’s way too hard to catch up. Good advice. someone who has ITC TV. They In his spare time Kris enjoys helping the local farmers maintain can record their favorite programs their equipment. He also enjoys camping with his family. Kris has two while they are out. Or, they can little boys and another one on the way! Kris might not have so much rewind a program when they free time in the near future! missed something important. Be sure to say hi to Kris the next time you see him and please slow How about HD (High down and drive safely in and around the construction zones! Definition)? Who doesn’t want a crystal clear picture? Maybe you have someone on your list who loves movies. You can give them a gift certificate ITC Introduces New Service for PPV/VOD movies they can watch from the comfort of their ITC Notify is an automated messaging service that own living room. can deliver phone calls, email, and text messages to a If you know someone who designated contact list. Do you ever find yourself calling could use a little help with their a list of people to remind them about something, or to ITC bill, this is another great idea. bring items to an event? Do you have a meeting notice Stop by one of our ITC offices that you would like to get out to your customers in a and we’ll take care of you! timely manner? With winter upon us, you might need to send out cancellation notices. ITC Notify is your answer! ITC Notify is a simple way to contact your customers or members via a phone call, email, and/or text message. Simply login to the ITC Notify web portal from anywhere, input the list of phone numbers or email addresses, ITC Offices Close record the voice message, and schedule the message to be sent. A report will be sent to the administrator of the ITC Notify account stating a summary of the job. It will note if the calls were successful or if a voice mail was left. For Holidays We have two different types of packages available. For those organizations that could benefit from this service throughout the year, there are options from $9.95/month to $39.95/month. We also have pricing available for those organizations that have only one job to complete. Call ITC at 1-800-417-8667 for more information about ITC Notify or to add this service. ITC Notify is great for: The service gives subscribers the ability to Schools, Government, schedule automated messages for things like: Organizations,Churches, Meeting Reminders, Cancellations, The ITC offices will be closed at Social Groups,Small Businesses, Service Changes or Outages, noon on December 24 and all Sporting Teams, Seasonal Programs, Appointment Reminders, Non-pay Reminders, day on December 25. They will and much more! Marketing & Promotions, also be closed on January 1. Have and much more! a safe and wonderful holiday! Internet 911 Periodical Postage Paid At Clear Lake, South Dakota 57226 Home Data Storage By Bill Renneker, Internet Systems Administrator

ost of us have accumulated enough digital data to have faced the challenges of where and how to store and secure it, and how to access M it with the ever-increasing number of electronic devices that we use. Remit Top Portion Of Bill With Payment This month, we will examine the concept of Network Attached Storage, or NAS.  When sending payment to ITC , customers should return the TOP portion of the bill NAS: Network Attached Storage that says, “PLEASE TEAR ALONG PERFORATION AND REMIT WITH PAYMENT.” If you have Internet access in your home or office, you probably have a router Important Dates Bills are mailed on the first of each month, and payment is due on the 19th of that month, unless otherwise in place for distributing our Internet connection among your computers, tablets, indicated on the “Due Date” portion of your statement. Prompt payment is required. and smartphones, etc. You could be utilizing this resource as part of a plan to NO PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS WILL BE GRANTED. access, manage, and share your data. A “NAS” can provide the convenience of Nov 29------Bills mailed from ITC 586, 629, 693, 794,795, 826, 832, a central repository for your files, accessible from any device connected to your Dec 18------Payment due 873,874, 876. Dec 18------Final notices mailed Jan 9 ------Disconnect day home network. You could choose to install a wired NAS or a wireless NAS, or Jan 7------Disconnect day for the following prefixes: 345, 432, 438, for the following prefixes: 272, 275, 532, 623, 625, 628, 676, 756, 758, 783, subscribe to an Internet-based solution. 277, 368, 479, 483, 489, 542, 548, 784, 785, 793, 947. Wired NAS A wired NAS connects to the router in your home to provide access from other Join us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! devices connected directly to the router using an Ethernet network cable. This facebook.com/itccoop @itc_coop type of network storage is most secure, since anyone accessing the device would have to be plugged into your network and allowed access to the device and to the files stored on the device. Wired solutions provide for the fastest data transfer of all possible methods, at this time. The cost for wired NAS is lower than wireless NAS, if all other factors were equal. Rent a Movie With the Family! Wireless NAS Wireless NAS provides the convenience of wireless access from all compatible devices on your home network. Security is maintained by using a network password and/or allowing access from only specific device hardware addresses in the setup configuration; and also by specifying which devices or users can access certain files. The convenience factor of wireless use is obvious; but they

still have a ways to go before some problems, such as latency, are worked out—a Despicable Me 2 © 2013 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. Elysium © 2013 MRC II Distribution Company L.P. All Rights Reserved. Fast & Furious 6 © 2013 Universal Studios. All Rights consideration mainly for streaming media, such as movies or music. Reserved. Prisoners © 2013 Alcon Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved The Smurfs 2 © 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Hemisphere - Culver II, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NAS in the “Cloud” Another solution for NAS is cloud-based (“the cloud” is an overused lofty buzzword for “the Internet”) services. These are provided by a number of vendors, such as Dropbox, Google Docs, Microsoft, Amazon, and many smaller companies. Microsoft’s “Office 365” is essentially the Microsoft Office applications suite and storage, based “in the cloud.” These services are accessed over the Internet by Rejoice any of your devices on your network or when you are away, whether wired or wireless. Cloud storage is particularly convenient for traveling, or sharing files and collaborating with relatives or business associates. Multipurpose Devices Many NAS devices can serve multiple purposes, going beyond simple data storage. Music, movies, home videos, photos, and other media can be served up from these devices to your TV, audio players, computers, etc. Home or Office The focus of our topic this month has been on the home network; but, needless to say, businesses also use the same technology for convenience and efficiency. The main differences for business-class solutions might be a higher emphasis on security of the network and file permissions, and the quality level and reliability of the hardware—which, in simple terms, means it costs more. NAS devices can range in price from a couple hundred dollars for a small home unit, on up into the thousands of dollars, depending on your needs.