December E-Newsletter

We think you'll find the information contained in this newsletter to be a valuable tool for enhancing your Internet experience. As always, we appreciate your feedback and suggestions. Please send your thoughts, comments or questions to newsletter@gmavt.net.

The Green Mountain Access Team
Adam, Amanda, Eric, Kris, Phil, Richard, Seth and Scott

Company News

Thank You For Shopping Local This Holiday Season

In Vermont, we are very fortunate to have a wonderful diversity of local businesses that include talented artisans, unique shops, specialty boutiques, retailers, and wonderful restaurants in our local communities. These businesses are owned and operated by your friends and neighbors and help make our local community the special place we all hold dear to our hearts. Instead of driving to the big box stores or shopping online with an out-of-state merchant, please support the local economy by shopping locally.

All of us at Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom wish you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season and would like to thank you for choosing us as your provider and we look forward to continuing to serve you in the future.

Is There A High School Senior In Your Family?

Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom (WCVT) is proud to partner with the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) in the 2019 College Scholarship Program. Each year, FRS gives out $2,500 scholarships to an exceptional group of rural students for their first year of college or vocational school. All applicants require sponsorship by an NTCA — The Rural Broadband Association member company, which includes WCVT.

As your local telecommunications service provider, it’s our pleasure to offer this national scholarship program in our service area. It seeks to sustain and enhance the quality of life in rural America by advancing an understanding of rural telecommunications issues and furthering the education of rural youth. Applicants must be a graduating high school senior and an active customer or whose parents or legal guardian are active customers of WCVT and reside full-time in the WCVT service area.

Applications must be sent directly to FRS, postmarked no later than March 1, 2019. Please note that each application must be signed by a designated person from WCVT. For more information, contact Lorraine Keener at lkeener@corp.wcvt.com or 496-8379.

Win a $50 Gift Certificate To Bolton Valley Resort

Each month, we raffle off a prize from a local business, so be sure to enter your name every month for your chance to win. This month we are raffling off a $50 gift certificate to Bolton Valley Resort. To be entered into the raffle, simply click the link below and leave your name and contact information. The drawing will take place on December 17th.

Click here to enter for your chance to win

Adding More Devices This Holiday Season? Make Sure Your Wi-Fi is Ready

If you are adding more devices this holiday season, it's probably time to look at your Wi-Fi. While the standard Wi-Fi gateways do a pretty good job of covering the average sized home, depending on the number of devices and size, layout, and construction of your home, it may be time to look at a new solution to increase your overall Wi-Fi coverage and performance. Whole Home Wi-Fi from Green Mountain Access uses multiple Access Points to expand coverage to every part of your home and cover all of your devices.

Better Coverage Eliminates Dead-spots
Whole Home Wi-Fi improves coverage throughout your home and maximizes device connection speeds. Need additional coverage? No problem, simply add additional access points to increase coverage and eliminate “dead” spots.

How Much Does It Cost?
Whole Home Wi-Fi is just $10.90* per month and includes two AirTies 4920ac Wi-Fi access points (two access points cover the majority of installations). If needed for your specific installation, additional Wi-Fi access points can be added for $5.45* per month for each additional access.

Want To Learn More?
For more information, watch our video below or visit http://www.wcvt.com/services/wi-fi/residential to learn more about our Whole Home Wi-Fi or business Wi-Fi solutions.

*Whole Home Wi-Fi equipment requires Green Mountain Access high-speed Internet service and a modem/router. One-time $100 installation fee applies.

Get Faster Internet And Make The Whole House Happy - Try Our Faster Speeds Free for 60-Days

How many family members are typically online at your house and what are they doing? Streaming movies and TV shows? Downloading music? Playing games? Connecting on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter? Times have changed and many households now need more Internet speed to handle more users and more devices.

If your speed is no longer adequate, you may be experiencing annoying slowdowns such as video buffering. Fortunately, you can get a lot more Mbps for a just a little more money!

To find out if higher speeds are available at your location, click here. Give us a call at 888-321-0815 or email us to learn more.

Check Out Our Winter Issue Of Business Connections

The winter issue of our Business Connections magazine spotlights A. Johnson Co., LLC in Bristol and includes articles on our Business Class W-Fi solutions, tips for building Facebook engagement and more. Give it a read and let us know what you think. You can read the latest issue here: http://www.wcvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Business-Connections_Winter-Issue.pdf

WCVT In The Community

WCVT Holiday Giving Tree Helps Hundreds Of Local Children

Each year Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom spreads holiday cheer through our giving tree. WCVT employee Tammy Field coordinates our annual gift drive and works directly with local schools and community organizations in our service area to help fulfill the needs of approximately 500 children each holiday season. Hundreds of gifts for all ages are donated by employees, customers and the Company's Contributions Committee. Our thanks to Tammy and everyone who is participating this year.

Being a local business means that our customers are also our neighbors and friends. At Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom, we feel strongly that community involvement is not just a nice thing to do; it is the right thing to do. If you have a community service project in the making and are looking for help, contact Lorraine Keener at 496-8379 or via email lkeener@corp.wcvt.com to see if we can lend a hand.

Community Events

Holiday Happenings In Bristol - Friday, December 7 - Bristol

Various events in downtown Bristol including a candy cane hunt at 6:00 pm on the corner of the town green, and the lighting of the memory tree at 6:30 pm at the gazebo on the green. Bristol's 11th annual chocolate walk will also take place from 5:00 to 9:00 pm. For additional information visit https://bristolvt.myrec.com.

Country Christmas - Friday and Saturday, December 7 & 8 - Mad River Valley

Come visit the Mad River Valley during the Holiday Season. The 20th annual Country Christmas is a holiday event that turns the Mad River Valley into a winter wonderland. Events are on Friday and Saturday with many stores staying open late. Country Christmas has been voted one of the “Top Ten Winter Events”. Music, Art, Food, Children’s events and more. For more information and event details, click here.

Christmas Caroling - Friday, December 14th - Bristol

Meet in front of Holley Hall at 6:00 pm for some holiday Christmas caroling. At the end, everyone will meet back at Holley Hall for hot cocoa and cookies. For more information, visit www.bristolrec.org.

Santa Sunday at Bolton - Sunday, December 16th - Bolton Valley Resort

Get into the spirit of the season on Sunday, Dec. 17 at Bolton Valley. All skiers and riders who arrive dressed head-to-toe in official Kris Kringle attire will ski and ride free that day. This challenge is not for the faint at heart—a simple red hat won’t cut it. Neither will just a simple red jacket, red helmet or anything of the like. Guests must be dressed in the complete Santa package to earn this early holiday gift. For more information, visit: https://www.boltonvalley.com/events-and-activities/events-calendar/santa-sunday-2074.

Tutorial / FAQ

Stay Alert - Watch Out For New Amazon Scams

As the holiday shopping season heats up, you may be doing some purchasing from Amazon, which is what scammers are counting on. If you've recently placed an order, then you're going to be less suspicious of an email from Amazon confirming it. But now's the time to be more suspicious than ever because these tricksters can get you into trouble.

Here's how it works: They send you a fake email confirming an order you didn't place and asking you to provide sensitive personal information such as credit card or bank account details, your Social Security number, or your password. Don't fall for it! Genuine Amazon emails will never:

~ Ask for personal information
~ Include links to anywhere other than Amazon ~ Contain numerous spelling and grammar errors ~ Contain unsolicited attachments

If you receive an email with any of these telltale signs, it's not from Amazon. You should delete the email and, just to be safe, login to your Amazon account using a known bookmark and change your password. Or, alert Amazon by sending the email as an attachment to spoofing@amazon.com.

A similar scam that also results in a confirmation email is when fraudsters gain your Amazon login information and actually make purchases through your account. In this case, the email may be legitimate, but describing a transaction you didn't approve. The remedies in this case are to, once again, immediately change your password; contact Amazon to report the transaction; and call your bank or credit card company to find out how to get your money back.

Short Tutorial / FAQ - How Do I Change Or Reset My Facebook Password?

Question:  I need to set up a new Facebook password. How do I do this?

Answer: Facebook makes it simple to take care of this issue. Simply follow the applicable steps below.

Change Your Password
To change your password on Facebook if you're already logged in:

1. Click the downward arrow in the top right corner of any Facebook page and select Settings.
2. Click Security and Login.
3. Click Edit next to Change Password.
4. Click Save Changes.

If you're logged in but have forgotten your password, follow the steps under Change Your Password, then click Forgot your password? and follow the steps to reset it. Keep in mind that you'll need access to the email associated with your account.

Reset Your Password
To reset your password if you're not logged in to Facebook:

1. Go to the Find Your Account Page.
2. Type the email, mobile phone number, full name or username associated with your account, then click Search.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Sites of the Month

Best Towns For Seasonal Charm

https://www.countryliving.com/life/travel/g2829/best-christmas-towns-in-usa/
From Solvang, California to Woodstock, Vermont, the small towns listed on this site are worth visiting this holiday season. Holiday lights, festive hotels, parties, ice skating, concerts, carolers, train rides, and Santa visits are just some of the activities you'll find. The best part? Many of them are free.

Break Time

http://zoomquilt.org/
Ready for a brain break? Check out this site, which really has to be seen to be believed. Get "pulled" through a video of increasingly close-up drawn scenes to more scenes just beyond. Choose from fantasy worlds, flowers, or a secret garden, and adjust the speed and colors to your liking.

Instant Photo Editor

https://www.canva.com/photo-editor/
This site gives you instant access to photo editing tools. Just click Upload and start experimenting with the filters and other adjustments.
When you're done, click Download to save your masterpiece. Create a free account to get storage space, access templates, or create posters and cards.

Learn Something New

https://gohighbrow.com/
If your New Year's resolution is to learn new things, this site provides a great way to do it. With five-minute lessons delivered to your inbox, you can study topics as varied as relationships, travel, writing, computer programming, and meditation. Try it for 30 days for free.

More...

Two to View - A Couple Amazing Videos You Don't Want to Miss

Drone Builder Designs Flying Car - Even cooler than a sports car, this personal flying vehicle is ultra light and has 16 onboard computers.

Bear Cub Shows Persistence - This determined bear cub tries time and again to reach its mother at the top of a steep, snowy incline.

Go Pinterest-ing! - Cool Stuff to Pin on Your Pinterest Boards

DIY Christmas Tree Mason Jar Votives
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/291537775875445948/

New Holiday Favorite Ginger Cookie Recipe
https://www.cookingclassy.com/white-chocolate-dipped-ginger-cookies/

Beautiful And Unique Gift Wrapping Ideas
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/291537775875504991/

You haven't started pinning on Pinterest yet and you want to get started? To sign up, go to www.pinterest.com.

Free Featured Apps - These Three are Well Worth the Look

Pandora
Looking for a way to get in the holiday spirit? Download the Pandora music app and check out its great seasonal selections. Learn More Here: https://www.pandora.com/everywhere/on-the-go

PocketGuard
This all-around money manager can create a budget for you, track your spending, and let you see all your finances in one place. Learn More Here: https://pocketguard.com/

Alarmy
Meet the "world's most annoying alarm clock." To make it stop you have to do specific tasks that are sure to get you out of bed. Learn More Here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=droom.sleepIfUCan&hl=en_US