February 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
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 e-mail us to learn more.
Win A $50 Gift Certificate To Richmond Home Supply
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. Congratulations to last month's winner, Brad Cook who won a $50 gift certificate to the Blue Stone restaurant. This month we have another great local prize, a $50 gift certificate to Richmond Home Supply. To be entered into the raffle, simply click the link below and leave your name and contact information. The drawing will take place on February 22.
Click here to enter for your chance to win
President's Day Office Closing
Please note our Customer Service and local Technical Support office will be closed on President's Day, Monday, February 15. As always, our afterhours Technical Support will still be available on the above dates, so please don't hesitate to call at: 1-888-321-0815 or email support@gmavt.net if you need assistance.
For interesting facts about our presidents and first ladies, visit The White House Historical Association's website.
WCVT to Hold Blood Drive on Tuesday, March 22nd
Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom will hold a Red Cross blood drive from noon to 5:30 p.m. at our main business office located on Route 100 in Waitsfield (across from Waitsfield Elementary School).
For more information, please call 496-3391 or contact the Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or online at www.redcrossblood.org.
Community Events
Base Camp at Mt. Ellen – Every Saturday in February - Sugarbush
Every Saturday start your evening adventure at Mt. Ellen Base Camp. Bring your friends and family out for fresh stone cooked pizza, warm drinks, friendly corn hole, and a warming bonfire. There is no better place to experience the other side of the mountain than at Mt. Ellen Base Camp. Skinning and snowshoeing provides a satisfying new perspective to the mountain. The adventurous can head out and up to enjoy a moonlit skin or snowshoe. Those more inclined to sip a hot chocolate by the fire can enjoy good vibes and good company.
This event runs every Saturday through March 26. Visit www.sugarbush.com for more information.
Family Fun Race & Backcountry Scavenger Hunt Fundraiser – Saturday, February 13 – Bolton Valley Resort
Bolton Valley is hosting the first ever Bryant Cabin & Bolton Lodge Historic Restoration Fundraiser on Saturday February 13 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. This event is perfect for the whole family. You can race each other in your funniest costume in the Alpine Race and/or have some fun together in the Backcountry Scavenger Hunt. Come out and have some fun with the family and have a chance to win some cool prizes at the Après Ski awards ceremony, silent auction and raffle. For more information, visit www.boltonvalley.com.
The Wild Side of Stark Mountain – Saturday, February 27 – Mad River Glen
Seek out the tracks and signs of our forest animals and year-round birds, such as snowshoe hare, fisher, red fox, coyote, moose and bear! Discover the adaptations and habitats of our resident wildlife in the Green Mountains. Expedition starts at 10:30 AM.
Visit www.madriverglen.com for more information.
Friends of the Richmond Free Library Book Sale – Friday & Saturday, February 12 - 13 - Richmond
Come to the Friends of the Richmond Free Library Book Sale and help support library programs such as summer art classes, performers, and special acquisitions. Live music, bake sale, great Raffle. Love Your Library! Dates: Pre-Sale - Friday, 2/12, 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM; Saturday Book Sale, 2/13, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
For more information, call 434-3036.
Tutorial/FAQ
Scam Alert - Craiglist Email Scams
Tech Support Scams Scammers are always looking for easy opportunities to fool you, and they frequently try to do it by using a popular site. Due to this, Craigslist is often a target. The scams involve various ways to get your email address. Why do scammers want just your email address?
Because it can provide more information about you than you think, especially if it's a work address. For example, scammers can determine the company you work for, your geographic location, and your approximate income - all information that can be sold to unscrupulous marketers.
The scammers harvest this information in several ways: by seeing the email address you include with your Craigslist ad; by replying to your anonymous ad and seeing your address when you email back; or by seeing it when you reply to a phony ad of theirs. Sometimes they're looking for more than an email address, such as when they ask for financial information.
You can avoid these scams by taking a few simple precautions:
- Create an alternate email address to use for Craigslist transactions, such as doglover@gmail.com. Don't include your actual name.
- Never provide financial information of any kind and never send money anywhere via Western Union.
- Always deal with local people, meet them in person, see the item (if you're buying), and pay or receive payment in cash.
- Be wary of ads or emails from outside your local area, especially those requesting payment.
- Don't trust mentions of third parties, as Craigslist is meant for person-to-person transactions.
If you do become the victim of this type of scam, contact the FTC or Vermont's attorney general.
What Can I do to Improve my Home's Wi-Fi Speed?
Question: I'm not getting the Internet speeds I thought I would from my home's Wi-Fi network. Are there things I can do to speed things up?
Answer: If your Wi-Fi router is out of date or not set up correctly, it could be slowing you down. Here are some tips to help you maximize router performance and enjoy the Internet speed you ordered:
1. Choose the right channel. Slow Wi-Fi speeds may be the result of interference from your neighbors' Wi-Fi networks as all the devices compete to use the same channel. For example, if neighbors are downloading a Netflix movie using the same Wi-Fi channel as your home's WiFi router, you'll need to wait for their data to be downloaded before your router can "talk."
Routers have many channels, and you can switch to a different one to reduce the risk of congestion. Channel 6 is the default setting for most routers, and it has a higher risk of being congested, especially in apartment and condo buildings. We suggest you select one of the other non-overlapping channels - 1 or 11. Your router may automatically take care of this for you; many models have an auto setting and simply rebooting the router causes it to find a cleaner channel.
2. Move your router to its ideal position. For the best signal and coverage, put your router in an open space near the center of your home. Keep it away from thick walls made of brick or concrete, and make sure it's not around metal items which can interfere with Wi-Fi signals. It may also help to position the router's antenna vertically rather than horizontally.
3. Check for interference from a nearby cordless device. Baby monitors, older cordless phones, microwave ovens, wireless speakers, and some security cameras are among the common household gadgets that also use the 2.4Ghz frequency. These can interfere with the wireless signal from your router. Deal with the conflict by moving the router away from these devices.
4. Make sure your router is secure. Putting a password on your router or limiting which devices can access your network will keep other people in the neighborhood from using your network and slowing it down.
5. Buy a new router. One of the best ways to make sure your network is as fast and reliable as possible is to use up-to-date hardware. With the proliferation of connected home products, smartphones, smart TVs, and other mobile computing devices, it's more important than ever to equip your home with a wireless router that can handle the increased demand for Wi-Fi connectivity. When choosing a new router, you should consider the size of your coverage area, number of users, and types of devices. All of the new 801.11ac routers are dual-band, enabling faster connections. We suggest you get one of these routers to improve your Wi-Fi performance.
6. Get a wireless signal extender. If your home is larger than about 3,000 square feet, getting good Wi-Fi signal from one corner to another can be a challenge. Multistory homes can also be difficult if the router isn't plugged into the broadband line somewhere on the middle level. In these cases, you may want to consider using a wireless extender which boosts your Wi-Fi signal to hard-to-reach places. A typical extender uses the A/C power line to connect a second wireless router to the main router.
There are also wireless repeaters available, which regenerate the Wi-Fi signal. You might put a repeater halfway between your router and your device. You can expect, however, to get about half the speed off the repeater than what you get off the original router.
Sites of the Month
Tax Season Scams
Tax season is yet another opportunity for scammers to do their thing. This IRS page shares information about scams to look out for including someone calling, claiming to be from the IRS, and telling you that you owe them money and how to pay it.
Get Ready For The Oscars
Consider this site your resource for all things gold! Leading up to the big event on February 28, you can get all the latest news about this year's nominations, host Chris Rock, memorable acceptance speeches, and, of course, the best celebrity fashion from past events.
Simply Recipes
This friendly site offers recipes from blogger Elise Bauer and her family. While each post tells a story, you can also search for information -- as you would on other food sites -- by the types of food you want to make. Featured sections include chicken, fish, gluten-free, vegetarian, and budget.
Mental_Floss
Many fun facts on a wide variety of topics can be found at the Mental_Floss magazine site. Learn about science, economics, and show business, just to name a few. Check out the Job Secrets section to learn everything you ever wanted to know about bartenders, TSA agents, and more.
More
Two to View - A Couple Amazing Videos You Don't Want to Miss
"Uptown Funk" Goes Old School - This delightful video features dance scenes from old movies that somehow sync perfectly to the strains of the modern hit, "Uptown Funk."
A New Perspective On Hockey - Hockey's fast pace makes it exciting to watch, and it's even more so when you see it from the on-ice perspective of NHL pro Sidney Crosby.
Go Pinterest-ing! - Cool Stuff to Pin on Your Pinterest Boards
Beautiful Valentine Tree For Your Mantel
Make Your Own Cute Valentine's Day Card
Tasty Heart-Speckled V-Day Cupcake Treats
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
Google Photos - Google Photos stands out among photo storage services with amazing features including easy search, group albums, movies, GIFs, and timelines created from your photos.
Star Wars - This stellar app offers you Star Wars-related announcements, themed weather forecasts, the ability to take a "selfie" with your favorite character, and much more.
Kitchen Stories - With this yummy app, you can discover easy-to-cook recipes or add your own, watch helpful videos and photo instructions, and create your grocery shopping list.
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