January 2022

		Happy New Year! We hope that this email finds you and your family well. As a local Vermont, family owned business, we understand how important your communications services are to you and your family. The pandemic has certainly elevated the importance of broadband and the critical role it plays for all of the communities we serve. In 2022, we are investing approximately $9 million dollars in the communities we serve as we continue the evolution of our network and maximize the number of customers we convert to fiber-optics. We are also aggressively applying for additional state and federal grants to complement our own capital investments in our network. If you are included in one of our 2022 fiber projects, we will be reaching out to you to let you know that fiber is coming to your location. We recognize that we can't get to everyone overnight, but please know that every single dollar we invest in fiber is benefiting Vermont and the local communities we serve. Building fiber to everyone will take time, but each and every day, we are making progress. To date, we've converted more than 6,000 customers to fiber-optics and that number continues to grow every day. But, we are by no means complete and there is a lot of work left to be done. We are also working with several of Vermont’s Communications Union Districts (CUD's) to help bring fiber to more of Vermont's unserved and underserved communities. Our employees have been doing an amazing job engineering, constructing, and converting customers on a daily basis. We were able to accomplish this despite additional challenges that came our way from COVID-19 that has resulted in increased prices from manufacturers and freight costs to a multitude of vendor and equipment delays. Despite all of these challenges, we were still able to convert a record number of customers to fiber in 2021. We appreciate your continued support and thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to evolve our network. Thank you for being a customer of Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom. Sincerely, Eric Haskin President and CEO Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom Take Our Annual Survey And Be Entered For A Chance To Win An iPad Air Please take a few minutes and complete our annual online customer satisfaction survey. We are constantly making improvements to our services based on the feedback we receive from our customers. Just for filling out the survey, you will be entered for a chance to win an Apple iPad Air. The drawing will be held on February 7th, so be sure to complete the survey and get your name entered. Click Here To Take Our Survey Is There a High School Senior in Your Family? Apply For an FRS Scholarship WCVT is proud to partner with the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) in the 2022 College Scholarship Program. The foundation annually awards scholarships to an exceptional group of rural students for their first year of college or vocational school. FRS has awarded over $1 million in scholarships since its inception, empowering rural students throughout the country to advance their communities with invaluable skill sets and experiences. 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. 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. Application deadline is February 25, 2022. For more information and to apply online, visit the FRS website at www.frs.org or contact Lorraine M. Keener at 802-496-8379 or lkeener@corp.wcvt.com. Win a $50 Gift Certificate To Alpino Vino in Waitsfield We have another great prize from a local business to raffle off this month. Enter for a chance to win a $50.00 gift certificate to Alpino Vino, a great new wine bar in Waitsfield. Alpino Vino offers interesting wines, Vermont-crafted beer and a small plate menu that is sourced from nearly 100% Vermont-based farms and purveyors. To be entered into the raffle, simply click the link below and leave your name and contact information. The drawing will take place on January 12th. Click Here To Enter For Your Chance To Win Is Your Internet "Dropping?" Are You Having Buffering On Your SmartTV? In Many Cases, It's Not Your Internet Connection At All… Might Be Time To Upgrade Your Wi-Fi These days, we are all relying on our Internet connections more than ever before. We are also using it for more mission critical applications as well as more bandwidth intensive uses such as streaming video and other real-time video services like Zoom or others. We often get calls from customers complaining about "slow speeds," "drops," or "buffering," among other things. The first thing we do is check the Internet connection and in many cases, we find no issues. So what could it be? Up to 60% of our calls these days are Wi-Fi related and this may just be the case. The good news is we have some great solutions. Our home networks have become more complex than ever before and we are using them more than ever before. At the same time, we've also added more Wi-Fi connected devices to our home networks and are using less hard-wired devices (which are more reliable). Live streaming services and video conferencing have virtually no buffer (like a Netflix service) because of their real time nature and because of this any little blip in your Wi-Fi and you will definitely notice it. Unfortunately, services like Zoom don't have very good error handling and will probably give you an error that says, "Your Internet Connection Is Unstable" which actually isn’t the case at all. When it comes to Wi-Fi, the standard Wi-Fi gateways do a pretty good job of covering the average sized home. However, 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. At Green Mountain Access, we offer a full range of residential and business class Wi-Fi solutions from leading manufacturers including AirTies, Eero, Ubiquiti and Ruckus. Our Whole Home Wi-Fi uses multiple Access Points placed at strategic locations around your home to expand coverage, eliminating dead spots, and providing great performance for all of your streaming devices. Want To Learn More? Visit our website to learn more about our Whole Home Wi-Fi or Business Wi-Fi solutions. You can also give us a call at 800-496-3391 or send us an email and we'd be happy to discuss our solutions with you.

		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. As a result of these efforts, many children in our local communities had lots of smiles when they woke up Christmas morning to see presents under their tree. A very special "Thank You" to Tammy Field for all of her hard work, WCVT's Contributions Committee and all of the WCVT employees that helped to make the Giving Tree Project a great success. This project takes many hours over weeks and weeks to be successful, but every minute is well worth the effort. I wish you all could see the joy and happiness on the faces of the parents when they receive the gifts for their children. Thank you to everyone for helping to make our communities a better place to live and work. If you know of an organization in our serving area in need, let them know about our Contributions Program. Information and application can be found on our website or contact Lorraine Keener at 802-496-8379 or lkeener@wcvt.com.

		Martin Luther King Jr. Day Torchlight Parade & Fireworks (Saturday, January 15th @ Sugarbush Resort) Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a special fireworks display and torchlight parade on at Sugarbush Resort. Fireworks start at 7:00 p.m. on Spring Fling. Keep your pets safe and consider leaving them at home indoors. For more information, visit: www.sugarbush.com. Lawson's Finest Liquids Appreciation Day (Saturday, January 8th @ Mad River Glen) A representative from our local world-renowned brewery, Lawson's Finest Liquids, will be skiing at Mad River Glen and handing out swag on Saturday, January 8th. Catch Lawson's master of stoke at the end of the day for an aprés beer and free t-shirt (while supplies last)! For more information, visit: www.madriverglen.com. Babe Force Series, Carving and Turning (January 19th @ Bolton Valley Resort) Babe Force is holding a 3-hour clinic geared for intermediate to advanced female skiers and snowboarders. Clinic will focus on carving and empowering each other to build knowledge and hone new skills to become more fearless riders and skiers. For more information, visit: www.boltonvalley.com.

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		Get Bird ID Help Enjoy birdwatching? This site will help you identify the birds you see. It also offers live cams, videos, and games. Learn more...		Facts for the Fun of It When you have some time to kill, check out this site filled with fun facts about history, space, food, TV, and more. Learn more...		Healthy New Year! If you made New Year's resolutions about improving your health, you'll find resources here that could help you. Learn more...

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		10 Easy DIY Projects Even beginners can make this crate coffee table, tire turned container, wine cork pen holder, and more.		How to Patch Holes in Drywall Have holes in your wall? Learn to patch them, whether they're small or large, with these easy-to-follow tips from a pro.

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