Least Cost Routing: Nationwide Long Distance Call Completion Problems Continue…

In recent months, customers have been reporting they are not receiving some incoming calls which they know are being made to them. In other instances, they are receiving calls with very poor voice quality or echoing. These problems have been very inconsistent, making them difficult to track and troubleshoot. However, we know this issue is occurring on a national level and is caused by the way some long distance providers are routing calls to rural providers, such as us.

Please be assured, this issue is not within our network. The problem starts with the long distance carrier used by the customer placing the call.

We are doing all we can to work together with our national and state telecommunications associations and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to resolve this issue. The FCC has created a special task force to investigate and address this issue and we are hopeful that they act quickly to resolve these problems.

Even though the issues do not originate within our facilities, our commitment to you remains unchanged.  We will continue to do everything possible to provide you with premium quality service and to ensure that outside carriers meet their responsibility to deliver calls to our network so we can, in turn, deliver those calls to you. For more information or to speak with a Customer Service representative regarding this national issue, please contact your local customer service center.

Please visit the FCC’s blog for more information on their efforts: www.fcc.gov/blog.

Read their recent ruling on our blog site at: http://jamadots.olhblogspace.com.

Tags: FCC, Federal Communications Commission, incoming calls, Nationwide Long Distance Call Completion Problems, poor voice quality

We Enjoyed Meeting You at the 2012 Alger County Home Show

Another successful Alger County Home Show was held the weekend of March 31-April 1. HTC/jamadots was pleased to be there under our theme of Locally Proud: A part of the community since 1896.

Working in partnership with the local Munising Hockey Association, we displayed the associations new Zamboni that we wrapped and discussed in our February 2012 ‘in the loop’ e-newsletter and blog. Throughout the event we discussed our plans to launch our new 25 Mb x 4 Mb residential high-speed internet service and 30 Mb x 4 Mb business high-speed internet service. We also spoke about our on-going TRUTHmatters campaign and least cost routing issues (national long-distance call completion issues which we continue to work to resolve with state and federal agencies).

As always, attendees love to receive the freebies we giveaway and this year was no different. This year we gave away jamadots white and green pens that write superbly and magnetic refrigerator memo boards that are handy, as well as helpful.

We enjoyed seeing everyone and we are already looking forward to attending the event next year.

Tags: Munising Hockey Association, successful Alger County Home Show

WINNER! Congratulations to Sandy Monroe

HTC & jamadots would like to congratulate Sandy Monroe from Shingleton, MI. Sandy was the winner of a 32” HDTV we gave away at the 2012 Alger County Home Show. The TV was purchased locally at Putvin Drug Store // RadioShack in downtown Munising.

Tags: customer service center, jamadots, MI, Sandy, Sandy Monroe, Shingleton

What?…One in Five Adults Doesn’t Use the Internet (Study)

Internet adoption among U.S. adults increased rapidly from the mid-’90s to about 2005. Since then, though, the number of adult Internet users has remained almost stable at around 75 to 80%. The Pew Internet & American Life Project’s latest poll shows that this trend continued in 2011. Those who are online use the Internet more than ever before, but about one in five U.S. adults is simply not online.

According to this report, “senior citizens, those who prefer to take our interviews in Spanish rather than English, adults with less than a high school education, and those living in households earning less than $30,000 per year are the least likely adults to have Internet access.” Age, household income and education have remained the strongest positive predictors of Internet use since Pew started tracking these numbers.

Virtually every U.S. household with an annual income over $75,000 is online, but that’s only true for 63% of adults who live in a household with an annual income under $30,000. The numbers look quite similar for different education levels: 94% of adults with post-graduate degrees are online, but 57% of those without high school diplomas remain offline.

Beside the obvious economic barriers to entry, though, the Pew poll also found that half of those who don’t go online do so because they just don’t think “the Internet is relevant to them.” One in five of those who are not online today think that they just don’t know enough about technology to use the Internet on their own.

On the positive side, though, this new study also found that the gap in Internet access between whites and minorities in the U.S. is slowly disappearing. Neither race nor gender, the Pew report says, “are themselves part of the story of digital differences in its current form.”

View Source

Tags: Internet access, Internet adoption, Pew Internet

FCC Consumer Tip Sheet: Wi-Fi Networks & Consumer Privacy

Background

Wi-Fi networks are powerful, valuable tools in our modern communications and information society, enabling users to connect wirelessly to the Internet by extending broadband service in your own home, or by connecting to “hot spots” in public spaces, like airports, coffee shops, and hotels. In using these networks, however, it is important to understand that information being transmitted over them can potentially be intercepted if the networks are not secure. Consumers should be aware of whether they are using a secure (encrypted) or unsecure (unencrypted) network, and should be especially cautious about using unsecured networks – whether those networks are in their homes or in public spaces – to send sensitive information.

How do I secure my personal Wi-Fi network?

Protect your sensitive information:

• Turn on encryption: Encrypted information is encoded information that cannot be easily
  deciphered if intercepted. Today, encrypting information transmitted on your Wi-Fi network is
  as easy as activating the encryption feature on your wireless router. Check the instructions that
  came with your router for information on how to do so. If your computer and router will
  support it, WPA2 is the most effective encryption standard for Wi-Fi.

Prevent others from accessing your network:

• Activate the router firewall: Both in the actual and virtual world, a firewall is a barrier intended
  to confine or restrict a hazard. As with encryption, constructing a firewall on your Wi-Fi network
  is as simple as activating that feature on your wireless router.
• Change the router default password: The password for your router is the key to administering
  device settings on your router. Many wireless routers come with default passwords that others
  may know or be able to figure out easily. Change the password to your router to a unique
  combination of letter, numbers, and symbols that only you know in order to ensure that you will
  be the only one who holds the keys to your router.

What about public Wi-Fi networks?

Since consumers do not themselves administer public Wi-Fi networks, they have much less control over the security of the information transmitted. For that reason, consumers are at risk when they transmit sensitive information – such as credit card numbers and passwords – over public Wi-Fi networks. If you happen to use a public Wi-Fi network, remember the following additional tips.

Only log in or send personal data to fully encrypted sites:

• To determine if a website is encrypted, look for https at the beginning of a site’s web address
  (the “s” is for “secure”) and a lock icon at the bottom or top of your browser window. Make
  sure that https appears the entire time you’re logged in — some sites use encryption only for the sign-in page, but if any part of your session isn’t encrypted, you could be at risk.

Turn on your personal firewall:

• Many computers come with operating systems (e.g., Windows 7) that have a built-in firewall
  that’s turned on by default. You can configure the firewall to provide better protection when
  you’re using a public Wi-Fi network.

Turn off your wireless network when you’re not using it:

• If you’re in a public Wi-Fi area but not using the Internet, disable your wireless connection by
  either removing your external Wi-Fi card or clicking on your internal Wi-Fi connection.
  Use an encrypted VPN (Virtual Private Network) from your computing device
• VPNs are often used by businesses and organizations to afford a safe and secure mechanism for mobile travelers to communicate. VPN software provides an encrypted pathway allowing an
  end user to connect to a business or organizational enterprise network.

For More Information

For information about other Wi-Fi issues, visit onguardonline.gov. You can also contact the FCC’s
Consumer Center at 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice or 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322) TTY;
fax to 1-866-418-0232; or write to:
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554

Tags: FCC, sensitive information, wireless router, wireless routers

TouchEffects

We confess! There really isn’t anything to be said or learned from this post and link; other than it is really cool and a great waste of time, if you have nothing better to do. Follow the link and prepare to have you mind numbed, if only for a little while.

http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Graphics/TouchEffects/

How to Clean Up Your Digital Music Collection

Music is such an important part of most people’s lives, and the advent of the Internet and iTunes has really changed the way we interact with our music. Whether we’re in the car, at the gym, or relaxing after a hard day of work, music can work magic.

Today, it’s not uncommon to have thousands of songs on your music playlist.  In fact, many people have so much music that it’s literally out of control!

Today’s digital players offer a wealth of ways to store and organize music, but if you’re not careful, it can quickly become a nightmare. Ask yourself: How many duplicate songs do you have in your collection?  How many songs are listed as “track unknown” or are missing cover art that lets you identify them quickly?

If this describes you, then you may be interested in a great new plug-in service called TuneUp that’s coming to the rescue of millions of music lovers. In fact, TuneUp is now the #1 plug-in for iTunes, though it’s also compatible with Windows Media Player.

TuneUp was created in 2007 by a music lover who was fed up with his own disorderly music library. Once he created a few plug-in tools to organize and enhance his playlist, he wanted to share it with all music lovers, so everyone could enjoy their music experience to the fullest.

The app is incredibly easy to use, with one-click access to simple tools that get the job done.

Click the link to jump to the rest of the article: howlifeworks.com

Tags: Digital Music Collection Music, iTunes, music library, music lover, music lovers

Productivity Future Vision

In 5-10 years, how will people get things done at work, at home, and on the go?

Watch the concept video to get a glimpse of the future of productivity, then explore the stories and technology in more detail.

EXPLORE — Learn about the people in the video: Ayla, Qin, and Shannon.

 

Listen to the radio the way it was meant to be…on the internet at jamadots.com.

Are you one of the millions of internet users that love to be online, at home or work, while listening to your favorite radio programming? We thought so; which, is exactly why we added the most local, live-streaming radio stations we could find to our Radiotime, Favorite Radio listener module on the jamadots.com website. We’ve got lots of stations and genres including: Country, Oldies, NOAA Weather, Talk, Public, Variety, Gospel, Classic Rock and Pop.

There’s no better way to listen to your favorite radio programming while away from your car or when you live too distant to the transmitter tower to receive a quality signal. If you’re one of our hundreds of customers that goes south in the winter or travels often, you can even listen to your favorite local radio programming from across the nation or around the world.

To start listening now go to jamadots.com. Here’s a brief introductory into how to listen online…

1. Go to jamadots.com If you have never visited jamadots.com in the past, you will need to select the jamadots.com community most local to you. If you wish to change you community at a later time, you may do so by clicking on the “Company Name – Not your community? Click Here” link found on the left side of the page, just under the main animated banner. You will be redirected to the jamadots.com Map Page. You may then select a different community.

2. Find the Radiotime: Favorite Radio Module about half-way down the right side of the page. 3. Click on Prev or Next to scroll through the stations available. Note: We plan to add more stations as they may become available. 4. Click on Listen to Station

5. A new window will open with the player in it. If you do not see the window make sure that you have approved jamadots.com to provide pop-up windows when necessary. The station will start playing automatically. 6. Enjoy.

 

Tags: Favorite Radio, local radio programming, NOAA Weather, radio programming, radio stations

What Is RSS? RSS Explained

Did you know that you can simply and efficiently follow news and information that jamadots.com updates to its http://jamadots.olhblogspace.com/ blog? Have you ever heard of RSS or even know what it means? Do you know how simple it is to add, and how it can benefit you? Here is a short primer courtesy of whatisrss.com. For a tutorial on how to setup and add feeds to your very own RSS feedreader click on the link at the bottom of this article.

RSS Primer: One Page Quick Introduction to RSS

What is RSS?

RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

Why RSS? Benefits and Reasons for using RSS

RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. You ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each site’s email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News.

What do I need to do to read an RSS Feed? RSS Feed Readers and News Aggregators

Feed Reader or News Aggregator software allow you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use.

A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows – integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers.

Once you have your Feed Reader, it is a matter of finding sites that syndicate content and adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds your Feed Reader checks. Many sites display a small icon with the acronyms RSS, XML, or RDF to let you know a feed is available.

http://www.whatisrss.com/

How to subscribe to an RSS feed: http://rss-tutorial.com/rss-how-to-subscribe-to-feeds.htm

Tags: Feed Reader, feed readers, RSS Readers, Yahoo