Gone are the days when you could protect yourself by deleting emails from foreign royalty. Today’s online scams are more subtle and you need to be smart about keeping yourself safe online. Here are a few to look out for.
Social media

Some scammers try to hit people where they feel safe, where they’re surrounded by family and friends – on social media. Usually, this shows up as an email about notifications, or a warning that someone is trying to login to your account. The simple way to avoid this is to never click on links, but always go directly to the social network page for your messages and to verify your information.

Another common tactic is the random friend request. If you get a request from someone you don’t know, always try to verify who they are and how they found you before you accept.

Free Wi-Fi

Free wi-fi is a great thing that many businesses offer, but it’s also a common scammer’s ploy. They set up a wi-fi hotspot that looks legitimate, but once you connect to it, they can access your data. You can protect yourself with a little common sense. First, never do any banking or shopping over public wi-fi. Also, verify the correct name of any public network before joining. Either keep your wi-fi turned off or turn off the ability to join networks automatically.

Pop-Up Warnings

This is a common way of preying on people’s fears. Out of nowhere, a pop-up window appears saying that your computer is infected and if you click this window, it will download a program to clean it. But it actually downloads malware and possibly viruses, infecting your computer instead. The easiest way to prevent this is to install an ad blocker in your browser, or else just never click on anything in a pop-up window. A good antivirus program, kept up to date, will keep you protected.

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Many of us have had enough of dealing with cable and satellite companies raising rates and paying for channels we never watch, and the Internet has provided us with a great alternative: cord-cutting.
Cord-cutting, put simply, is giving up cable or satellite and getting all your tv online. Done right, cutting the cord can dramatically decrease the amount you pay for your tv viewing. Done wrong, however, it can become complicated and cost just as much as your current cable bill. Here’s a few tips to help you cut the cord and get a great viewing experience at a lower price.

1. Look for shows, not channels
Change your mindset and look for individual shows, rather than channels. Hulu typically airs current programming the day after it airs, Netflix releases entire seasons at once, and Amazon offers season passes for some shows.

2. Don’t forget about free tv
Believe it or not, free, over-the-air channels still exist, and many are even broadcast in HD. Your local news and weather, as well as most PBS channels, should all be available this way. All you need is an antenna. There are indoor and outdoor versions to choose from, in all price ranges. A quick Internet search can help you determine which antenna will work best for your area, and might reveal more air channels than you thought you could get.

3. Don’t rush it
It can be tempting to cancel your cable service first, but don’t! Take your time, do your research, find the right streaming devices and services for you and your family. Get your new setup ready, and then just stop using your cable box for a week or so. You may have forgotten about a particular show or sports event you wanted to see, and it can be a nice safety net while you adjust your new tv experience.

4. Look for tv that you already pay for
Maybe you signed up for Amazon Prime for the 2-day shipping, but did you realize it includes Amazon Video? Look into what programs are available there, and what shows you can access with a season pass. If you already use Netflix or Hulu, check their listings for shows you normally watch on cable. Get the most out of services you already have.
We offer reliable, high-speed Internet service that can make your cord-cutting experience great! To see what we offer in your area, contact us today!

Everyone wants the fastest Internet speed they can get, but higher speeds can be prohibitively expensive, or unavailable in some areas.  No matter what your connection speed, these tips will help you get the most out of your bandwidth.

First, if your connection has recently seemed to slow down, try rebooting your modem and router.  To do this, just unplug them from the power for several seconds.  This can help by clearing out any old data and refreshing the configuration.  Remember that no hardware is meant to be constantly on, and a quick reboot can give you a fresh connection.

If you’re using a wireless router, there could be interference in your home.  The most common consumer routers operate on 802.11b/g/n, which is in the 2.4GHz range.  Some cell phones, cordless phones, and even microwaves can interfere with that range, but you can easily avoid this by keeping your router well away from other appliances and turning off the data on your cell phone when you’re at home (as a bonus, using your wifi will save you some data).

Take a look at where your router is located, too.  The farther it is from your computer, the weaker your connection will be.  Also, if there is a kitchen or bathroom between you and your router, the pipes and insulation in the walls can cause the signal to reflect and weaken.  The best place for a wireless router is a central area of the home, so the signal can cover as much area as possible.

Make sure you know who is using your connection.  Keep your wifi password protected, and change it frequently if you give the password to guests.  The more people using your connection, the less bandwidth each person gets, so it will run more slowly.  This goes for any heavy users in your household, too, so you might want to make arrangements for streaming and downloading so that no one is inconvenienced.

We offer fast, reliable Internet service in your area!  Contact us today to see what we can offer you.

If your Internet provider imposes a data cap on your service, you’re probably concerned about running over your monthly data allotment.  When you reach your limit, your speed may be throttled or you might lose service altogether until your billing period rolls over.  However, there are some simple steps you can take to keep your data usage under control.

1. Keep an eye on your usage.

If your ISP uses data caps, they should provide a way for you to monitor your usage.  Check their website or your account for a data tracker.  You can also track your usage on your own, but it’s more complicated, and the ISP will always go by their own records.

2. Schedule any large downloads.

Most ISP’s that use data caps include some kind of free zone outside of peak usage hours, usually overnight, when usage won’t count toward your data cap.  Using a download manager to schedule system updates or large file downloads for these hours will preserve your data allowance for the things you need to do online every day.

3. Stream wisely.

Streaming video doesn’t have to eat up your data.  With most streaming services, you can adjust the playback settings in your account.  The difference between high definition and normal quality isn’t that much on your screen, but you’ll see a big savings in your data usage.

4. Use click-to-play plugins in your browser.

Click-to-play plugins are optional additions for browsers, such as Chrome and Firefox, which prevent Flash content from playing automatically.  Since most Flash content is ads, you won’t notice any difference in your web browsing experience, but you will see how much less data you use.

We’re proud to offer affordable, high speed Internet service in your area.  To learn more about our services, contact us today.

Now and then, everyone questions whether their Internet connection is working as fast as it should, so most people are familiar with speed tests.  There are plenty of them to choose from, but are all speed tests created equal?  Well, yes and no.

The most well-known speed test sites are probably speedtest.net and speakeasy.net.  These are both good free test sites, and they are both powered by Ookla, so their results should be similar and reliable.  These sites test the speed of your connection between your location and another server.  The biggest difference is that speedtest.net automatically chooses the nearest server based on your IP, and speakeasy.net allows you to choose your test server manually.

Have you ever noticed, though, that sometimes those speed test sites seem to take forever to load?  The natural assumption is that the lag is evidence of just how slow your connection is, but that might not be the case.  A good way to tell is to try an HTML5 site, like speedof.me or testmy.net.  Because these sites don’t use Flash or Java, they load faster, work better on mobile devices, and put less load on your system.

If your primary concern is whether your connection will allow Netflix to run smoothly, there’s a speed test made just for that.  Fast.com is a service-specific speed test, which measures your speed from your device to the Netflix servers.  This won’t give you an accurate idea of your overall connection speed, but it will confirm your ability to stream.

For more speed test options, and pros and cons of each, see this great article from Lifewire.  For fast, affordable Internet service in your area, contact us today!

We’ve all been there.  A video won’t load, or gets stuck buffering, or a webpage shows text, but no pictures, or a link times out completely.  Is there something wrong with your Internet connection?  So you call your provider to report the problem, but their tech support says there is no problem with your service.  Now what?

It might be the website you’re trying to access.  Websites don’t just exist out in the Internet; every site houses its data on a server somewhere, and that server can fall prey to hardware problems, maxed out connections, or even just a maintenance window that could cause the site to go down partially or completely.  Some sites will post messages for routine maintenance, but in the case of an emergency outage, their teams will probably be focused on fixing the problem.  How can you find out if the site you want is having a problem?

There are websites that track the status of some of the most popular Internet services, and can let you know immediately if any problems are reported.  A couple of good options are downdetector.com and downrightnow.com.  Both of these sites monitor things like Facebook, Netflix, Youtube, and many others, and show the number of problem reports for a given service.  There are also comments from people reporting, which include descriptions of problems and updates about fixes.  While nothing online is foolproof, sites like these can provide good information and put your mind at ease.

We offer fast, reliable Internet service with local support in your area.  To find out what options we can provide for you, contact us today!

What’s the Difference Between a Modem and a Router?

You may not generally give much thought to the hardware associated with your Internet connection.  That’s the beauty of today’s high-speed, always-on connections: you never have to think about them, just grab your device and get online.  But in case you’ve ever wondered about all those little boxes with flashing lights, here are the basics.

Most broadband connections (cable, DSL, satellite, etc.), use a modem.  The modem connects your computer to your ISP, and from there, to the Internet at large.  A basic modem does nothing more than that, and requires a computer to be plugged into it to use the connection.  More advanced modems may be a modem/router combination, and may offer WiFi as well.  You can find out what kind of modem you have with a simple call to your ISP.  Be aware that some broadband connections, like fixed wireless service, don’t use modems at all.

A router connects to your modem (if you have one) and shares your connection among all the computers and devices in your home.  A wireless router also provides WiFi connectivity for phones, tablets, and laptops.  For most people, multiple devices and WiFi are reason enough to get a router, but it can also add an extra layer of security.  Even if you only have one computer, a router acts as a hardware firewall, which helps protect your computer against viruses, malware, etc., without the vulnerabilities of software firewalls.  If your modem includes a router in it, you already have this protection without the second box.

Modems and routers are necessary parts of modern broadband Internet connections, so it’s good to be familiar with them.  If you’re looking for affordable high speed Internet service in your area, contact us today.

We’ve accepted the Internet into our lives so easily.  Everything is online now, we use it every day, so it’s important to understand what we’re getting into.

Social media is a great tool for staying connected, but because those sites are all about sharing, it can be tricky to strike the right balance of privacy and openness.  The most important thing to remember is that if another person shares something you posted, it is immediately out of your hands.  You can delete your own post, but not someone else’s.  Because of this, information posted on social networks almost never goes away.  Choose your privacy settings carefully, as they determine who can see and share your posts.  And, of course, think twice before you post anything – make sure you’re ok with it being around forever, just in case.

Nothing on the Internet is really free to use.  Search engines and social networks may not charge you any money, but they have to make a profit, and they do so by collecting information about your online activity.  Don’t worry, these sites don’t collect information about your identity or banking details.  They only note public activity: keywords you search for, links you click on, information you post on public profiles or status updates, sites you visit, and your computer’s Internet address, which narrows down your location.  This is usually used for targeted advertising, which is why you may see advertisements for a product or service you’ve searched for previously on another site.

If you’re concerned about websites collecting your information, you have a few options.  Read the site’s privacy policy, which will spell out what they will or won’t collect, and what they will or won’t do with it.  If you can wade through the legal language, this can ease a lot of worry.  Clearing your browser history regularly can help, too, by deleting cookies (bits of information that let a website recognize your computer, usually used for sites you visit frequently).  Most browsers now have a “private” mode, which deletes that information for you, but don’t rely on that to keep all your data safe.  There are also private search engines that get their funding from donations or non-targeted ads, which don’t collect any information on your activity.

If you’re looking for affordable high speed Internet service, contact us.

When it comes to broadband Internet service, everyone wants the highest speed possible.  But do you really need all that speed, or are you paying for more bandwidth than you’re using?  On the other hand, if higher speeds aren’t available to you, can you make do with lower bandwidth?

The first thing you need to think about is what you actually do with your Internet connection, and how much bandwidth those activities require.  Do you mainly stick to plain web browsing, or do you spend a lot of time streaming movies?  Are you a gamer?  Does your job require video conferencing?

According to the FCC, basic web browsing and email requires between 0.5 and 1 Mbps (Megabits per second).  Streaming videos need at least 1.5 Mbps, and HD videos need at least 4 Mbps.  Video conferences and gaming also fall in the 1-4 Mbps range.

Now that you know how much bandwidth you need for your activities, think about your household.  How many people and devices will be using your connection at once, and what will they be doing?  Remember that your Internet connection speed is shared between all devices in your house.

The FCC classifies broadband service as Basic (1-2 Mbps), Medium (6-15 Mbps), and Advanced (more than 15 Mbps).  For a household with more than two devices being used at once, and running any high demand application, like streaming HD, online gaming, or video conferencing, they recommend Medium to Advanced speed, or at least 6 Mbps.  If you use more than one high demand application on at least two devices, they recommend Advanced, or a minimum of 15 Mbps.  However, for small households with only a couple of devices and limited high demand usage, Basic service can suffice.

If your service options are limited to Basic or Medium speeds, there are ways to get the most out of your connection.  Turning down your streaming settings will allow you to stream at a lower speed.  Limiting your use to one device for high demand applications can help them run better.

We offer fast, affordable broadband Internet service in your area.  Contact us today to find a plan that’s right for you.

Internet Protocol Version 6, IPv6 is the newest, latest protocol for internet communication.

IPv6 has more updated features than the previous version IPv4. IPv6 will have great improvement in routing traffic, offer stronger security along with a larger address space.

In today’s world, there is an explosion of devices used to access the internet. The old standard, IPv4, is becoming exhausted as the limited number available IP addresses are dwindling. IPv6 is the protocol needed to accommodate such a great demand.  IPv6 will allow improved traffic routing, scaling, and security. 

If you are considering choosing a dependable, local service to suit all of your online needs, we are your company! We offer competitive rates for business and residential customers, and we are also a leading provider of IT services. Our technology is top-notch and our friendly-professional are here to help you meet your needs.