CableOne has introduced a new residential 50Mbps plan for $45/month. They’ve changed up how they do their residential internet. Changes are coming to the business packages, but I don’t have those details yet. Here’s the breakdown in the changes:
Daily caps and bandwidth throttling have been removed. Hurray!
Economy Plan: 1.5Mbps down for $20/month. 1GB/month throughput limit. Go over the limit for $10/GB. This is pretty much unchanged.
Standard Plan: 5Mbps down for $50/month. No commitments. No limits. No caps. No throttling. No tricks.
Preferred Plan: 50Mbps down for $45/month. 1-year commitment required. 50GB/month throughput limit. Go over the limit for $0.50/GB.
There’s an in-browser warning system for users who are approaching their monthly cap. Unlike cell-phone companies who love to bill people thousands of dollars for going over their minutes, CableOne gives any user fair warning of what their status is so that nobody accidently goes over their limit. It works with any browser on any OS. Although, 50GB/month is quite a bit. Even if a person has two Xbox’s, five PC’s, watches Netflix, and plays World of Warcraft online, the 50GB allotment is enough.
As usual, getting a bundle of services will get one a better deal. For example, (according to CableOne’s website) $75/month and a two-year committment will provide the 50Mbps Internet, Cable TV, and phone service. If you’ve got questions please call us, we know the top people at CableOne and how to get things done.
If you text the word HillTopIT to 90210 on your cell phone, you will receive and auto-responder message containing all of our contact information. This is called a mobile-card, or mCard. The idea is to provide a quick and easy to remember method for people to pass along their contact information, or other important data. It can also be used to create a subscriber base that can be messaged with special offers, coupons, or deals.
This new form of mobile marketing is quickly becoming very popular in the Tri-City area. Much like the dot-com boom, all of the single dictionary words like “computer”, “tech”, or “pizza” are already gone. For example, if you text HillTop to 90210, you’ll get HillTop Pizza and a special offer for free bread-sticks.
The iZigg company capitalized on the 90210 short-code citing that it was already a well known brand that was easy for anyone in the US to remember. CSC’s, or common short codes are usually 5-digit codes that can be texted to by any cell phone. For example, anyone can text google to find a local business; e.g. text “Hill Top 86314“ to 46645 (googl) and Google will reply with our company name, address, and phone number. The short-codes work with any text messaging plan from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile; Sprint PCS requires that Premium Messaging be activated even with the “everything” plan.
The iZigg mCard costs about $99/year. Click here to watch the iZigg presentations and learn more. Call us if you would to learn how to sign up your business.
You may have read recently that Yavapai County offices suffered a serious virus attack. Their MIS department shutdown workstations including remote law enforcement terminals to contain the problem until it could be corrected. The Daily Courier reported that it was the Qakbot virus, or some variant thereof. Specialists were brought in to help, and the county’s MIS staff worked non-stop until they could restore normal operation. The breach was an enterprise-level event that effectively crippled nearly all county services, and threatened catastrophic damage.
W32.Qakbot is a worm that spreads through network shares and removable drives. It downloads additional files, steals information, and opens a back door on the compromised computer. The worm also contains rootkit functionality to allow it to hide its presence.
It’s also been reported that YC’s MIS was uncertain as to exactly how the virus penetrated their systems and walked right past their enterprise-level anti-virus software and other security measures. I could make some guesses (Facebook) but without knowing their policies and procedures, it’s anybody’s guess.
I also read a lot of comments posted by Daily Courier readers about the security breach. There was a lot of negative criticism hurled towards the MIS staff. I feel most of it was undeserved and based on conjecture. Even though a failure like this should never have happened, there is no anti-virus program in the world that can bullet-proof any system against 100% of all potential threats. Keep in mind that in IT as well as life: It is possible to make no mistakes and still lose.
The Daily Courier did a nice little article on us in their business section. You can read the article here. I actually thought that the newspaper was going to do a small article on us, and I was surprised to see that it took about a 1/3rd of the page. We got a lot of business from that article, so thank you Daily Courier.
Mike and I starting doing IT as a side business back in 1997. We always had full-time day jobs and secretly dreamed for years of opening an IT shop. There’s a bit of history as to why. Continue reading »
Just some humor to light up the day. Light up the day with laser-guided explosions of human-hating computerized-evil! Thank goodness we all backed up our files. So pour it on you skynet wannabe’s! You can end the world, but our pictures and important data will survive…
It works like this: You have a wireless access point for your computer to connect to the Internet. If you do not set a password on that wireless connection, then anyone with a wireless device can connect to it and use your Internet connection. That means a person who enjoys child-pr0nography can use your Internet connection, and then you get arrested for it. And yes, I misspelled pr0n on purpose because I don’t want that word on my website.
Watch the MSNBC video and see how it happened to one innocent person. Luckily, the authorities figured out what really happened. But still, getting arrested in your place of business is exceptionally inconvenient, even if you are completely innocent. Security is always important. Please consult your IT professional about your security and remain vigilant.
Intel is building a new $5 billion-plus factory in Arizona (designated Fab 42). It will be the most advanced, high-volume semi-conductor manufacturing facility in the world. The effort will create 8,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent manufacturing jobs at Intel’s Arizona site.
Even though Fab 42 is being built in Chandler, it’s still welcome news for Arizona and local Prescott area folks. The more factories Arizona gets, the better it is for everyone in our great state. Intel’s CEO who is a Republican that has been critical of President Obama was recently named to the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Obama has also been promoting Intel’s STEM program. Intel inspires the next generation of innovators with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum, competitions, and online resources to encourage students’ interest and participation.
“I want to commend the president for his leadership and focus on improving our science, technology, engineering, and math education,” [Intel CEO] Otellini said. “He has taken actions – including key steps like making STEM a priority – in his $4 billion Race to the Top competition and his Educate to Innovate campaign.”
Who’s buttering your bread? Normally, I’m not brand loyal. However, I firmly believe in supporting our local economy. Intel has most of their fabrication facilities in the USA (unlike AMD), and now they’re investing heavily in Arizona. Intel CEO Otellini believes in what he calls a “Culture of Investment”, which is investing in American education and jobs. He’s just proved it by putting his money where his mouth is. I think that should win Intel some serious points in any future AMD versus Intel considerations.
Let’s look at our local internet service providers (ISP) for the greater Prescott area. My opinions are based on my personal and professional experience. First let me say that Hill Top IT is a dealer for CableOne. However, we became dealers for CableOne after I had concluded my research for this review.
