Sunday, March 15, 2020

COVID-19 and 281 Internet Precautions



281 Communications Corporation Inc.

Health precautions for staff and clients

Hello, I wanted to just say a few words about policies implemented at 281 Internet over the last week and moving forward to both protect our teams health, your health, and your Internet; your lifeline to the world in this time of self quarantines and hunkering down.

281 team members will avoid direct contact with clients, and will only enter your home if you first clear the area they are to enter of your family and pets, and any personal items.  Please specify a path and talk with us from another room.  Please honor this request to help protect both you, our staff, and your fellow 281 client family during this difficult time.  It is important for us to keep a safe distance in order to maintain our health so we can continue to keep your Internet running.

As always 281 team members will continue to monitor our network and answer your texts, emails, and phone calls.  We are continuing to perform work on our equipment at towers and at your homes and businesses.  

I further ask that if you have Clorox wipes or similar product to wipe down any area or surfaces that we might touch working on your equipment before and after we come in.  We will also avoid touching your remotes, keyboards, mice, tablets, and phones.  While we want to insure you can access the Internet from everything in your home through 281's Internet, it is also prudent to limit contact with the surfaces you will touch before and after we are in your home to avoid spread of germs and viruses during the time of heightened precautions recommended by the CDC.

Please direct a 281 staff member that enters you home to a guest bathroom upon entering and leaving your home where they may wash their hands.

Please do not schedule a visit if you or someone in your home is experiencing the symptoms outlined by the CDC to potentially be coronavirus. It would be detrimental to all of 281 should our staff have to become quarantined!  Part of 281's ability to provide you with Internet is our ability to go to towers and your homes and businesses to repair or adjust equipment.

Thank you for you assistance.  I know I speak for everyone here at 281 Communications when I say we hope you stay well, and avoid contact with this new virus spreading across the country and our communities.  We are going to do everything in our power to help keep you safe while we also work to keep you connected.

Sincerely,

Tim Moczygemba, President
281 Communications Corporation Inc.


Sunday, January 5, 2020

281's Busy 2019

281 Communications 2019 in review


New 281 Family members

  • Alexander Bates came on board in Q4 of 2019, taking over most onsite and installation duties, and has also contributed to our new CRM implementation through finding and filling in information about client equipment missing from our database that was necessary to finish implementation of Sonar.  Alex has also completed certification to climb 281's towers.


New 281 Network

  • Along with Sonar's new network monitoring is Preseem which gives 281 staff a deep view into traffic in between 281's infrastructure and clients to better help clients understand their Internet usage.
  • 281 has started moving it's once flat bridged network to a routed one.
  • Mikrotik routers have been installed and continue to be installed at all 281 network sites.
  • Cambium Networks licensed backhaul was procured to increase capacity to Burnet and Lake Buchanan towers.
  • Fiber point to point from Kingsland to Marble Falls was completed in early December to bring a 500% increase in capacity and 50+% lower latency to clients in Kingsland.

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Free TV through the air == what can I get and how do I get it?

 Over air TV antennas and what channels can I get?

I'm constantly being asked by clients how to get local channels through streaming.  While there are options on streaming local channels, you can in many cases get them the old fashioned way.  While there are some places in our area around the Highland Lakes wedged between hills that do not get good signal, most of the area can get several digital channels free through the air.

Check out this article I ran across from this article from TechHive that not only explains all the different antenna options out there, but also has a video explaining how you can find out what channels you will be able to get!

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

281 Internet Launches 5G mmWave for 2020

January 2020 update.  This gear is finally getting deployed.  Technical difficulties delayed deployment in 2019.  Alex@281 is helping Tim get this new technology off the ground!
 281 Communications Corporation Inc.

And


Equals



Tim has the new Siklu gear in and is working on installation of our first mmWave link between our fiber in Marble Falls and the tower near Fairland through which towers at Lake Buchanan, Burnet, Smithwick, and Bertram/Oatmeal flow through.  

Growing pains! Why is my video stream buffering?

281 Communinications Corporation Inc. is expanding it's network and increasing it's backhauls to keep up with the ever increasing de...