Rural Fiber Project Moving Forward

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1 Superheroes of Service Inside this Issue: Volume: 12 Issue: 3 September 2012 Rural Fiber Project Customer Letters 2012 Directory Winner Grants Awarded Find BLU Tablet Computers Customer Service Survey New Web Sites Cable TV Changes Local Channel 6 TV s 4 Sale Rural Fiber Project Moving Forward An underground boring machine is used to install fiber to homes. This machine is used to avoid buried lines and to prevent yard maintenance issues. On October 1 st, Glenwood will begin the next phase of our rural fiber to the home project. The areas of Roseland, Holstein, and Campbell will be completed during this phase. Our contractor, Mastec, will being the installation of fiber in the Roseland exchange and work their way west to complete the Holstein exchange. Weather permitting, they will then proceed south into the Campbell area. Letters explaining the details of the project have been sent out to customers living in the rural Holstein and Roseland exchanges. The Lot Map that accompanies this letter allows you to provide detailed information about your home. It is important that we receive this information back quickly so that we can plan for the construction of fiber to your home. Campbell customers will receive the same letter at a later date. After this phase of the project is complete, we will develop plans to finish the remaining three areas of Blue Hill, Bladen, and Lawrence. After a long delay due to a nationwide fiber shortage, Glenwood is excited to move forward with this project. Once complete, all Glenwood customers will receive voice, video, and data services over the most advanced technology available today. Fiber optic connections are more reliable, cost effective, and allow for advanced services to be quickly added in the future. If you have questions about this project, please contact us at or by at info@glenwoodtelco.net. Customer Letters Delivered to Johanns and Smith A few months back, Glenwood sent letters to each of our Internet customers asking for you to respond to the recent FCC changes that will affect Internet in rural Nebraska. You responded by sending back over 5,000 letters. On August 14 th, we presented approximately 2,500 of those signed letters to Senator Mike Johanns at an open house event in Red Cloud. At that time, we were able to discuss these issues with him. Senator Johanns was very impressed with your response and it made a lasting impression. During the week of September 17 th, representatives from Glenwood were able to meet with Senator Johanns and his representatives from Washington D.C. to discuss the FCC changes. Your response made this meeting possible and we thank you for that. On September 20th, approximately 2,500 letters were delivered to Congressman Adrian Smith s office in Grand Island. Although we did not have the opportunity to personally deliver them to Rep. Smith, we did make contacts with key people and our voice was heard here in Nebraska and in Washington. From everyone at Glenwood, we thank you for your response. The letters made a difference and opened up doors that will help us now and in the future.

2 2012 Directory Winner Community Grants Awarded And the winner is... Gene Carstens of Minden, NE. Gene will receive an 11 x 14 framed enlargement of his winning photo, as well as a check for $100. Plus, his photo will be seen by all of our members as the 2012 directory cover. This year we had a great response with over 70 pictures submitted. All of us here at Glenwood want to extend a big thanks to those who submitted photos this year. As always, there were many excellent pictures and choosing a winner was no easy task. We encourage you to continue taking great pictures for next year s contest. You never know, the next photo you take could be the 2013 Directory Cover. The new directory will be mailed out in early December. The Glenwood Community Development Committee met in September and approved the following grant applications: Welcome to Bladen signs were purchased with a Glenwood grant in Beautification Committee of Minden Received $500 to assist in the purchase of banners to promote the Christmas City. Rosemont Presbyterian Cemetery Association - Received $5,000 to install iron fence, two gates, a flag pole, new sign, and removal of trees. Roseland Improvement Group - Received $2,825 to purchase new Christmas decorations for Roseland main street. With the approval of these grants, the total dollars allocated for the telephone area grant in 2012 = $23,525 (Leaving $1,475 remaining) and $12, for the non-telephone area grant (Leaving $0.00 remaining). Applications for the next quarter are due before December 1 st, Applications are available on the web at or by contacting the business office. Click on the Community button (bottom left) and then click the Community grant button (bottom right). 2 Find BLU Winners and Contest Details Find BLU Win Prizes Here are the Find BLU winners from the last edition of the newsletter: Karen Harwager Bud Collison Donna M Silver Bob Warnke Evelyn Konen Playground equipment was purchased with a grant in 2008 for Christ Lutheran School. Alvira Kathman Phyllis Gaston Jean Schumm Ellen Wyatt Kristopher Kotinek A very small BLU is hidden somewhere in this newsletter. Find it, let us know where he is, and you could receive a prize. When responding, be very specific where you found BLU. If you are responding by , please your answer to glenwoodnews@gtmc.net with I Found BLU in the subject line. If submitting your answer with your bill payment, please write on a piece of paper your name, phone number, and the location of BLU. Responses due by October 19 th, Ten winners will be selected each quarter.

3 Service Spotlight - Tablet Computers Glenwood has the latest computer tablets in stock. Tablets are the perfect gift for Christmas, special occasions, or just for the heck of it. We have the perfect tablet for everyone. Stop by our retail locations in Blue Hill or Holdrege and our friendly staff will be happy to show you our selection. Features shown below are not a side by side comparison, only the feature highlights from each device. More details available at retail locations. ASUS TF700 Full HD Display High audio quality Full size, snap on keyboard 32 or 64 GB of memory Scratch resistant glass USB inputs on the keyboard HD video recording 14 hour battery life 8 MP Camera w/ flash Google Play 10 inch screen Fastest Tegra 3 CPU Ever Amazon Kindle Fire 8 hour battery life 7 inch screen 8 GB internal storage Built in WiFi HD Display Ready out of the box 3 hours charge time Cloud storage Google Nexus 7 10 hours battery life 7 inch screen Android 4.1, the latest Made for Google Front facing camera only 8 or 16 GB storage Scratch resistant screen Slim and portable Customer Service Survey In the next few weeks, you will be receiving our annual customer satisfaction survey in the mail. This survey is very important to us, as we use it to make future decisions about customer service, products, and services. Please take the time to complete this survey and return it to us by the due date. We will share the highlights with you in a future edition of the newsletter. If you have questions or concerns about the survey, please don t hesitate to contact us. Thank you! New Customer Web Sites Launched In the past few weeks, Glenwood Web Design has completed 3 new web sites for customers. Please take some time to visit these sites. If you need a new web site or are thinking of a redesign of your current site, please give us a call. Minden Opera House The Minden Opera House web site features a design to honor the great opera house tradition. In the site, you will find information about the staff, the facilities, how you can get involved, ticket information, a calendar of events, and pictures of the facilities and recent events. Check out the new Christian Homes The Christian Homes web site features a design to show off their wonderful care facility in Holdrege. The site features an events & news calendar, employment opportunities, information on how you can support the Home, information on services available, and also gives you a guided tour of their recently renovated facilities. Check out the new Cooperative Producers The new CPI web site allows for mobile access and gives a wide range of information about all they have to offer. Some of the main areas of emphasis include agronomy, energy, grain, feed, employment opportunities, weather, and current promotions. Check out the all new 3

4 Cable TV Changes Made July 17th On July 17th, Glenwood connected our cable systems in Blue Hill and Superior with fiber optic cable. With this change, we were able to add 18 new cable channels for our customers in all communities. In order to receive these new channels, you should have re-scanned all the TV s in your home. If you did not do this and need assistance, please contact our office. We are planning for more additions next year and we will need your input. Please watch for your customer satisfaction survey to assist us in this planning process. Thanks! Local Channel 6 The Glenwood Local Access Channels (channels 6 and 18) are your local destination for replays of school events, church services, Glenwood channel guide, information on church services, local event information, business advertisements, Glenwood promotions, and much more. Once again, Glenwood, in cooperation with Blue Hill and Silver Lake Schools, will be broadcasting school events on the local access channel 6. Glenwood s local access channels provide you with local information that you won t find with satellite providers. The next time you re flipping through your Glenwood cable channels, stop on channel 6 and take a look at all the information that is available. The local channel ads and an up-to-date programming schedule can be found on our web site at net. Click on the Channel 6 logo located at the bottom right corner of the home page. If you wish to advertise on our local channel, please contact the business office. Your ad will reach over 1,000 people in 9 communities. Televisions On Display at Glenwood Our Glenwood Technology Store in Holdrege currently has 4 different sizes of Toshiba TV s on display. We also have access to dozens of others models available in one business day. We feature TVs with 3D viewing, wireless keyboards, smart TV capabilities, and built in WiFi. Prices starting at $ Stop by our Holdrege store to learn more about these state of the art TV s. Coming soon to our Blue Hill location. Layaway is Back and Just in Time for Christmas Call or Stop in for Details! P.O. Box 97 Phone: (402) West Gage Toll-Free: Blue Hill, NE Fax: (402) Published & Written By: Troy Stickels Marketing Manager

5 Inside is your edition of Glenwood s Cooperative Newsletter This is not the one you are looking for. In This Issue: Fiber to the Rural Starting Up Letters delivered 2012 Directory Winner Grants Awarded Find BLU Tablet Computers Customer Service Survey New Customer Web Sites Cable TV Changes Made July 17 Channel 6 TV s Now on Sale P.O. Box 97, Blue Hill, NE Troy Stickels 2487 Road 1625 Blue Hill, NE 68930