Butler-Bremer Communications 715 Main Street / PO Box 99 Plainfield, IA 50666 Phone: 319.276.4458 24/7 Tech Support: 1.866.276.8253 Office Hours: Mon - Fri, 8am - 4:30pm Office Closure: Monday, September 4 for Labor Day Holiday Email: comments@butler-bremer.com Online: butler-bremer.com FAL L 2 0 23 Bits&Bytes A NEWSLETTER FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT BUTLER-BREMER COMMUNICATIONS Old School Meets NEW SCHOOL PUT NEW INTERNET ON YOUR SHOPPING LIST Old school classics like notebooks and colored pencils are still around. But new school technology has moved to the head of the class, with most homework now being done on tablets or laptops rather than paper. To help your student succeed, consider upgrading to an A+ internet plan from BBC. We offer super-fast speeds and unmatched reliability, so the only thing getting in the way of completing homework efficiently will be texts from friends! CALL 319.276.4458 FOR AN INTERNET UPGRADE Cornerstone Group © 2023 Get Ready for Lots of Family Fun in August Did you know August is Family Fun Month? This means if you need an excuse to have more fun with your family, now you have it! August was chosen to coincide with the end of summer and the start of a new school year—perfect timing for “last blast” summer activities such as swimming, outdoor concerts, or camping. Whatever you do, make it a fun-filled family affair.
BUTLER-BREMER COMMUNICATIONS • 319 . 276 . 4458 • but l er-bremer. com 7 Homework Tips for the New School Year Here’s a refresher course in homework basics to share with the young students in your family: 1. Use a quiet room with an uncluttered desk and a supportive desk chair. 2. Sit up straight in the chair to get your blood flowing evenly and help prevent drowsiness. 3. Start by writing a to-do list of your homework, ordering your tasks from hardest to easiest. 4. Do the hardest tasks first. 5. Stay off social media, or anything else that will distract you. 6. Speak aloud as you do your homework. This works to maintain focus and reinforce concepts. It can be especially helpful when doing math problems. 7. When you can’t seem to finish an assignment no matter what you try, stop and switch to another task for awhile. This can help clear your head. After you’re feeling more positive, take a fresh look at that challenging assignment. Good luck to all students, parents, and teachers during this upcoming school year! Internet access—in dial-up form—was first sold to consumers in 1995, and virtually nothing about daily life has been the same since. Just for fun, we’re taking a trip down memory lane to look back at the way things used to be. When you mentioned Amazon, people would think of the river in South America. These days, Amazon first brings to mind the enormous e-commerce company. Families had sets of encyclopedias for research purposes. Before the internet and Google arrived, you had to look up topics in the encyclopedia to learn about them. More thorough research would require a trip to the local library. Messages for everyone to see were posted on a real wall. The predecessors to social media posts were printed flyers attached to walls or bulletin boards and messages scrawled on the whiteboards hung on dorm room doors. Trolls were mythical creatures or dolls with big hair. Don’t you long for the time when the term “troll” simply meant a creature from folklore or a strange little doll whose hair was taller than it was? Today internet trolls hide behind the relative anonymity of some platforms to spew mean messages. People used paper maps for navigation. These maps were your only option, other than stopping for directions at a gas station, to figure out how to get where you wanted to go. Plus, you had to figure out how to fold them back up again when you were done! Personal letters were sent often. There was no email yet and long distance calls were expensive, so letters via “snail mail” were how people kept in touch with out-oftown family and friends. Although the pace was slow, writing and receiving letters was a treasured activity. Now that we’ve looked back at the pre-internet years, let’s look forward to what your household’s internet needs will be down the road. Call us at 319.276.4458 if your internet use is growing and you want to discuss a speed upgrade. Remember What Life Was Like Before the Internet?
Given how much technology changes over time, it’s not surprising that what was once true no longer applies, or that people get confused by technical jargon. To clear things up, we’re setting the record straight on a few WiFi myths. Myth: If several people in our home are downloading, then our WiFi will slow to a crawl. Older WiFi technology couldn’t cope with multiple devices downloading, gaming, or streaming at the same time. However, today’s routers and access points are designed to help mitigate this. While the available bandwidth can only be divided up so many times before the effects of everyone “taking a slice” will be felt, a modern router has ways to distribute said bandwidth more equally and fairly. They include multiple antennas and band steering (where the router steers your device to the best, most suitable frequency/band). Myth: 5GHz is always better than 2.4GHz. Which band is better depends on your WiFi needs. If you want better range, use 2.4 GHz. If you need higher performance or speed, use the 5GHz band. The 5GHz band, which is the newer of the two, has the potential to cut through network clutter and interference to maximize network performance, which means 5GHz will be better for things like reducing game lag. Myth: My device won’t connect to WiFi, so there must be a problem with my internet. While there are scenarios where this might be the case, such as a neighborhood-wide internet outage, there are other potential connection issues. For example, if you have a device that won’t connect to WiFi, start by focusing your efforts on that device. The solution could be as simple as turning the device off and back on. You can also reset your device’s network’s settings or have the device “forget” your WiFi and reconnect a few seconds later. If you’d like help setting up and maintaining your home WiFi network, call 319.276.4458 and ask about our Managed WiFi service. Dispelling Myths About Home WiFi Networks You Can’t Buy Happiness, But You Can Buy Local You may have seen this message shared on social media platforms. It certainly offers food for thought: “When you’re supporting small businesses, you’re not helping a CEO buy a third vacation home. You’re helping a little girl get dance lessons, a little boy get his team jersey, a mom put food on the table, a dad pay a mortgage, or a student pay for college.” Small businesses are the heart of America, and for them to keep pumping, they need our support. This is achieved when community residents place a high value on keeping small businesses healthy and are committed to buying goods and services locally whenever possible. Supporting small businesses goes far beyond helping their owners, since they in turn donate to local charities, sports teams, and other causes. Simply put, communities need strong independent businesses to thrive. BBC believes in the power of supporting one another on a local level, which is why we strive to purchase locally sourced products, partner with local vendors, and give back to our community through donations and volunteering.
715 Main Street / PO Box 99 Plainfield, IA 50666 Phone: 319.276.4458 butler-bremer.com Cornerstone Group © 2023 BUTLER-BREMER COMMUNICATIONS • 319 . 276 . 4458 • but l er-bremer. com Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla. Mix in egg yolks. Unroll the crescent dough on the baking sheet, separating the triangles. Cut each crescent roll triangle in half lengthwise into two pieces. Spread about 1 Tbsp. of the pumpkin mixture on each triangle. Starting with the largest end of the dough, gently roll each triangle into a crescent and arrange onto the baking sheet leaving 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. MINI PumpkinPie CRESCENT ROLLS 2 tubes crescent rolls 1 cup canned pumpkin puree 2 egg yolks 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup granulated sugar (to taste) 1 to 2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (to taste) 1 tsp. vanilla WHEN YOU PURCHASE A ROUTER FROM BBC, YOU CAN MANAGE YOUR WIFI RIGHT FROM YOUR PHONE! Choose either model for extra coverage and performance: GigaSpire u6 – Sale Price of $85* (regularly $175) WiFi 6 technology provides lightning-fast speed and complete coverage. Includes four Ethernet ports. GigaSpire u4 – Sale Price of $45* (regularly $135) Offers same features as the u6 with a minimalist, compact design. Includes two Ethernet ports. Managed WiFi also gives you: EXTRA SECURITY – ProtectIQ puts up a 24/7 shield against internet threats, stopping them before they ever make it to your connected devices. It also alerts you of suspicious users, and more. EXTRA CONVENIENCE – The Butler-Bremer CommIQ App app lets you easily manage your network and its usage. Having guests and don’t want to share your WiFi password? Create a guest network. Working from home and can’t have your kids hogging the bandwidth? Prioritize your devices. EXTRA PARENTAL CONTROLS – ExperienceIQ** lets you set online time limits, block access to selected content, and monitor sites and apps used. EXTRA SUPPORT – You get managed software updates and local assistance from BBC. CALL 319.276.4458 FOR EXTRA DETAILS *To get router sale pricing, trade in your current router and/or donate to the food pantry. **ExperienceIQ is included with 100 Mbps or faster internet. Add to 50 Mbps internet for $9.95/mo. Managed WiFi is Extra Handy
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