AUGUS T 2 0 21 Cornerstone Group © 2021 114 East Main Street Panora, IA 50216 (641) 755-2424 Online: www.panoratelco.com Office Hours: M–F 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Win a $10 Bill Credit What’s the name of the Panora daycare center that received money from Panora Telco’s revolving loan fund? Answer: _____________________________ Name: ______________________________ Phone:_ _____________________________ Email: _ _____________________________ Clip and return by August 31, 2021 to Panora Telco, 114 East Main Street, Panora, IA 50216 or Guthrie Center Communications, 403 State Street, Guthrie Center, IA 50115. Congratulations to Kim Firebaugh, the most recent Panora Telco winner; and Joanne Zieser, the most recent Guthrie Center Communications winner. One winner chosen at random per quarter. Contest open to Panora Telco and GCC customers age 18 and over. Applicants can win once per 12-month period. Other restrictions may apply. YOUR QUARTERLY DOSE OF TECHNOLOGY INSPIRATION Connections 403 State Street Guthrie Center, IA 50115 (641) 332-2000 Online: www.guthriecentercom.com Office Hours: M–F 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. but closed 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. for lunch OUR INTERNET SERVICE OPENS UP A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES As this school year begins, let’s celebrate old friends reunited in the classroom and new possibilities explored at home. With our super-fast internet, your household has access to virtually unlimited ways to learn. VR headsets and apps can transport your children to outer space, take them on safari, or make them feel like they’re inside a famous painting. Social media builds connections and inspires creativity, and streaming videos offer lessons on any subject. LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR NEW INTERNET PLANS AND PRICING. Call Panora Telco at (641) 755-2424 or visit www.panoratelco.com. Call Guthrie Center Communications at (641) 332-2000 or visit www.guthriecentercom.com.
Congratulations to These Graduates! Abby Cobb Awarded a $500 Panora Telco Scholarship Abby will attend Iowa State University, majoring in accounting and advertising. Trent Hambleton Awarded a $500 Panora Telco Scholarship Trent will attend Kirkwood Community College, majoring in sports medicine/ physical therapy. Audrey Stowe Awarded a $500 Guthrie Center Communications Scholarship Audrey will attend the University of MissouriColumbia, majoring in journalism. Shekynah Haworth Awarded a $1,000 Aureon Scholarship in partnership with Panora Telco Shekynah will attend the University of Northern Iowa, majoring in computer science and business administration. We also want to extend our best wishes to these graduating seniors from the Panora Telco family: Ella Waddle Daughter of Jaime Waddle, Administrative & Customer Services Director, and Brandon Waddle Ethan Hafner Son of Kelvin Hafner, Board Member Panora Telco and Guthrie Center Communications are pleased to recognize our 2021 scholarship recipients: Outdoor apps are a case in point. They provide easy access to vast amounts of accurate real-time data, which can help you explore more ground and do it more safely. Below are several of the most popular apps in this category. Cairn - cairnme.com This app will help you get home safely from any adventure. It offers safety tracking and alerts, cell coverage, and navigation. For example, enter the details of your hike to update your friends and family members as to your status. First Aid - www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare- for-emergencies/mobile-apps.html It’s important to be prepared for emergencies, especially when you’re in a remote area. This Red Cross app puts expert advice for common emergencies at your fingertips. Leafsnap - https://plantidentifier.info Part of the fun of going outside is learning about all the plants around you. Use this app to snap a photo of a leaf and learn details about the plant it came from. PeakVisor - peakvisor.com Want to know the name and the altitude of a mountain you see in the distance? You can find out easily with PeakVisor, your personal mountain guide. RadarScope - www.radarscope.app It’s best to anticipate weather changes when you’re spending your time outside. RadarScope gives you detailed storm information with precision weather radar. Spyglass - happymagenta.com/spyglass Known as the swiss-army knife of the outdoor navigation category, this app will help you navigate and track your off-road travel. It features an augmented reality view compass, a speedometer, and celestial navigation. Star Walk 2 - starwalk.space/en Without city lights, you can really appreciate the night sky. This stargazing app will match your screen up with the stars above you, pointing out any constellations. Check Out These Apps for Outdoor Enthusiasts Many people go camping, biking, climbing, or hiking to “get away from it all” and focus on nature. Yet bringing along at least some technology can help make the great outdoors even greater.
Cornerstone Group © 2021 It’s a good idea to check your internet speed from time to time to help determine if your current speed is adequate or if an upgrade may be needed. The process is easy—you push one button—on speed test sites such as Ookla’s speedtest.net. How do speed tests work? Speed tests measure the speed between your device and a test server, using your device’s internet connection. The test mimics your online activity in a controlled setting by downloading sample files and recording speeds. What data does a speed test give you? You’ll typically learn three things: • Download speed – A measure in Mbps of how quickly data can be transferred to your device over the network. • Upload speed – A measure in Mbps of how quickly your device can upload data over the network. • Ping – Measured in milliseconds, this is the time it takes for data to travel from a device on one network to a device on another network. What can be done to get the most accurate results? If you’re serious about getting the full picture of your internet speed, run multiple speed tests under different conditions: • Over multiple connections – Running a speed test over Wi-Fi will yield different results than running a test over an Ethernet cord. • With only one or multiple devices – The number of devices connected to your network can affect your speeds. Run a test with just one device connected and run another test with multiple devices connected. • In different rooms – The strength of your wireless signal will weaken as you get further away from your router. Try running a speed test in the same room as your router and then in other rooms farther away to see if, and by how much, results vary. • While doing different activities – Running a speed test while doing different activities (such as listening to music vs. streaming a TV show vs. playing an online game) can help you pinpoint if the slower speeds are content related. Call Panora Telco at (641) 755-2424 or Guthrie Center Communications at (641) 332-2000 for answers to your other speed test questions or advice on getting an internet speed upgrade. What You Need to Know About Internet Speed Tests WatchTVEverywhere Lets You Be Creative With TV Viewing Pick your device. Pick your location. Pick your program. With WatchTVEverywhere, everyone in your family enjoys lots of options for how, where, and what to watch. Slumber party time? The kids can watch a movie on a laptop in their fort. Waiting for a plane? You can catch up with your favorite drama show on your smartphone at the airport. WatchTVEverywhere works from anywhere you have an internet signal, making it incredibly convenient. Plus, WatchTVEverywhere is FREE with your qualifying Panora Telco or Guthrie Center Communications TV package. The specific networks available to you on your mobile devices will be based on your TV package subscription. For example, you must receive a channel at home to watch that channel with WatchTVEverywhere. To use WatchTVEverywhere, you’ll first need to register at www.watchtveverywhere.com. It’s quick and easy; just have your Panora Telco or Guthrie Center Communications TV account number handy. Not yet one of our TV customers? Call Panora Telco at (641) 755-2424 or Guthrie Center Communications at (641) 332-2000 to sign up.
Cornerstone Group © 2021 PANORA TELCO • ( 641 ) 755-2424 | GUTHRIE CENTER COMMUNICATIONS • ( 641 ) 332-2000 Panora Telco has always viewed economic development as a high priority, and to help the Panora community thrive, our cooperative has taken several important steps in recent years. They’ve included purchasing commercial and residential properties and preparing them for resale and new construction, working with the City of Panora on street development, and establishing a revolving loan fund to encourage new business development. We’re excited about these three recent projects with ties to Panora Telco—and what they’ll mean to the Panora community: • Little Panther Daycare & Preschool expansion – Construction is underway on a 1,440-square-foot addition to the existing building to accommodate 15 more children and two additional full-time employees. The expansion is needed to accommodate a long waiting list for childcare at the center. In addition to financial support from the State of Iowa and local community investment, Little Panther will receive 0% interest loans of $150,000 from Guthrie County REC and $100,000 from Panora Telco’s revolving loan fund. Andrew Randol, CEO and General Manager of Panora Telco, said, “Quality daycare is so critical to rural communities, and availability was decreased due to the pandemic. We’re pleased to help make this expansion a reality with our loan.” • Construction of a GCH Clinic at Panora Telco Business Park – Guthrie County Hospital and GCH Clinics in Panora broke ground at the site of the new clinic building on April 26, 2021. Construction is now taking place with completion of the 6,800-square-foot clinic planned for early winter 2022. Randol noted, “Its location in the front lot of the Panora Telco Business Park will give this GCH Clinic added exposure, and its size will allow for an increased number of medical services.” • Construction of a new home on land from Panora Telco – “We’ve purchased land, removed unsightly houses, prepared the sites for building, and sold them. It’s great to see a home going up on one of these sites now, knowing how badly Panora needs quality housing,” said Randol. While our primary role at Panora Telco is to keep you connected through communications services, we’ll continue to devote resources to selected economic development projects. After all, we care about more than just making a profit.We care about making a difference. New Wi-Fi 6 Can Handle Many Devices on a Single Network Wi-Fi 6 is the next generation of Wi-Fi, and we can all be grateful for its simple name. Until recently, Wi-Fi generations were referred to by an arcane naming scheme that required you to understand whether 802.11n was faster than 802.11ac, and whether 802.11ac was faster than 802.11af. To fix that, the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to rename Wi-Fi generations with simple version numbers. The current generation of Wi-Fi, 802.11ac, became Wi-Fi 5. This new generation, previously called 802.11ax, is now Wi-Fi 6. Wi-Fi 6 introduces technologies to help mitigate the issues that come with putting many Wi-Fi devices on a single network. It lets routers communicate with more devices at once and send data to multiple devices in the same broadcast. This is an important improvement, since when Wi-Fi 5 came out in 2015, the average U.S. household had about five devices connected to Wi-Fi. Now the average is 9 devices, and that’s predicted to rise to about 50 by 2025. Call Panora Telco at (641) 755-2424 or Guthrie Center Communications at (641) 332-2000 if you have Wi-Fi questions or are interested in our Managed Wi-Fi. Panora Telco Supports Progress in Economic Development Projects
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