The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) shares it's most important tips for staying secure online.

Blacksburg, Virginia, 10/12/2021

It's 2021, and our online presence and personal devices have never been more important to us. From banking to social networking, working remotely, and even using cell phones as car keys and credit cards, there's no doubt that we rely on these tools more than we think. That is why it's so important that we keep them safe and secure, and what better time to update and review your preventative measures than Cybersecurity Awareness Month?

According to CISA.gov here are a few tips you can implement today:

Let’s start with the basics of “cyber hygiene,” easy and common-sense ways to protect yourself online.

Choosing the right router frequency can affect your upload and download speeds more than you think.

Blacksburg, Virginia, 10/11/2021

Your router uses radio frequencies to transmit internet to your devices. The difference between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi comes down to two factors: bandwidth (speed) and range. The speeds you receive over WiFi also depend on which service you are signed up for.

2.4 GHz wireless networks cover a larger range than 5 GHz networks. Signals of 5 GHz frequencies do not penetrate solid objects as well as 2.4 GHz signals, and this limits the reach of 5 GHz frequencies inside homes. So, is 5 GHz useful? Absolutely! If the router is near you (in the same room) you can take advantage of the faster speeds and less congestion.

With a dual-band router, you can set it to transmit at both frequencies at the same time. In this case, you’ll have two networks that appear in your network list, with identical names, except for a "5G" or "2.4G" at the end. You can then connect each of your individual devices to either one of the networks. Check your specific model of router for compatibility and frequency capabilities.

Your neighborhood can be next to get fiber! Community interest, signups and survey responses determine which neighborhoods will be connected next.

WideOpen delivers super-fast Gig fiber to Blacksburg and Montgomery County homes

Blacksburg, Virginia, 8/4/21
WideOpen Blacksburg announces it is now adding Fiber to the Home (FTTH) customers to their network at a record pace in Blacksburg and the New River Valley, and is starting to deliver Gigabit service to businesses including the Blacksburg New School.

The company’s Blacksburg-area backbone was completed in early June. Since then, fiber construction has moved into several Blacksburg neighborhoods, and hundreds more Blacksburg homes are scheduled to receive fiber connections this summer. The company provides the fastest Internet in the region, and the expanded network can deliver Gigabit, 2Gig,10Gig, and 100Gig fiber services to connected businesses and residents.

Andrew Cohill, WideOpen’s CEO, described the company’s current activities. “Our next generation fiber back-bone passes by nearly every business and residential area of Blacksburg. We have a complete network expansion roadmap for 2021 and 2022, and we will be connecting homes to our fiber network steadily as we complete new lateral network segments.”
The company is also expanding its network in Montgomery County, and some residents in the Catawba Valley got connected in December and January. Most of those homes were on extremely slow DSL, and they are delighted with the speed of WideOpen’s rural fiber service.

Lynn Huber, who coordinates the company’s Blacksburg project, said she has been getting thank you notes from new customers. “They are telling us their children can finally do their school work and participate in virtual classroom activities at the same time as their parents work productively from home.”

WideOpen has been getting service requests from all over Blacksburg and Montgomery County. Potential customers are telling the company they want what WideOpen offers: excellent service, a choice of services and ISPs, connections that don’t drop, and lightning fast uploads and downloads. The WideOpen fiber network has been designed specifically to support homes and businesses that need high performance two way video support for services like Zoom, GoToMeeting, and Webex. Scott Hebdon, a new customer in the Catawba Valley area has been very pleased with the service: “I truly appreciate that the WideOpen team brought Gigabit fiber to us; it has made a tremendous difference to our children and their ability to do their schoolwork.”

Huber described an important feature of the network. “Our network is fully symmetrical, meaning upload and download speeds are the same. When a customer fine tunes their new setup, they are shocked at the difference between their previous old-fashioned, copper-based network with slow upload speeds and WideOpen’s lightning fast wide open Gigabit fiber. Batches of photos, large files, and work documents move back and forth to the cloud without affecting any other internet activities.”

WideOpen Blacksburg is a subsidiary of WideOpen Networks, and both companies are based in Blacksburg. WideOpen Networks provides the network back office technical support for the Blacksburg network, but the company also maintains and supports nine other networks in Virginia, Montana, and New Hampshire. The company has a national reputation for network design, construction, and management, and has designed and built modern fiber and wireless networks throughout the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean.

In January 2021, Parks Associates released a study indicating 41% of US households took part in a Telehealth visit in 2020; Half of all kids under 18 have a high degree of interest in continuing with Telehealth visits; and 29% of households expect to purchase a connected health product in the next 12 months.

The industry leapt through 5 to 10 years of development in just a few months. Telehealth demand, combined with an increased use of smart fitness devices and a need for healthcare in a world subject to massive quarantine, contributed to rapid progress and increased Telehealth offerings by medical practices all over the country. There are more developments to come: Apple watches, Fitbits and other fitness wearables are potentially capable of detecting wearers are getting sick more than a week before the first symptom appears, according to a study conducted by Stanford Medicine's Healthcare Innovation Lab. Other studies are being conducted to see if these devices will be useful in detecting COVID-19 infections.

Medicaid is getting in on the Telehealth movement and recently worked with Centene Corporation to create a partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers. $5 million will be spent on equipment and providing "training and technical assistance to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to ramp-up their capacity to provide telehealth solutions."

It has never been more important to bring a minimum of 100 mbps symmetric Internet services to more people. WideOpen Blacksburg installs new Gigabit networks that lower the real costs of telephone, TV, and Internet services for businesses, local government, Telehealth providers and residents. We include 12 pairs of fiber in every conduit for use by governments in any way they choose, including potentially providing service to those on limited income.

PC Mag has released their "Best USB Wi-Fi Adapters for 2021" survey. This is one of my favorite annual roundups of new technology!

As we carve out odd spaces for home offices, we're ending up in weird corners of kitchens, attics, or basements where Wi-Fi may not reach....

Read more: Best USB Wi-Fi Adapters for 2021

Find out how to reach those odd nooks and crannies without dropping a bunch of cash on a mesh system. Not that we don't like mesh systems: We love mesh systems, but sometimes they are overkill!