Customer UPS recommendation guide
Dear High Speed Crow customers,
Following the recent snowstorm, High Speed Crow has received an influx of calls from customers who suspected issues with their HSC internet service. In most of these cases, we have determined that the cause was that AC power fluctuations had damaged or otherwise affected the customer-owned internet router or its power supply.
HSC would like to recommend that customers consider purchasing a UPS device to help protect the internet equipment and service in their premises from Hydro fluctuations. We have created a document to explain this, it is available to this post.
Thank you for your business.
Rural communities in Manitoba will benefit from faster Internet
Canadians understand the importance of building communities. They have always invested in ways to better connect with each other—from the St. Lawrence Seaway to the national railroad system to the Trans-Canada Highway. Those investments now need to reflect the increasingly digital world.
That is why the Honourable Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Rural Economic Development, today announced funding of $6.9 million for Valley Fiber Limited and $794,000 for High Speed Crow to bring new or improved high-speed Internet access and capacity to 16 communities, including a First Nation community, in rural Manitoba. In addition to the Government of Canada investment, Valley Fiber Limited is contributing $2.3 million and High Speed Crow is contributing $264,640, bringing the total investment to just over $10 million.
” High Speed Crow made a significant decision to deploy fiber through the region in 2015. Our commitment has included communities such as Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, Garson, Lockport, Tyndall and other rural areas in between. With this announcement, it accelerates building our backbone, and in addition, we are extending our backbone to connecting several other towers this year. We also congratulate Valley Fiber, and their work in Southern Manitoba, in the announcement. The Metro Winnipeg Region is quickly gaining ground with connectivity and fast broadband.”
HIGH SPEED CROW CHOSEN FOR WORKPLACE SAFETY AWARD
We are pleased to announce that High Speed Crow has been chosen as the recipient of a 2019 Manitoba NAOSH (North American Occupational Safety and Health) Award in the category of Best New Entry. Safety & Health Week took place May 5-11 this year, and we are being recognized for our outstanding achievements in making our workplace a healthier and safer place to be!
This was our first time participating in Safety & Health Week, and our activities were focused on demonstrating how we are PROACTIVE vs REACTIVE when it comes to the safety and health of our staff and our customers when we are on a job site.
Our award will be presented to us at the 3rd annual Safetys gala on Wednesday, September 25, at the RBC Convention Centre.
Congratulations to the entire team at High Speed Crow for your part in making Safety a priority!
See you at The Safetys!!
GPS Tracking In Our Fleet
At High Speed Crow, we utilize GPS tracking in our vehicles and equipment for safety and organization. We operate a fleet of 20+ vehicles and 30+ other equipment such as excavators, skid steers, hydrovacs, and cable plows.
If someone needs the status of an asset, it is an easy check to know where an asset is located without phoning while someone is driving.
We do this so that our helpdesk can quickly confirm with a customer that a service tech is on route with an arrival time, or which person may be the closest to assist another person.
Another benefit is automated reporting of vehicle mileage, auto reminders for oil changes, and even an immediate notice if the battery is low. This is extremely helpful for accounting on end of month recording of mileage or hours.
Wi-Fi calling on cellphones
***Contact your service provider to ensure that Wi-Fi calling is enabled/available on your plan. Most plans don’t have it automatically enabled.
Place Wi-Fi calls from your iPhone
- Go into Settings
- Cellular
- Wi-Fi Calling – Toggle to “on”.
You might need to enter or confirm your address for emergency services.*If Wi-Fi Calling is available, you’ll see Wi-Fi after your carrier name in the status bar. Then your calls will use Wi-Fi Calling.
Place Wi-Fi calls from your Android
- Go into Settings,
- Using the search function (top right) search Wi-Fi calling
- Once you are redirected to Wi-Fi Preferences, choose Wi-Fi Calling and toggle it to “On”
OR
- Go to Wireless and Network Settings
- Select the More or More Networks
- Find Wi-Fi Calling and enable it.
No Wi-Fi Calling? No Problem — Try one of these Apps
Just because your carrier and/or phone doesn’t technically support Wi-Fi Calling doesn’t mean you can’t use another form of the feature if you’d like. There are plenty of apps out there that will let you make calls, here are a few of the most popular ones:
- Facebook Messenger
- Google Hangouts (you’ll need the Hangouts Dialer app)
- Google Voice
- Google Duo
- Skype (Note: Costs money)
Making Better Food Choices
It’s not always easy to eat healthy when on the job site. Sometimes downing that can of cola and grabbing that chocolate bar seems like the quick fix to keep your energy levels up.
The safety of our staff extends to their health as well, so we have put together some healthy food swaps and downloadable recipes for making better choices that will keep those energy levels up while on the job!
Harvest Spiced Nuts Mini Banana Bread Loaves Baked Oatmeal Cups
Sun Protection For Our Staff
For many, the warm weather signifies vacations, lounging by the pool, and spending more time outdoors. For us, the warm weather means the start of our busiest season!
Our crews are outside from sunrise to sunset, sometimes working long hours in the hot sun. All that time in the sun can lead to an increased risk of sunburn, and even skin cancer. Protecting our staff from harmful UV rays is an important component of our safety program. Understanding the difference between a good sunscreen and a poor one is just another way we are being proactive to prevent injury, rather than reactive as a result of an injury from the sun.
To ensure the protection of our staff, our trucks are fully stocked with water-resistant sunscreen with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) 30. This means that the product will stop 95-97% of UVB rays and allow for spending 30 times longer in the sun before skin burns.
While no sunscreen is completely waterproof, sunscreens labeled sweat- or water-resistant do last longer, a sunscreen without water resistance will stop protecting you as soon as it becomes wet.
We also promote the message that sun protection needs to happen even on cloudy days. Even if it’s cloudy or overcast, ultraviolet rays are still attacking your skin. Frankly, we encourage wearing sunscreen all the time when outdoors.
Sun safety is a seasonal process for us at High Speed Crow. As the seasons change so do our first aid kits and supplies. We remove the hot packs and ice scrapers from the winter and replace them with sunscreen, bug spray, and bottled water. We also take that time to check the fire extinguishers and first aid kits!
High Speed Crow Celebrates Safety & Health Week
As a local employer, we know the important role we play in preventing workplace accidents and injuries not only in the office but on the job site as well. Workplace Safety has always been a priority for us, so we are pleased to announce that we will be officially participating in our very first Safety and Health Week from May 5-11 2019.
The North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, also known as NAOSH Week is a continent-wide event spanning the countries of Canada, USA, and Mexico. The purpose of Safety & Health Week is to focus the attention of employers, employees, partners, and the public on the importance of preventing injury and illness in the workplace, at home, and in the community.
At High Speed Crow we strongly believe that safety begins with prevention, which is why we have centred our Safety & Health Week activities around the message of being proactive, rather than reactive.
We invite you to follow us on Social Media where we will:
- Highlight some of the existing safety practices we have in place to prevent injury and illness.
- Hold daily random safety related contests for a variety of prizes to be drawn.
- Share best practices and tips for a safer, healthier and injury-free workplace, home and community!
What is the best location for your router?
We often hear of people having unexplainable problems with WiFi signals and it could be because of the location of your router.
Here’s one scenario – The WiFi signals were perfect, the router is in the basement under the kitchen. After taking a look, we discover the kitchen has new flooring and also metal mesh to level
As people have more devices attaching to their router, and shorter ranges for higher speeds, a popular option is to have WiFi R
Another thing to try is wiring your Smart TV directly to your WiFi router to eliminate WiFi related challenges – especially when your all your technology products are competing for bandwidth!
What is bandwidth usage?
In our last post we discussed the costs of bandwidth in Canada, and why it is higher than other countries.
Bandwidth usage is very comparable to electricity, or natural gas. Electricity and gas spins a meter. Hydro has a basic service charge, and then a usage charge, for both electricity and gas.
While electricity doesn’t “wear out” a power line, there is considerable costs for maintenance and very high cost for upgrading – compounded by the costs of regulations and safety which is very important.
In the Internet world, we work on a similar concept. However, bandwidth usage is exponentially increasing with streaming services and people “cutting the cord” and dropping their satellite TV. This creates significantly higher costs for upgrading which is planning, designing, purchasing equipment, the labor to perform the upgrades, and ongoing support. Much of these costs are also in US dollars as we purchase direct from distributors and manufacturers.
Back in 1935 there may have been a couple lights and a 40 amp panel in a house. Today, that standard is 200 amp or even 400 amp.
It’s a similar comparison for bandwidth. As little as 15 years ago it was only 2-3 Gigabytes per month, today, we see customers using 200 Gigabytes and many customers are now in the “One Terabyte” membership group on our fiber network. That is a 30,000% increase in usage over the past decade – and the costs only doubled thanks in large part to new technologies being deployed, and extensive planning and strategies to meet the bandwidth demands for the next 2 years.
This is why we are continuously upgrading to meet the demands of the new applications such as online gaming, telecommuting and VoIP services.