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What's New!

March 31, 2008 — FUSC increase effective April 1, 2008

A recent FCC order changed the way telephone companies can recover their federal universal service fund contributions. Because of this change coupled with an increase in the FCC’s prescribed universal service contribution factor, you will see an increase in the Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC) amount on your bill effective April 1, 2008. The federal universal service fund program is designed to help keep local telephone service rates affordable for all customers, in all areas of the United States.

March 28, 2008 — Major League Baseball Changes Blackout Rules for 2008 Season

On March 20th, Turner Network Sales (TBS- Channel 22 on Columbus FiberVision) has informed Cable TV providers across the nation that, regardless of where a game is played, each TBS cablecast of a game will be blacked out within the home television territory  of each Major League Baseball club participating in a game. For example, if the Kansas City Royals play the Texas Rangers in Kansas City, and the game is on TBS, then that game must be blacked out in those areas falling in the “Black Out Zones”, for both the Royals and the Rangers.

The “Black Out Zone” for the Kansas City Royals on TBS is all the counties in Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas. The Black Out Zone for the St. Louis Cardinals is all counties in Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and the following counties in Kansas: Allen, Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Neosho, Woodson, and Wilson.

If a local network channel in the Pittsburg/Joplin area is broadcasting the games, then that programming will be available to Columbus FiberVision viewers. Schedule and Black Out information can be accessed by visiting www.turnerresources.com.

March 12, 2008 — Digital TV & FiberVision Information

On February 17, 2009, full power analog broadcasting will end, and analog-only televisions may be unable to display full-power broadcast programming unless the viewer takes action. Sets not connected to a cable service (Columbus FiberVision) may need additional equipment (i.e. converter box) or their TV may need to be replaced. More information may be obtained by going to www.dtv.gov or calling the National Telecom Industry Assoc. at 1-888-388-2009.

March 9, 2008 — Digital TV & FiberVision Information

How do I know if my TV is ready to receive digital or HD channels? IF you have a digital TV, it must be a digital TV with a QAM tuner already installed to receive Columbus FIbervision Digital channels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner The only way to receive digital signals above 100 is to have a TV capable of doing so and subscribing to Columbus Fibervision Basic II package. Note: no converter boxes will be needed for Columbus Fibervision Cable subscribers.

March 4, 2008 — Digital TV & FiberVision Information

We have added new HD channels to our channel lineup. You will find them in the 100+ spots on your digital TV. We invite you to scan your TV, to verify if your set is capable of receiving these channels.

PS. Any FiberVision customer buying an HD TV from the Columbus Westco store between 1/1/08 & 12/21/08, will be entered into a drawing for another HD TV! Drawing will be held: 12/22/08.

March 3, 2008 — FiberVision Channel Changes

As part of the migration to the expanded digital platform, the following channels are moving: ESPN2 is moving to Channel 4, ESPN News is moving to Channel 5, ESPN CLassic is moving to Channel 6, TBS is moving to Channel 22, Family Net is moving to Channel 35, and WGN is moving to Channel 36. These changes will occur on Wednesday, March 5. For more information call Columbus FiberVision 620-429-3132.

February, 2008 — Rate Changes

In 2002 the Kansas Legislature passed a law establishing a method to set an affordable level for basic local service rates for rural telephone companies. The Kansas Corporation Commission has determined these rates to be a statewide average of $15.00 for residential service and $18.00 for single line business service. Under this law rural telephone companies adjust their local service rates over a transition period to achieve the Kansas Corporation Commission's target levels. Columbus Telephone Company will make a rate adjustment to take effect April 1, 2008 as a part of this process.

This rate adjustment will take the place of another anticipated rate change. In January we notified all customers of a proposal to increase local service rates March 1; there will be no March 1 rate increase, however, there will be an increase from 88 cents to $1.01 on the KUSF charge.

Effective April 1, 2008 Columbus Telephone Company local service rates will be:
   Residence: $15.00 (currently $13.47)
   Business: $16.75 (currently $14.75)

As a part of legislative and regulatory actions, Columbus Telephone Company will receive a reduced amount of high cost support from the Kansas Universal Service Fund to offset the local rate increase. Columbus Telephone Company will receive no additional total revenue as a result of these rate changes. Thanking you in advance for your understanding as we put you through yet another security process to protect your personal information.

Columbus Telephone Company reminds its customers of the Lifeline Service program, implemented by the Kansas Corporation Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, offering assistance for residential telephone service to qualifying limited income households.

If you have any questions about the Lifeline program and whether you may qualify, or about this rate increase, please contact us at 429-3132. You may also contact the Kansas Corporation Commission at its toll-free consumer affairs number, 1-(800)-662-0027.

December, 2007 — Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI)

On December 08, 2007, a new policy instituted by the Federal Communication Commission, will go into effect. It will establish new rules on how we as a company are to share information on your telephone account. Here is a brief outline of what you can expect when you call to make changes or request information regarding your account.

If a customer calls the office or comes into the office, the customer must be authenticated. The person in the office or calling about the account must be listed on the account as an authorized contact. If Columbus Telephone is not talking to the customer listed on the account, we cannot discuss the account. If we have an account where the person is deceased, the spouse must change the account information to add the living customer�s name to the account. A password verification will be required before releasing any information to the customer(s) listed on the account.

Thanking you in advance for your understanding as we put you through yet another security process to protect your personal information.

June, 2007 — Rate Changes

For the last 60 months, your telephone company has been absorbing a Federal Communication Commission (FCC) authorized/ordered increase in the Subscriber Line Charge (now $4.10) appearing on your monthly telephone bill. This charge first appeared several years ago in a, �revenue neutral� action by the FCC in which your telephone company reduced access fees to long distance carriers, who in turn were to reduce per minute toll rates.

Unfortunately, Columbus Telephone Co. can no longer absorb the difference between what we are placing on your bill ($4.10)/mo.) and what we should be, based on the FCC order ($6.50/mo residential & $9.20/mo. Business). We regret having to make this change but must if your telephone company is to remain healthy in this ever changing competitive industry. You can anticipate seeing this change on your August 1, 2007 statement.

If this change causes undue strain on your residential budget, you may qualify for one of the available assistance programs. Lifeline, Link up and Toll Limitation Service support provide discounts to eligible low-income consumers to help them establish & maintain phone service. Lifeline assistance lowers the cost of basic, monthly local telephone charges. Eligible consumers can receive a discount on their local phone charges. �Link Up reduces the cost of new phone connection charges. Eligible consumers can receive a 50% discount on connection charges for initiating telephone service. Toll Limitation Service allows eligible consumers who wish to avoid incurring large long distance fees to choose toll blocking at no extra cost.

An individual is eligible if he or she participates in one of the following programs: LIHEAP, Federal Public Housing Assistance, Medicaid, Food Stamps, SSI, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. In addition, a consumer may be eligible if his/her household income is at or below 135% of the federal poverty guideline. To apply for Lifeline, Link Up and TLS discounts contact our office at 620-429-3132. THANK YOU FOR BEING A MEMBER OF YOUR TELEPHONE COMPANY!

February 14, 2007 — Web Mail & Postini

Recently several changes were made to our e-mail service. These changes include Web Mail & Postini, a program to help filter spam and viruses.

  1. The first time you login to Postini it will ask you to change your password to whatever you want. (please note that Columbus Telephone Co. does not have record of this password)
  2. You can choose to use Postini or shut it off by disabling it.
  3. Postini is a separate program than Web Mail, it only receives the junk.
  4. Save a link in your favorites and check periodically to see if any good mail needs to be redirected.
  5. Filtering of spam is now left up to you by setting your own personal tolerance levels for junk mail in Postini.
  6. Please visit the Postini help website at www.postini.com/services/help.html for a complete explanation of how Postini works.

You can access your e-mail from anywhere by using Web Mail. Go to our website at Columbus-ks.com & click on the Web Mail link. By entering your login & password you are able to view your e-mail . Once you return home anything you have not deleted from Web Mail can now be downloaded to your mail program you are currently using.

July 20, 2006 — Payment Options

Columbus Telephone Co. will begin accepting Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express credit cards as well as debit cards effective August 1, 2006.

February 22, 2006 — Voice Mail

Once your telephone service is converted to fiber if you subscribe to voice mail you must dial a new phone number 429-4950 to retrieve any new messages.

February 22, 2006 — Important! APC (Battery back up unit)

Please make sure you APC (battery back up unit) remains plugged in at all times. Your service will be disrupted if there is no power to this unit. 2 hours of talk time on a corded telephone will be provided during a power outage. The APC will, however, not power your CATV or Internet during outages.

July 25, 2005 — ACTION REQUIRED!!!

Dear Internet Customer:

Recently, AT&T, our Internet backbone provider, has informed us we have an extra-ordinary number of worm attacks infiltrating the Internet network from Columbus users. There have been so many AT&T has been threatening to disconnect Columbus from their service!

We have just completed the installation of new Firewall software and hardware allowing us to identify customers who have computers attacking other computers on and off our network. When AT&T notifies us of such attacks, we are required to take immediate action. That may mean a temporary suspension of service for the offending computer.

To protect your computer, we recommend using an excellent FREE tool for removing most worms. The free software is called "Stinger"and can be downloaded and used free from: http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

We recommend everyone download this program and run it at least once a week on all of your computers. You probably are already doing virus scans (different than worms) with Norton Anti-Virus or McAfee, but these don�t always catch worms. Please scan for worms and viruses once a week. You'll find your computer will run better and your surfing experience will be more enjoyable.

Jim Dahmen, General Manager