February 2012 Magazine Serving Marseilles Community Photo Contest Finalists GRAND PRIZE Winner Displayed In February Calendar Finalist Seth Tuntland Illini Park Finalist Shirley Mills Old Marseilles Train Depot Finalist Kevin Foster I&M Canal Path MTCO Communications 244 Lincoln Street Marseilles, IL 61341 Finalist Ron Boetto Jesse Hetelle - WWI Veteran Finalist Kathy Thorson Memorial Wall First Snow 2011 A Community Publication Provided By MTCO Communications
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words The old adage basically says that a complicated idea can be conveyed into the still shot of one picture. Some of the best memories of your life are caught in a picture and give you endless reminiscing of that moment forever. The Marseilles area was a choice most of us made to live and to raise families. Taking pictures along this journey helps us to capture the life we lead, and to share it with family and friends. Our Community Photo Contest was an event geared at drawing out some of that local hometown flavor through pictures taken in the area. The judging staff at MTCO Communications enjoyed going through all of the photos, but found it difficult to choose their favorites. The randomness of this photo contest made the photo entries very diverse and interesting to judge, but we finally decided on the finalists and overall winner. We thank everybody for their participation and congratulate our Grand Prize Winner in the photo contest. The winner is Ashley Frederick of Marseilles, and she entered the photo titled, Down by the River. Her prize includes $100 worth of gift certificates to local businesses, and her picture is displayed in this February calendar issue. The finalists on the cover of this magazine are displayed at our website www.mtco.com. Look for the link to the Photo Contest in the News Section. Look out for future photo contest we will be having later on this year. In other news, MTCO digimax has introduced a new service plan called Essentials. This service benefits customers in need of basic TV programming, including local networks for only $49.95 a month. Save even more with our double and triple play packages as shown on page 6 in this issue. Also, coming in the very near future on digimax is our very own Marseilles Local Weather channel. This will provide you with current weather statistics along with future weather forecast and radar information. For many years we have always provided Time & Temperature information at (815) 795-6933, where a simple phone call will give you the current time and temp along with a forecast of the weather. We encourage you to get Connected with MTCO and enjoy these benefits only a local company can provide for you! On The Cover: Our First Photo Contest came to an end on January 5, 2012 with the five finalists displayed on the cover. These pictures can also be seen online at our website www.mtco.com. For more information about our services, please visit www.mtco.com or scan this QR code with your smart phone. President & CEO Glenn Rauh MTCO Communications 244 Lincoln Street Marseilles, Illinois 61341 815-795-5161 Wireless Operations Manager Editor - Connected Magazine Bob Becraft Marketing Manager Editor - Connected Magazine Kip DuBois Vice President & CFO Ann Dickerson Connected Magazine is published monthly by MTCO Communications with corporate office located at 244 Lincoln Street, Marseilles, Illinois, 61341. The publication is intended for use of the residents of Marseilles. No article in this issue or any part of this publication may be reproduced without the expressed written permission of the Publisher. For more information about this magazine, or for additional copies, contact Bob Becraft or Kip DuBois at 800-859-6826 or connected@ mtco.com. If you have questions or concerns regarding your services, please contact our Customer Service Representatives at 815-795-5161 or 800-227-5161. Copyright 2012 MTCO Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. MTCO s Eco-Friendly Billing Options 24/7 online access to your account No monthly checks to write. Receive monthly bills via e-mail Set up automatic credit card or bank account payments. View and pay your bill online at your convenience or set up automatic payments. Visit www.mtco.com with your bill in hand and click on view/pay my bill to get started. Questions? Call 815-795-5161 or e-mail marscsr@corp.mtco.com
Entertainment & Technology Quiz Yourself on Phishing You have probably heard the scheme called phishing where identity thieves trick people into providing bits of personal information by claiming to be a business or organization they are not. For example, a phishing scam proliferated several years ago where people received e-mails supposedly from ebay claiming that the user s account was about to be suspended unless they clicked on the provided link and updated credit card information that the genuine ebay already had. Because it is relatively simple to make a website look like a legitimate organization s site, the scam counted on people being tricked into thinking they were actually being contacted by ebay. A few tips to keep in mind to protect yourself is to never click on links within e-mails that ask for your personal information. As mentioned, fraudsters use these links to lure people to phony websites. Additionally, phishers will sometimes direct you to a real company s website but then an unauthorized popup screen created by the scammer will appear asking you to provide your personal information. If you fill it in, your information will go directly to the phisher. Ever wonder how good you are at telling the difference between a legitimate website and one that is a phishing attempt? Visit this OpenDNS link to test yourself and after completing learn useful tips to look for that can help you determine when you may be a target of a phishing attempt (it s defiintley worth the 10-15 minutes to complete and review): http://www. opendns.com/phishing-quiz/ IPTV: From the Sky to Your Home Part Two of a Four Part Series Part One of this series ended with TV content being piped from MTCO s dish farm into the head-end. What is a head-end? Simply, it is a master facility that contains all the equipment to process and send out the television content and make it all work. Within the head-end, many receivers individually pick up a multitude of TV channels from the dish farm and then output these channels as Ethernet frames to an encryption server. This device re-encrypts the channel with MTCO s unique encryption key and streams them back out into the head-end router (explained below). Encryption is the method of scrambling a signal so if the content is viewed with anything other than the approved device (i.e.: an MTCO set top box), it will be unwatchable. Many other devices and servers sit within the head-end that facilitate and maintain the IPTV network. One is the middleware server that communicates with each set top box associated with each TV in a customer s home. This communication validates what channels and features each customer is subscribed to, and provides the data for the onscreen channel guide. All of these devices connect to the master head-end Ethernet router. This router is a greatly advanced version of what you may use for a computer network in your home. The main job of this router is to bring all the channels to one place and keep track of what channels are being watched. Only the channels that are being watched are sent out. This delivery mechanism is commonly referred to as switched digital video, and provides great efficiency for the network that delivers the video to the home. For example, this router will periodically ask each set top box in every customer s home is anyone watching NBC? If none of the set top boxes respond saying yes, then it will stop sending out that channel to improve network utilization. Next month we will look into how this data gets from the head-end to our customer s homes. Keep up with Entertainment and Technology news. Add MTCO to your Facebook and Twitter groups and visit www.mtco.com and click on MTCO News on the right section of the webpage.
29 30 31 1 2 3 4 Marseilles Lion s Club Super Bowl & Casino Night 4pm-10pm 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Marseilles Tourism & Park Committee Meeting 6:30pm City Council Meeting Marseilles City Hall 7:00pm IRACC Board Meeting Marseilles City Hall 5:30pm Marseilles Nursing Service Monthly Clinic 8am - Noon Early Dismissal 11:30am Chamber Cabin Fever Fried Chicken & Pasta Dinner at American Legion 5pm-8pm 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Early Dismissal 2pm 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 PTA Meeting 6:30pm City Council Meeting Marseilles City Hall 7:00pm 8th Grade / Ottawa High School Registration Marseilles & Seneca Alumni Basketball Game Seneca High School 6pm Board of Education Mtg. 7pm 26 27 28 29 1 2 3 Potluck Lunch/Bingo Marseilles Amer. Legion 12pm All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast at American Legion 8am - Noon Early Dismissal 2pm City Council Meeting Marseilles City Hall 7:00pm Community Photo Contest Winner CONGRATULATIONS to Ashley Frederick! She entered the contest with the above picture titled Down by the River. The picture is of her son Dakota playing by Illini State Park on the river. We presented her with the $100 Grand Prize which contained four gift certificates to local businesses in our community.
LOCAL SERVICE. LOCAL SUPPORT. BETTER PRODUCT. SELECT package has 35 more channels than cable s family package! Over 70 HD Channels Non-promotional rates, extensive sports lineup, & more! ESSENTIAL ESSENTIAL ESSENTIAL Triple Play Safety Triple Play Double Play starting at $83/mo* 38 TV channels Internet Voice (500 Free LongDistance Minutes, Calling Feature Package, E911) starting at $75/mo* 38 TV channels Internet Voice Safety Line (E911 & Inbound Calls Only) starting at $65/mo* 38 TV channels Internet upgrade and enjoy MORE channels... SELECT Package: 79 additional channels only $34/mo. more EXPANDED Package: 111 more channels + 41 Music Channels only $44/mo. more TERM PLTV DVR SET TOP BOXES / HD CALL TODAY! Packages include: FREE Install up to 4TV s & 1 computer* FREE Wireless Gateway FREE CallerID on your TV E911 that works when you need it Add UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE for only $5/mo! FREE HD Set Top Box to first TV!* 2 nd & each additional TV: Digital $5/mo HD $10/mo DVR Service to one TV $9/mo Pause live TV, playback & record Whole-Home DVR Service $14/mo Record in 1 room & watch in others with 1 DVR FREE Equipment with DVR & Pause Live TV Service Pause Live TV $3/mo (Pause, rewind, fast-forward Live TV. Cost is per TV.) 1-yr. Agreement ESSENTIAL - 38 Channels C-Span C-Span2 C-Span3 EWTN-Catholic Channel HSN Inspiration ShopNBC TBN TBN Church Channel TBN Enlace USA SELECT - 117 Channels (includes all channels in ESSENTIAL) A&E Network* ABC Family* ABC News Now AMC Animal Planet* BBC America BBC World BET Big Ten Network* Biography Channel* Bravo* Cartoon Network* Chiller Cloo CMT CNBC* CNBC World CNN* CNN Headline News (HLN)* Comcast SportsNet Chicago* Comcast SportsNet Chicago+* EXPANDED - 149 Channels + 41 Music Channels (includes all channels in ESSENTIAL & SELECT) BET Gospel BET J (Centric) Bloomberg Boomerang CMT Pure Country CNNI Cooking Channel DIY DMX 41 Music Channels TBN JCTV (Music Videos) TBN Smile of a Child WBBM 2-CBS* WCIU The U MeToo WCIU TheU FBT WCIU TheU This TV WCIU-TheU Chicago* WCIU TheU MeTV WCPX ION Chicago* WCPX ION Life Comedy Central Crime & Investigation* Discovery Channel* Discovery Fit & Health Disney* Disney XD (Toon Disney)* E!* ESPN* ESPN Classic ESPN U* ESPN2* ESPNNEWS* Food Network* Fox Movie Fox News Channel Fuel TV FX G4* Golf Channel* Hallmark Channel HGTV* Fox Business Fox College Sports Atlantic Fox College Sports Central Fox College Sports Pacific Fox Soccer Channel Great American Country Hallmark Movie IFC LOGO WCPX ION Qubo Weather Channel WFLD 12-FOX* WGN Antenna TV WGN 9-CW* WLS 7-ABC* WLS-ABC Live Well* WMAQ NBC Weather WMAQ NBC5-Universal Sports WMAQ 5-NBC* History Channel* H2 (History International)* Hub Investigation Discovery* Lifetime Movie Network* Lifetime Real Women Lifetime Television* Military Channel Military History MSNBC* MTV MTV2 Mun2 National Geo Wild National Geographic* NBC Sports Network* NFL Network* Nickelodeon Noggin (Nick Jr.) OWN Oxygen* MTV Hits MTV Jams MTV Tr3s MTV U Nick 2 Nicktoons Network Outdoor Channel* PBS Kids Sprout RFD HD Pack ($3/mo.): MGM Smithsonian Universal (HD Set Top Box required for HD Pack) WPWR-My50 WSNS-TELE Inmigrante TV WSNS-Telemundo* WTTW PBS Create WTTW PBS Prime WTTW PBS V-Me WTTW 11-PBS* Planet Green* QVC Science Channel* soapnet Speed* Spike TV Style* Syfy* TBS* TLC* TNT* Travel Channel TruTV* Turner Classic Movies* TV Land USA Network* VH1 Available only in HD: Palladia MTV* HD Theater (Discovery)* Tennis Channel* Sportsman Channel The N (Teen Flick) VH1 Classic VH1 Soul Wealth TV *Available in HD PREMIUM PACKAGES HBO $16/mo. HBO* HBO 2* HBO Comedy* HBO Family HBO Latino HBO Signature HBO Zone* Showtime $13/mo. FLIX ShoNext Sho2* (east/ west) Showtime* (east/west) Showtime Beyond Showtime Extreme Showtime Family (east/west) Showtime Showcase* Showtime Women Movie Channel* (east/west) TMC Extra Starz/Encore $13/mo. Starz* (east/west) Starz Cinema Starz Comedy* Starz Edge* Starz in Black Starz Kids & Family* Encore(east/west) Encore WAM Encore Action Encore Westerns Encore Drama Indieplex Encore Love Retroplex Encore Mystery Movieplex Cinemax $13/mo. @MAX 5StarMAX ActionMAX Cinemax* MoreMAX* OuterMAX ThrillerMAX* WMAX *Channels available in HD Packages include 41 DMX Music Channels! 2Pak Your choice of 2: Showtime, Starz/Encore or Cinemax for $23 HBO+1 HBO + your choice of either Showtime, Starz/Encore or Cinemax for $26 3Pak Showtime, Starz/Encore and Cinemax for $33 HBO+2 HBO + choose two from Showtime, Starz/Encore or Cinemax for $36 Everything Pak HBO, Showtime, Starz/Encore and Cinemax for $46
In Our Community Cabin Fever Fried Chicken & Pasta Dinner Beat the Cabin Fever Blues and come out for some community togetherness at the American Legion Hall on Saturday, February 11, 2012, from 5pm - 8pm. Join us for a Fried Chicken and Ravioli Dinner with homemade coleslaw, bread, dessert and coffee. Cash bar provided by the American Legion. Tickets are $10 a person and can be purchased at the door or in advance through the Illinois River Area Chamber of Commerce and various Chamber businesses and members. Carryouts will be available. The Gold Refinery will also be onsite to buy your gold and/or silver for cash on the spot! Have an old necklace, bracelet, ring or earrings you do not wear anymore? They will buy it on the spot and give you top dollar. You do not need to buy a Dinner ticket to come in and see our Gold Party Hostess. Questions? Just call the Chamber at 815-795-2323. Invention Convention Don t miss the s Invention Convention on Wednesday February 8, 2012, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm in the Multi-Purpose Room at the school. Students will have their inventions on display as judging takes place. I&M Canal Day Join the I&M Canal Alliance for the first I&M Canal Day in Springfield at the Illinois State Capitol on Tuesday, February 21, 2012. I&M Canal Day is an opportunity to meet with elected officials and state agencies to show your support for the I&M Canal. We have reserved the rotunda for presentations and for display tables representing the various organizations within the national heritage corridor. Space is limited. If your organization is interested in reserving a display table complete the I&M Canal Day Response Form at iandmcanal.org and return to the Canal Corridor Association. If you have any questions, please contact Heather Wickens at hwickens@canalcor.org or 815-223-1851. Dance Lessons Get your dancing shoes ready! The Marseilles Recreation Board is putting on a mix of Dance Lessons beginning Wednesday, February 1, 2012. They are one hour lessons running from 6:30pm to 7:30pm every Wednesday in February. The cost is $25.00 per couple and the lessons will be held in the Marseilles Grade School cafeteria entering at door nine. The registration form can be found at Marseilles City Hall. Please submit this form in a sealed envelope to City Hall. For more information call Judy Johnson at 815-795-4227 or visit www.marseillesrecboard.org digimax TV Now Available in Rieufsville Area MTCO Communications recently upgraded one of its rural equipment locations to extend its service area for digimax TV. If you live in the Rieufsville area, give MTCO a call today to ask about TV service along with combining your services for lower cost bundled packages. Enjoy all your favorite channels, the crystal-clear clarity of HD to your first TV and exciting features such as Pause LiveTV and DVR, all backed by MTCO s local service and support. Super Bowl & Casino Night The Marseilles Lion s Club will be hosting a casino night while showing the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 5, 2012 from 4:00pm - 10:00pm at the Marseilles Lion s Club. A tasty dinner menu includes chicken, spaghetti and ravioli for $10 per person. Have fun playing games such as poker, black jack, roulette and Keno. Proceeds to benefit the Marseilles Lion s Club. Send your community news and events to: connected@mtco.com, or mail it to us at 244 Lincoln St., Marseilles, IL 61341, Attn: Connected Magazine.
Live Life to the MAX with LOCAL SERVICE. LOCAL SUPPORT. BETTER PRODUCT. ESSENTIAL triple play starting at $83/mo. FREE Install to one computer* FREE Wireless Gateway* Enjoy a more reliable connection than cable with speeds up to 8M* FREE HD to first TV* FREE Install up to 4 TV s* Pause live TV, playback & record with DVR 500 FREE Long Distance Minutes & Calling Feature Package* FREE CallerID on your TV E911 you can rely on* Won t let you down when power goes out powered by MTCO Communications 244 Lincoln St, Marseilles, IL 61341 815.795.5161 800.227.5161 www.mtco.com *Limited time offer. 1-yr. agreement required for all discounts. Not available in all areas. Monthly rates are standard, non-promotional rates. Free installation up to 4 TV s, $60 per TV after first 4. More complex installs may require additional fees. A high-definition TV is required to view HDTV signals. All free and leased installed MTCO equipment (set top boxes, adapters, etc.) remain property of MTCO and must be returned at cancellation or unreturned equipment fee will apply. Location may determine max number of TV s allowed. Actual speeds may vary. Federal, state and local taxes, governmental regulatory fees and surcharges, if any, are additional. Other charges, conditions, requirements and restrictions may apply. Offer may not be combined with any other offer and is non-transferrable.