Nov 29, 2021 | Medina, Streaming
You already know that Medina Fiber offers fast, reliable fiber internet right to your home. But have you ever wondered If we provide television service, too, including access to live TV, news and sports?
As part of our commitment to deliver the very best internet experience possible, we do not offer TV as a separate service—because we believe you deserve better. With modern streaming services, you can enjoy live television without the need for a separate cable connection or an expensive monthly cable bill.
Instead of charging you more for a service you don’t need, we’ve partnered with MyBundle.tv to make streaming easier and more cost-effective. With Medina Fiber’s fast fiber internet, you can “cut the cord” and get just about any television entertainment you could want, reliably and with excellent quality.
Plus, some streaming applications even replicate your cable TV experience with features like local TV and a channel menu of all your favorite programs. So streaming can provide a familiar TV experience but with a substantially reduced cost compared to bloated cable lineups.
Read on to find out how you can enjoy high-speed internet service, outstanding streaming entertainment, and the best television has to offer, all without a separate cable box, contract, or bill.
1. Optimize Streaming with Ideal Router Placement
If you’re already a Medina Fiber customer, you have fast fiber internet to enable high-quality streaming in your home. But remember that proper router placement is critical to making the most of your high-speed fiber internet service. If the router’s signal is impeded, you could experience the frustrations of buffering, pixilation, service interruption, and fuzzy imagery can happen.
Below are several tips to help you get the most of your router’s signal before switching to stream-only television service.
- Place Router Near the Center of Your Home – People often place their routers in a corner office or some other room off to one side of the house, sometimes because that is where the “computer room” was when the house was first built. This is a modern-day mistake, however, as you are sending too much wireless signal outside of your home where no one can make use of it. Instead, choose a centrally located room that can better reach other areas of the house.
- Minimize Walls and Proximity to Windows – Try to cut down the number of walls intervening between your router and your devices. This is especially true of walls made of materials denser than drywall (which is easier on router signals than harder woods). While glass windows won’t likely interfere with the router signal, you don’t want to send too much signal out into your backyard or the street, so also try to avoid placing them too close to a window.
- Place Routers Up High – Because routers disperse their signal downward, try to mount the router as high as possible. Choose a shelf well off the ground to place the router, or even consider mounting the router high on a centrally located wall in the house.
- Keep the Router Away From Other Electronics – Other electronic devices, especially metal-based electronics, can impede the flow of router signal. Try to place the router away from such interfering devices. If you keep your router in or adjacent to the kitchen, be aware that microwave ovens can be especially problematic. Microwaves release a signal in the same 2.4GHz band that routers use, impacting the router’s ability to reach other streaming devices elsewhere in the home.
2. Purchase a Smart TV or Streaming Device
With your router placement optimized and your high-speed fiber internet installed, now you need to decide which streaming technology you should use—or if it’s time for an upgrade.
There are two main choices: a Smart TV, which has streaming capability already built-in, or an add-on streaming service, which can turn most TVs into a Smart TV. There are pros and cons to each choice, so let’s consider them in turn.
The Smart TV is manufactured to stream just about any streaming service available. You do not need an add-on device. You just need to connect the Smart TV to the internet service in your home. Some Smart TV models can display phenomenal picture quality, like 4k technology. Smart TVs also have features that connect to other devices in your home (i.e., Smart Home technology), which may be an added benefit.
The downside, however, is that all these features come with a higher price tag. So keep that in mind if you’re trying to be budget-conscious when making decisions.
Add-on streaming devices are a more cost-effective option. They can turn almost any television (with an HDMI or USB port) into a Smart TV. They are also portable, so if you travel a lot, it may be a better option for you.
Add-on streaming devices can be very small (some “streaming sticks” are tiny enough to fit in your pocket) or a slightly larger “box.” Amazon Fire Stick, Chromestick, and Roku Sticks are popular models.
Apple TV, on the other hand, is a small box that connects to your TV. If you already use Apple products and Apple’s services, Apple TV may make the most sense for you.
3. Use MyBundle.tv for Free to Find the Best Platforms for You
So now it’s time to learn how you can truly cut the cord and stream TV without a cable connection.
MyBundle.tv is a free application that helps you choose the channels and streaming services you want to watch. From network tv and cable stations to live sports and news channels, there are countless combinations of entertainment to bundle.
MyBundle starts by asking about your viewing habits, including any existing apps and subscriptions you already have, such as Hulu and Netflix. Next, select from dozens of channels to add to your bundle. You can add or subtract as many channels as you’d like and help control your overall cost. Unlike pre-set cable packages, you don’t have to pay for what you don’t want to watch!
Take some time to explore MyBundle.tv and check out the wide range of possibilities and options.
Start Streaming Today
With high-speed fiber internet, optimized router placement, cutting edge streaming device technology, and the guidance of MyBundle.tv, you really can enjoy television without needing a separate service. We’re proud to bring the internet service you need to get the entertainment you want without piling extra charges onto your bill.
Be sure to follow Medina Fiber for more tips on making the most of your high-speed fiber internet experience!
Nov 24, 2021 | Fast Fiber Internet
Virtual interviewing is becoming more and more common in today’s job market. While remote interviewing may be more convenient, the distance and technical difficulties can be awkward, or even jarring, to would-be applicants.
Fortunately there are tips from interviewing experts that prospective job seekers can use to get through—and even nail—a virtual job interview. We share some of their key insights and recommendations below.
The Interview Environment: Organize and Professionalize Your Space
You already know you should “dress for success” and make sure that you look your polished best for an interview. But when you’re interviewing from your home, the interview space and background could be distracting, even off-putting, to potential employers. Take the time to make your space look its best, too.
Clean and Declutter: This seems obvious, but make sure you take the time to de-clutter your surroundings, whether it is your bedroom or home office desk. Show your would-be bosses that you quite literally have it together at home, which will make a better impression of being grounded and composed.
Lighting: Proper lighting is a detail too-often overlooked. Be sure to “light yourself” from the front, and not from the back! The latter can create a rather eerie, even sinister visage. Where possible, aim for “cool light,” which is whiter in color, rather than “warm light,” which is yellower. These seemingly small details help put your best foot forward.
Interviewing Skills and Tips
There are countless tips on interviewing available online, but we share a few below that are particularly relevant to remote interviewing.
Keep Any Notes Short and (Mostly) Out of the Way
Like in any interview, try to not over-rely on notes. It is easy to get flustered and lose your place in notes, so keep them sparse and well-organized. Index cards placed outside the viewing area may be especially helpful, with key information and points printed largely and visible to you, but out of sight from the interviewers.
Keep Eye Contact — And Look Into the Camera, Not at Your “Mirrored Image”
Another common mistake is the awkward “stare” that people make when they forget to look into the camera, and instead watch their own reflected image while using the app. You will look less engaged, and even odd, at least compared to applicants that remembered to look “correctly” at the camera.
Watch Your Speaking Pace
Avoid speaking too quickly, a common giveaway of nervousness. Practice and rehearse answers to likely questions, and actually time how quickly you are speaking.
An Interview is a Conversation
Ultimately, an interview is just another conversation. A back-and-forth discussion makes for a much better interview, so be sure to have researched the job thoroughly and come prepared with questions. Look engaged when the interviewer is speaking by maintaining eye contact (see above about looking into the webcam!) and nodding your head occasionally. Don’t miss an opportunity to add something of value to what the interviewer says.
Get Internet You Can Rely On
One last tip: Make sure you have high-speed internet with fast download and upload speeds that you can rely on for a steady connection throughout your interview. (Adequate upload speeds ensure your video is clear for the interviewer on the other side of the virtual table.)
With internet from Medina Fiber, you can video call without fear of a dropped connection or glitchy experience, so you can tackle your interview with confidence.
Nov 24, 2021 | Fast Fiber Internet
You’ve set up a living will, established an estate plan, divvied up the family heirlooms and even made provision for your dog, but have you created a Digital Will?
Chances are, you haven’t even thought about what happens to all of your digital assets – your online photos, social media sites, email accounts … etc., after you’ve died. However, it’s something you probably should consider.
What is a Digital Will?
Quite simply, a Digital Will is a document of instructions to another person (the Digital Will Executor) on how to allocate and/or dispose of your digital assets. This includes granting the Digital Will Executor access to your digital assets, and setting parameters for controlling who can and cannot access them.
Do I Really Need a Digital Will?
You might, or at least you may be glad you had one (and so will your loved ones). Think about your online presence accumulated over the years – all of the digital assets you have like your online photo albums, music, documents, email accounts, social media accounts, online banking … etc., and that unlike your home and other physical property which can be distributed “the old-fashioned way,” login credentials, tech company privacy policies and the law can often slow down or even prevent easy access and reallocation.
Ask yourself if is it “okay” for tech companies to just delete your digital assets for all time after several years (and often just months) of non-use. Alternatively, ask yourself if you want your online presence to remain online, and even public, forever? Or would you prefer that decisions about these assets will be controlled by someone you trust?
A Digital Will can help resolve these issues in a way you are comfortable with, and facilitate a smooth transition.
What Should I Include in My Digital Will?
Unlike normal wills, you probably don’t need a formal Digital Will drafted by an attorney (although people with more extensive digital presences may want to consider consulting an experienced lawyer).
Below are the basic components and steps of creating a Digital Will:
1. Create an Inventory of Digital Assets
Write a list of every online account you have, from email accounts, to social media sites, to photo-sharing sites. Think broadly, and go back to sites you haven’t used in a while, like, for example, that online blog you created that summer. And don’t forget about sites that have
your credit card or bank account information – especially those that utilize the auto-pay feature!
2. Select and Identify Your Digital Will Executor
It goes without saying, but you should pick someone you trust and who will be discreet – and someone that others are likely to trust after you’re gone, too. Choosing an alternative executor is also a good idea. Be sure to name the person in the Digital Will itself and provide contact information.
3. Develop Detailed Instructions
This is where you need to think hard about who-gets-to-see-what. Perhaps you only want your photo albums from your Facebook page to be accessible – but perhaps viewable only to friends. Perhaps you’ve decided that your Youtube videos from decades ago should never see the light of day. Set your boundaries and write them as specifically as possible.
4. Safely Collect Your Login Credentials and Passwords
Gather all of your login credentials and passwords so your Digital Will Executor can access and control them. Consider a password locker to better secure them in one place.
5. Securely Store Your Digital Will
Once completed, choose a safe place to keep your Digital Will. Perhaps it can be kept with your will and other important documents. You may even want to keep it in a safe deposit box at a bank.
