Offering Up to $1000 Credit to Aid Broadband Construction

Allband Offering Aid for Widespread Broadband Access

Allband Communications would like to give every home in our four county corridor of Northeast Michigan high speed, broadband Internet and telephone. Since our inception, our mission has been widespread broadband access. The Internet provides resources that are imperative to our world today. We have information at our fingertips! The power and ability to learn a new skill, work from anywhere and understand what is going on in the world around us.

Without access to this resource, our children suffer with little ability to do homework or online studies. Those on disability have to wait longer to go back to work rather than outputting work remotely from an Internet access. Our adult children move away from home to find jobs.

Although our tireless efforts have brought advanced communications to our rural area, the technological divide still exists.

To continue to work toward our mission of widespread broadband access Allband is offering an aid to construction. Allband will provide a $500 aid to construction credit for a new fiber drop installation to homes located in the Allband Multimedia area. Individuals located in the Cooperative area are eligible for a $1000 aid to construction credit for a new fiber drop installation.

We will provide interested parties with a free estimate! Our estimates are produced at our cost of installation plus the aid to construction credits.

This investment will reap you long-term rewards. We bury our lines, providing stability to the connection with little to no effect from weather and increasing the overall value of your property.

Wall Street Journal: Fast Internet Access Drives Up Home Values

Getting fiber to the home is worth the investment, and we will do everything we can to help you get there.

Free Credit on Next Bill

$50 credit off your next bill when you refer a friend

Customers of Allband Communications enjoy the FASTEST Internet in Northeast Michigan. Speeds of up to 100 mbps download and 50 mbps upload on a state-of-the-art fiber optic network is not the only perk!

Allband Communications provides high speed Internet, local customer service AND referral credits. Talking with neighbors about the benefits of Allband may bring you a $50 credit!

Share the speed, convenience and ease of the FASTEST Internet in Northeast Michigan and receive a $50 credit off your next bill upon referral activation.

This credit will not be available for long, so call for details: 989.369.9999. Not sure if you are in our service area? Click Here. Ready for an application? Click Here.

FCC Warns Consumers “Yes” Phone Scam

The Federal Communications Commission is warning consumers about a new scam that is hooking consumers with just one word: Yes.

According to the FCC, the scam begins as soon as a person answers the phone. A recorded voice or an actual person asks: “Can you hear me?” And the consumer responds, “Yes.”

“The caller then records the consumer’s ‘Yes’ response and thus obtains a voice signature. This signature can later be used by the scammers to pretend to be the consumer and authorize fraudulent charges via telephone,” an FCC news release said.

Officials Warn Consumers About Phone Scam

“According to complaints the FCC has received and public news reports, the fraudulent callers impersonate representatives from organizations that provide a service and may be familiar to the person receiving the call, such as a mortgage lender or utility, to establish a legitimate reason for trying to reach the consumer,” the news release said.

Teresa Thomas, 49, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, said today that she’d received a similar phone call about a month ago.

“The person on the other line sounded like a young woman. She was giggling and she said: ‘Oh, I didn’t expect you to pick up! Can you hear me?'” Thomas said. “Which, of course, if someone asks if you can hear them, I said the logical thing and I said ‘Yes.’ And she proceeded to talk.”

Thomas said she soon realized that the caller was a recording, hung up the call and then blocked the phone number. The next day, she learned of the scam on social media.

The FCC advised consumers to immediately hang up if they receive this type of call. It also said that if consumers had responded “Yes” to a similar call in the past, they should keep an eye on all financial statements for any unauthorized charges.

Thomas said that she’d been checking her credit-card and bank accounts and had reported the incident to the Better Business Bureau.

“I have not seen anything negative happen from that but it’s just good to be aware,” Thomas said.

The FCC also shared the following tips:

1. Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. Let them go to voicemail.

2. If you answer and the caller (often a recording) asks you to hit a button to stop receiving calls, just hang up. Scammers often use these tricks to identify, and then target, live respondents.

3. If you receive a scam call, write down the number and file a complaint with the FCC so we can help identify and take appropriate action to help consumers targeted by illegal callers.

4. Ask your phone service provider if it offers a robocall blocking service. If not, encourage your provider to offer one. You can also visit the FCC’s website for information and resources on available robocall blocking tools to help reduce unwanted calls. Consider registering all of your telephone numbers in the National Do Not Call Registry.

ABC News’ Whitney T. Lloyd and Kelley Robinson contributed to this story.

Workplace automation: Separating fiction from fact

Director, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI); Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

The idea that robots could replace humans in the workplace dates back to science fiction writers a century ago, and it has been a recurring theme in political life for almost as long. Back in 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson created a national commission to examine the impact of automation on the economy and employment. Automation should be viewed as an ally, not an enemy, he said at the time. “If we understand it, if we plan for it, if we apply it well, automation will not be a job destroyer or a family displaced. Instead, it can remove dullness from the work of man and provide him with more than man has ever had before.”

A half century later, technology has advanced at breakneck speed—who back then could have imagined the legions of robots at work today in manufacturing, Amazon’s drone shipments, or the artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms now being used to detect cancers? Machines today increasingly match or outperform human performance in a range of work activities, including ones requiring cognitive capabilities. Yet while the technology has changed, the issues that were such fraught topics 50 years ago have not. Will robots replace humans in the workplace? And if so, how quickly?

In that context, it is important to separate fact from fiction. The McKinsey Global Institute has just published a report on automation and its potential effects on productivity and the global economy, part of ongoing research into the future of work. It is based on an analysis of more than 2,000 workplace activities across 800 occupations, and 46 countries accounting for about 80% of the global economy.

Among our findings is that almost half the activities we pay people about $16 trillion in wages to do in the global economy have the potential to be automated using currently demonstrated technology. The most automatable activities involve data collection, data processing, and physical work in predictable environments like factories, which make up 51% of employment activities and $2.7 trillion of wages in the US and are most prevalent in sectors such as manufacturing, food services, transportation and warehousing, and retail.

But here’s the twist: More jobs will change than will be automated away in the short to medium term. Only a small proportion of all occupations, about 5%, can be automated entirely using these demonstrated technologies over the coming decade, although the proportion is likely to be higher in occupations in middle-skill job categories. But we find that about 30% of the activities in 60% of all occupations could be automated, and that will affect everyone from welders to landscape gardeners, mortgage brokers–and CEOs; we estimate about 25% of their time is currently spent on activities that machines could do, such as analyzing reports and data to inform decisions.

As companies deploy automation, we thus need to think more about mass redeployment rather than unemployment, and also to think about people working alongside machines and the skills that will be needed for the workforce of today and tomorrow—skills that will include a much closer interaction between humans and machines in the workplace. They include capabilities that are inherently human, including managing and developing people, and social and emotional reasoning.

It’s quite instructive to look back at how the economy has continued to prosper—and people have continued to work—since the 1960s, even as the workplace itself has been reshaped by technology. New jobs that could not have been imagined at the time, such as app developers or MRI technicians, have replaced obsolete ones like switchboard operators. That’s a pattern we have seen since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago, when more than 60% of Americans worked on the land; today’s it’s less than 2%. Could things be different this time?

Like President Johnson, we see that automation could make a major contribution to productivity and prosperity. Our research suggests that future automation could raise productivity growth globally by between 0.8% and 1.4% annually—which can make a meaningful contribution to global economic growth and compensate for the demographic headwinds of aging populations, although by itself is not sufficient to meet the aspirations of faster-growing emerging economies such as India or Indonesia.

For companies around the world, automation will also offer the potential to capture substantial value—and not just from labor substitution. The technologies enable higher throughput, enhanced quality, better outcomes, greater safety, and the opportunity to scale up or adopt new business models.

Just because the technical potential to automate a workplace activity exists does not mean that it will happen anytime soon, however. The pace and extent of automation will depend on a range of factors of which technical feasibility is only one—and there are still some important barriers to overcome, including the ability of computers to generate and understand natural language. Other factors include the dynamics of labor supply and demand. If there is no shortage in the labor market of cooks, it may not make business sense to replace them with an expensive machine.

The benefits for business are relatively clear, but for policy makers the issues are more complicated. They should embrace the opportunity for their economies to benefit from the productivity growth potential and put in place policies to encourage investment and market incentives to encourage continued progress and innovation. That includes modernizing regulations to meet the speed of progress. At the same time, they must evolve and innovate policies that help workers and institutions adapt to the impact on employment. This will likely include rethinking education and training, income support and safety nets, as well as transition support for those dislocated. Above all, a focus on the skills needed to thrive in this new era will be paramount, so that automation does indeed remain an ally. Not to be forgotten is the lesson from history that innovation, investment, and growth create demand and jobs that may once have seemed like science fiction.

Allband Partners with Local Anchor Institutions

Resident Churches Receive High Speed Internet

Allband Communications Cooperative is proud to announce the partnership with three local anchors in the community. Beaver Lake Community Church, Calvary Baptist Church and Spratt United Methodist Church in Lachine are now hooked up to the Allband fiber network, providing the organizations with high speed Internet.

The local telephone and Internet provider has been furnishing services to the economically distressed and underserved area for almost 10 years. When founder, John Reigle, learned there was an unassigned area of northeastern Michigan that had no access to telephone and Internet, he developed a purpose to help. Allband’s primary mission is providing 911 and broadband services to residents who do not have options. The miles of fiber provide reliable and life-saving advanced communications in one of the most economically distressed areas of Michigan.

The churches are now equipped with access to one of the most advanced networks in Michigan. Fiber to the home technology provides vastly higher bandwidth and faster connection speeds, meeting increasing future data needs. Fiber is also safe, transmitting data through light and immune to interruption, making it the easiest service to manage for the user. The addition of this tool will allow the churches to provide opportunities to local residents. Access to Internet can potentially encourage new careers, educational advancement, business growth and connectivity throughout the area.

Allband is donating the 100 mbps download speeds Internet to Beaver Lake Community Church, Calvary Baptist Church and Spratt United Methodist Church upon a mutual agreement. The agreement will contribute to Allband’s mission to bridge the digital divide of our rural community and improve the economic development and quality of life of our community.

Allband Communications Supports Senate Bill 399

General Manager Ron Siegel Provides Testimony

The Telecommunications Association of Michigan (TAM), has been active in the efforts to support Senate Bill 399. Senate Bill 399 will help promote broadband investment by limiting the fees and conditions counties impose for right-of-way permits. It will standardize the permit fees that county road commissions charge telecommunications providers for projects in the right-of-way of a county road. Currently fees vary widely across the state.

The telecommunications industry was the only industry group participating a state legislative committee hearing earlier this month. General Manager of Allband Communications Cooperative, Ron Siegel, was part of the testimony, sharing Allband’s experience with the permit fees and conditions during fiber optic network expansion. Ron Siegel applauds the efforts of the state and counties to come together to work through the barriers that prevent investment and widespread telecommunications. The standardization of the county fees will encourage Allband’s continued network growth to provide high speed fiber optic internet and telephone access to more residents throughout Northeastern Michigan.

Allband is committed to working with all levels of governments to work through obstacles preventing broadband investment. Working together to coordinate the expansion of broadband will produce opportunities in our area and provide a gateway to the new age of communication and digital life in our communities.

LIFE WATCH Smart Home Monitoring

Official LIFE WATCH Launch

Have you heard the Life Watch buzz? What is it? How can Life Watch give me security, savings and peace of mind? Why do I need it? What products are available?

LIFE WATCH gives you control to monitor your home at an affordable price. Your home can be digital and accessible from virtually any smart device or Internet connection. A wide range of devices are available to fit specific needs.

How can you use LIFE WATCH in your home?

  • View live feed of your pets at home while you are at work
  • Receive a text of a picture when your front door is unlocked, see who your kids are bringing home after school.
  • Remotely shut your garage door or lock your doors
  • Manage your energy usage and save money
  • Vacation cottage? Detect water leaks and avoid surprise big repair bills
  • Turn on lights when motion is detected
  • Remotely control your thermostat – warm the cottage up before you arrive!
  • Get a notification if your elderly parent open (or don’t open) the medicine cabinet
  • Get a camera feed of the activity at your food plot!
  • Receive a phone call if your elderly family member has fallen down & needs help

Devices include:

  • Smart Digital Door Locks
  • Door/Window Sensors
  • Alert Pendants
  • Smart Thermostat
  • Motion Sensors
  • Water Sensor
  • Siren
  • Quality IP Cameras
  • Much more…

All Life Watch devices speak to each other, allowing you to make rules. For example, when the door unlocks, the light turns on and a picture is taken and emailed. The rules and actions of the devices are all controlled through an App or the Roompad, a 7” tablet. Customers need a high speed Internet connection (from any provider) and a router for the service to work.

With Life Watch home automation and monitoring, there are many opportunities to improve your quality of life and give you peace of mind.

Call our office to learn more: 989-369-9999

Allband’s Anniversary

Prizes to the People

Allband celebrated our 10-year anniversary on Saturday, September 5th at Beaver Lake Park in Lachine, MI with our community members. It was a beautiful day on the lake and we had a great turn-out. Over 300 guests came to commemorate Allband’s 10 years of community-minded business! LIFE WATCH, our new home automation product line, was displayed for individuals to view, including a camera, door sensors, motion sensors, digital door locks and more. Guests were thanked with a delicious pulled pork lunch, provided by Sherry O’Brien’s catering. Can coozies, lunch bags and camo Allband hats were given as door prizes, a small token of our thanks for the continued support.

Toward the end of our event, we pulled names from the raffles for our big prizes. Winners  and prizes included: Elizabeth with a Roku, Ralph with the XBOX ONE, Charlotte with a Roku, Dave with an Ipad Min, Taylor with an Apple TV (pictured), Alayna with an Ipod Touch (pictured), Cheyenne with the Asus Chromebook, Roxy with an Apple TV and Neil with the Remington Hunting Rifle! Giving these electronics away, Allband hopes to continue to spread the benefits and importance of the impact of broadband.

Alayna Roster_Ipod TouchWe are thrilled we had the opportunity to recognized our 10-year mile-marker with so many great individuals. Thank you to everyone who took the time to come celebrate with our team and make our anniversary party a success!

Allband will continue to grow and explore opportunities to live our mission in years to come; develop rural communities with wide spread broadband access, or in other words, a gateway to a new age of communication and digital life.

LIFE WATCH – Coming Soon!

Smart Home Monitoring Solution

We are excited to launch LIFE WATCH, our smart home and business automation solution. The products offer an access control system allowing remote control of the home from anywhere with virtually any smart mobile device or internet connection. LIFE WATCH gives you the ability to keeping on eye on your home when you are away. With LIFE WATCH you can also set and supervise parameters to manage and control your thermostats, locks and lights. Security cameras, sensors and alarms will keep your property safe and keep you informed. LIFE WATCH can help ensure that your family is always safe! Devices including cameras, motion sensors, alarms, lights, locks, garage doors and more.

LIFE WATCH can save you money with a more energy-efficient home by monitoring your consumptions and reducing unnecessary usages. Automated efficiencies save time and money and simplify your life. There is no price for the comfort of peace of mind.