News – Page 2

RS Fiber to Host Service Open House in Brownton

August 21, 2017 By Dave Dicke •

Winthrop, MN – Residents of Brownton are invited to attend a RS Fiber open house event later this month. The open house will provide residents an opportunity to learn more about RS Fiber RS Fiber services.

The event will be held Wednesday, August 30 at the Brownton Community Center from 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm. Area residents are invited to stop in for a free meal catered by Brownton Bar and Grill, and to learn more about RS Fiber.

RS Fiber General manager Toby Brummer said RS Fiber Team members will be in attendance to answer any questions about and assist individuals with signing up for RS Fiber Internet, Video, Phone, and Air services.

Door prizes will be drawn for at the event.

Internet, Video, and Phone services will be available in Brownton in September.

RS Fiber Announces Faster Wireless Broadband Speeds and Expanded Coverage

August 16, 2017 By Dave Dicke •

Winthrop, MN – RS Fiber has announced it will be offering a second level of broadband speed and expanding coverage area of its wireless broadband service, RS Air.

Company officials say a download speed of 50 Mbps will be available to RS Air customers. This is an enhanced option from the 25 Mbps currently offered for the rural broadband service. The 50 Mbps speed is currently available to 90% of the wireless broadband service area.

Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC), the operator for the RS Fiber Network, has served high speed broadband wireless service of 50 Mbps in its own HBC markets for the past year. Following a period of testing in the RS Fiber network, the service became available in August.

HBC President & CEO, Dan Pecarina, states that this speed increase will be of great value customers.

“Our mission at RS Fiber is to bring the best service possible to our customers whether that is Gigabit service from the fiber optic network in town or broadband wireless to the most rural areas of the townships we serve. With more households using more devices, this speed increase option will make it easier for the kids to do their homework at night and for mom and dad to get their online work done too.”

The coverage area of RS Air will also increase with the addition of several new towers. Toby Brummer, RS Fiber General Manager, said that the availability of RS Air service depends on the signal levels received from the tower to the home or business. He said anyone interested in RS Air wireless broadband service should call (800) 628-1754 to schedule a site check to see if RS Air service is available at their location.

RS Fiber Cornerstone Status Rewards Early Subscribers with Lifetime Gigabit Internet

July 6, 2017 By Dave Dicke •

Gaylord, MN – RS Fiber Cooperative (RS Fiber) has announced plans to reward its first customers with a lifetime Gigabit Internet service upgrade as part of a new “Cornerstone Member” program.

Customers can upgrade their current 100 Mbps Internet service to Gigabit speeds with no increase to their monthly bill. The upgraded service will be made available to all RS Fiber residential fiber-optic subscribers through the end of the year in any member community for as long as they remain a continuous RS Fiber customer.

General Manager Toby Brummer said they wanted to thank those RS Fiber customers who supported the high-speed fiber-optic network from the beginning.

“We wanted to do something for those customers who made that early commitment to RS Fiber. We thought they should be recognized in some special way for their loyalty and support of the cooperative. Future Internet applications will likely require higher speeds and this will set our customers up for broadband success for the foreseeable future.”

The network is being constructed and managed for RS Fiber Cooperative by

Hiawatha Broadband Communications, Inc. (HBC). “This Cornerstone program corresponds with a similar implementation done by HBC in our southeast Minnesota communities,” said HBC President and CEO Dan Pecarina.

Phase One construction will be completed later this year with services to be offered in the final four towns of Brownton, Buffalo Lake, Fairfax and Stewart.

About us: RS Fiber Cooperative is a community driven effort to deliver a high-speed fiber-optic connection to Sibley County and portions of Renville, Nicollet, and McLeod Counties. The project will bring fiber-optic Internet, Video, and Phone services to ten cities and seventeen townships. The RS Fiber mission is: “To provide each and every customer with an exceptional service experience that you can only expect to receive from a local business, while providing you with access to the benefits of the most advanced fiber optic network in the US”.

RS Fiber Cooperative Celebrates Two Year Anniversary

June 23, 2017 By Dave Dicke •

Winthrop, MN – RS Fiber Cooperative will celebrate its second anniversary next month.

Nearly a decade’s worth of planning became reality on July 8, 2015 when the first few feet of fiber-optic cable was plowed into the ground giving birth to a state-of-the-art communications network. The RS Fiber network now consists of nearly 200 miles of backbone fiber throughout Renville and Sibley counties connecting six member communities.

The all fiber-optic, active Ethernet Gigabit network is being constructed by Hiawatha Broadband Communications, Inc. (HBC) based in Winona, MN. HBC CEO Dan Pecarina said the project’s success is due in part to the enthusiasm for the venture.

“There were a few naysayers at the beginning who said it would be impossible to build this project, but there was also large group of people who really championed the cause and believed that it could happen. The RS Fiber Cooperative Board of Directors should be very proud of what they have achieved.”

RS Fiber General Manager Toby Brummer said the final stage of Phase One construction is underway.

“This summer we will be finishing the Phase One construction. By the end of the year we will be able to offer services to the communities of Brownton, Buffalo Lake, Fairfax, and Stewart.”

Currently six towns and more than 2,500 homes and businesses have access to Gigabit services from RS Fiber. A total of 4,500 homes and businesses will have Gigabit broadband access once the remaining four communities are connected this fall.

Rural areas are receiving broadband service through RS Fiber Air which delivers high-speed broadband to more than 2,000 customers over a network of towers throughout Renville and Sibley counties.

RS Fiber has local offices in Winthrop and Gaylord.

RS Fiber Cooperative Recognized with Broadband Communities “Cornerstone Award”

May 30, 2017 By Dave Dicke •

Winthrop, MN – RS Fiber Cooperative (RS Fiber) was awarded the Cornerstone Award by the industry publication Broadband Communities last week “for dedication, persistence, and vision in securing the benefits of broadband for their communities.”

The award was accepted on behalf of RS Fiber at the publication’s annual industry Summit held May 1-4 in Dallas, TX, by City of Winthrop Economic Development Director, Mark Erickson.

The Cornerstone Award is presented each year to businesses and organizations with “outstanding accomplishments in the area of delivering telecommunications for the benefit of the end user.”

A committee of broadband industry leaders, analysts, and writers help select winners of the award. In selecting RS Fiber, the committee stated, “RS Fiber overcame more obstacles than anyone should have to overcome to get broadband for the residents of Renville and Sibley Counties. And their efforts are paying off.”

Cornerstone Awards were also presented to the City of Wilson, NC/Greenlight Community Broadband and Valley Electric Association, Pahrump, NV.

RS Fiber currently serves customers in the communities of Gaylord, Gibbon, Green Isle, Lafayette, New Auburn and Winthrop with Internet, Video, and Phone service, including Internet speeds of up to 1 Gbps over a state-of-the-art fiber-optic network. RS Air serves rural residents of Renville and Sibley counties by providing symmetrical broadband speeds up to 25 Mbps.

Phase One construction of the project is expected to be completed this fall with services being extended to the towns of Brownton, Buffalo Lake, Fairfax and Stewart.

Construction to connect final four cities to RS Fiber Network to begin next month

May 18, 2017 By Dave Dicke •

Winthrop, MN – RS Fiber Cooperative (RS Fiber) begin the final stage of its state-of-the-art fiber-optic network next month.

Plans to begin construction to link the cities of Brownton, Buffalo Lake, Fairfax, and Stewart to the RS Fiber network is scheduled to start by the end of June. Those cities will join six others (Gaylord, Gibbon, Green Isle, Lafayette, New Auburn, and Winthrop) who have been connected to the network since the project began in June 2015.

To date, RS Fiber is serving more than 1,100 customers. Customers connected directly to the fiber network are receiving TV, telephone, and Internet services with speeds up to 1 Gbps. Some customers receive services through RS Air which delivers wireless broadband Internet to homes and farms in more than 17 townships over a network of 13 towers. RS Fiber general manager Toby Brummer is expecting to have over 2,000 customers connected to the network and enjoying super-fast gigabit speeds by the end of the year.

“As construction of the network continues, we expect our customer numbers to continue to grow,” said Brummer. “Once we have the final four towns connected to the network, construction can begin on Phase Two of the project which will involve bringing gigabit fiber service to the township members of the RS Fiber Cooperative.”

This new growth for RS Fiber will generate more jobs for the local economy. To date, the project has created ten new local jobs with offices in Winthrop and Gaylord. More jobs are expected to be added throughout the coming year as the network expands.

RS Fiber won’t sell your Personal Information

April 18, 2017 By Sondra Howard •

The FCC passed legislation that allows Internet Service Providers to sell their customers’ web browsing history. This goes against the corporate values of RS Fiber as we are strong proponents of the privacy of our customers. RS Fiber has never sold customer information and does not plan to do so no matter what the legislation allows.

Fall and Spring Sun Outages

February 22, 2017 By Candice Mayberry •

Twice each year, the sun is positioned directly in line with the ground-based satellite dish antennas used to receive TV programming. This positioning causes programming interruptions as the sun’s energy overpowers the C and Ku band signals transmitted by the satellites.

Spring sun outages will begin as early as Saturday, February 25th, and last through Wednesday, March 8th. The length of the signal interruptions will begin at a minute or less, and lengthen to as long as 15 minutes at the peak of the interruptions. The interruption periods will be between the hours of 12 noon and 5PM. Times will vary with the satellite being affected.

When the satellite signal is interrupted by the sun’s energy, Video customers will see a blank colored or black screen on the affected channel(s) on their TV.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and understanding. Thank you for choosing RS Fiber Cooperative as your Video service provider!

RS Fiber Broadband Network Activated in Lafayette and Gibbon

February 3, 2017 By Dave Dicke •

Gaylord, MN- RS Fiber Cooperative (RS Fiber) announces high-speed broadband services are now available in the cities of Gibbon and Lafayette.

Officials with RS Fiber said the high-speed fiber-optic broadband network was recently activated after several weeks of testing the new service.

RS Fiber General Manager Toby Brummer said the company is now ready to serve both residential and business customers in these towns.

“We are extremely happy to be able to bring this state-of-the-art network to the residents and business owners of Gibbon and Lafayette. In addition to high-definition Video and crystal-clear Phone service, customers will have access to the fastest Internet.”

According to Brummer, the RS Fiber network is capable of delivering broadband speeds of up to one Gigabit. Brummer also added that customers will be able to keep their current phone number upon switching services in addition to enjoying Unlimited Local and Long Distance Calling and other home phone options.

“Anyone who would like more information about our services should contact one of our local Customer Care Representatives at 800-628-1754”, Brummer said.

RS Fiber to Host Two Community Events This Week

November 14, 2016 By Dave Dicke •

Gaylord, MN – Residents in Lafayette and Gibbon are invited to attend RS Fiber open house events this week. The open houses will provide residents an opportunity to learn more about RS Fiber services.

The event in Lafayette will be held Tuesday, November 15 at the Lafayette Community 111016-open-house-fb-ad Center, 540 7th Street, Lafayette from 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm. The Gibbon event will be held Wednesday, November 16 at the Gibbon Municipal Building, 985 1st Avenue, Gibbon from 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm.

Area residents are invited to stop in for a free meal, meet the RS Fiber Team, and receive information about RS Fiber Internet, Video, Phone, and Air services.

Door prizes will be drawn for at each event.

Internet, Video, and Phone services will be available in Lafayette and Gibbon by the end of this year.

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