During the pandemic, we learned to do virtually everything, well, virtually. By far one of the best experiences you can have online is virtual travel to places all over the world that you may not have an opportunity to see in person. Leave the reservations, money and luggage out of the equation. Put your feet up on your sofa in your comfiest clothes with some popcorn, a beverage, and maybe a friend, and transport yourself to exotic locales – without a TSA agent or a speed trap in sight!
According to CVENT, a software solutions and event planning company, “virtual tourism presents you with an immersive experience of an activity, location, or destination through the use of technology. There are tons of different types of virtual tourism offerings, but there’s usually a combination of virtual reality, still images, video, audio, narration, interactivity, and other multimedia formats to provide an experience of a destination that a user cannot get through images or websites alone.”
With Trailblazer Broadband’s high-speed internet, virtually unlimited trips are only a few clicks away! The content is available on the internet just like streaming services for movies and shows. To find your dream designations, simply type “Virtual Travel Destinations” in your browser, you can visit cities, resorts, historical sites, natural wonders, and even museums. Many options are free and all are a fraction of what you would pay to visit in person! You can view the content on a normal computer or even a mobile device, or consider a virtual reality headset for a more immersive experience.
Virtual vacations give you the freedom to explore in most cases because not only can you imagine yourself in the scene, but you can also control what they see of a destination, experiencing 360 degrees of a location. All aspects of a destination can be showcased in high resolution.
When traveling virtually, you aren’t limited by available flights, travel logistics, safety concerns, and whether destinations are open. There’s no need to think about time zones or weather conditions, much less masks, germs or physical limitations.
The other huge benefit is cost. Virtual tourism makes destinations accessible to millions of people who may otherwise not be able to afford to travel to them. Hotels and destinations love highlighting their locations and amenities virtually in the hope that some if not all virtual viewers will want to visit the locale in the “real world” someday. Before making your final decision on where you’d like to actually go, you have the chance to check everything out in advance without safety and health concerns, worrying about whether destinations are open, weather conditions, or time zones. You can enjoy the gorgeous Hawaiian sunset at 3:00 AM in your living room!
This technology is great for showing hotel interiors, artwork, museum exhibits, and anything that can be fully experienced without motion or sound.
Finally, fully immersive VR experiences let you get in on the action by interacting with the environment and discovering more through your actions. This is often a personalized experience focusing on one aspect of the location, like the food scene, music, history, or art. Virtual reality yoga classes, nature walks, stargazing, and bird watching have all become popular ways for a location to show off everything it has to offer.
“A true gift of virtual travel is that we can safely and efficiently access experiences we’ve always wanted to access,” Dennis Watkins, owner of The Magic Parlour in Chicago, said in an article for marthastewart.com. “People separated by oceans can look each other in the eyes and share stories, cultures, and ideas. When I do a show for a single family who logs in from London, Leeds, Norway, or Chicago, I start to see the power of the virtual space … and I think we’re just now starting to understand and leverage that power.”
Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service provided over fiber optic lines. The Town of Estes Park provides information only and does not endorse any of the listed companies, the views they express or the products/services they offer. For more information about internet service, contact Trailblazer Broadband at info@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/
We know the wait for fiber internet installation can be tough. Winter adds to the technical challenges of fiber installation. Frozen ground, shorter days with less sunlight, excessive moisture from melting snow and heavy rains drenching the soil—all of these issues and more can make it exceedingly difficult to bury and install fiber. It’s also a riskier time for our crew of technicians.
While permanent fiber installation may sometimes be delayed during winter and early spring, temporary drops can help deliver the high-speed internet you’ve been waiting for—even if you’ll have to wait for better, safer weather and ground conditions for final installation with buried fiber internet lines.
Below we provide answers to common questions about temporary drops and help explain the installation process so you’ll know what to expect.
What exactly is a temporary drop?
A temporary drop, also referred to as a temp drop, is simply an above-ground fiber internet connection line that provides fiber internet service temporarily to your home until weather and ground conditions are feasible and safe enough to bury the fiber line in the ground.
What kinds of conditions necessitate temp drops?
There are two common reasons why Trailblazer Broadband may not be able to bury the fiber and complete installation during the winter and early spring.
#1: The ground is frozen.
During winter and early spring, the colder temperatures can make the ground too hard to dig and bury fiber or to pull it through frozen conduit. And just because the temperatures warm up for a few days doesn’t necessarily mean the conditions are improved enough to complete the installation. In general, the ground must be fully thawed at least one foot deep, which can take weeks of 60-degree-plus temperatures, depending on the soil’s physical and chemical composition.
#2: The ground is too wet.
The winter and spring can bring heavy precipitation, from heavy snows and snow melts to days of rain. When the soil is over-saturated, it is simply not feasible to install fiber optic lines below ground safely and effectively. Additionally, burying fiber when the ground is too wet can upset lawns, flowerbeds, trees, and other vegetation—not to mention upset your neighbors and their lawns, too!
What are the steps to installing a temporary drop?
After determining that the conditions do not support burying fiber, a temp drop is authorized. Our technicians will then connect the fiber vault near the street that supplies your neighborhood with internet service to your home via a fiber line placed above-ground to your home.
So instead of burying the fiber in the ground, the temp drop keeps the fiber line above the ground and connected to your home, temporarily, until the buried installation can occur when the weather and other conditions improve.
According to Kim Smith, Trailblazer Broadband Customer Experience Manager, “We will make every attempt to run along the best path to bring a temp drop to the location, but please keep in mind that in some cases it is not possible to run temporary line if the fiber run to the home is too long or crosses a drive. We will not leave temp lines across your driveway because driving over it can damage the line.” In some cases, fiber drops cross over neighboring property, but as with other utilities, there is a “right-of-way” that permits this if necessary. Finally, wildlife damage to fiber can also be a concern, so if possible Trailblazer will pull the fiber through conduit that is then laid on the ground for burial at another time.
Is the temp drop line safe?
Yes! While we don’t recommend you handle the line, it is not dangerous. Fiber technology consists of tiny glass strings that transmit light. So unlike live electrical wires, there is no risk of electric shock.
However, we suggest that you do your best to avoid the line while tending to yard work or clearing snow. Although the fiber lines are sturdy, snowplows and other equipment and tools can sometimes harm the line, necessitating more technical support—not to mention the inconvenience of losing internet!
When will my temporary drop be buried?
Temp drops for Trailblazer customers will be addressed and buried as soon as conditions allow. In most cases, the team will need to wait for clear ground and warmer temps to be able to obtain locates and have favorable enough conditions to be able to get the work completed. Since the past winter has been colder than average, we have a number of these to complete later in the spring/summer, so there may be a longer-than-normal wait.
Trailblazer Broadband greatly appreciates your patience as we complete this work and as well as completing the buildout to provide you with fast, reliable fiber internet as efficiently and quickly as possible! As always, feel free to reach out us with any questions or concerns.
Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service provided over fiber optic lines. The Town of Estes Park provides information only and does not endorse any of the listed companies, the views they express or the products/services they offer. For more information about internet
service, contact Trailblazer Broadband at info@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/
Springtime in the Rockies is always full of surprises, which recently included a system-wide power outage for the Estes Park Power and Communications service area during the evening of March 30th. Estes Park Power and Communications line workers worked to restore power quickly and safely in less than three hours. During the outage, a number of questions came into Trailblazer Broadband’s 24-hour customer service line about the impact of a power outage on broadband service, and the Trailblazer team thought it was important to share the answers to those questions publicly.
First, in the event of a power outage such as the one on March 30th, Trailblazer Broadband internet service is available and accessible, thanks to backup resources that power the broadband network combined with redundant fiber paths out of Estes Park. If one fiber path is compromised, another one is instantly and automatically used to reroute internet traffic. If an outage is caused by fiber damage rather than a power interruption, the internet connection may be lost until a repair can be made. In that case, Trailblazer clients can go to www.trailblazerbroadband.com and click on “Status” for updates.
The second part of the connectivity answer depends on the internal workings of your home or office. Assuming your home is still connected to the internet, the next link is your Trailblazer Nokia Gateway modem/router which requires power to operate the same way your TV, monitors, and gaming devices do.
Of course, anything with a charged battery will work – a computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc. For that reason, anyone who depends on the internet for work or school may want to consider investing in an Uninterruptible Power Supply, commonly called a UPS. Basically, a “battery in a box,” a UPS is a backup power supply for your Gateway and other essential devices, which can provide power for periods of time ranging from minutes to hours during a power outage.
If your Gateway has power from a UPS and the batteries are charged on your other devices, those devices can connect to the internet via WiFi or a hard-wired connection during a power outage. Many UPS products have multiple outlets and/or USB ports, much like a power strip, so you can power other essential devices as well as your Gateway modem/router as needed. Costs and capabilities of UPS backups range greatly across a variety of potential purchase options.
For home use, a UPS can keep you from losing your work or forcing a hard shutdown due to a sudden power outage. If the power is out longer than the battery life of the UPS, you have time to properly save your work and shut down your device. It is also necessary to have battery backup if you use a computer-based or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone. Some UPS units protect your equipment from power surges, often absorbing any voltage irregularities without you even realizing it.
When considering a UPS purchase, first determine which devices besides your modem that you may want to power during an outage, keeping in mind that some devices such as TVs take a great deal of power and will drain your UPS more quickly. Some devices may already have battery backups of their own. For example, Medical Device Uninterruptible Power Supply Systems (Medical Device UPS Systems) are designed to provide uninterrupted power precisely for your particular medical device. Most home security systems are programmed to switch to backup battery power during a power outage. In both of those examples, it is important to double-check your system’s unique requirements.
Beyond purchasing a UPS, you may consider other long-term back options such as generators, cellular hotspots (assuming that the cell towers are operational), and heavier-use UPS units for businesses. To be prepared, assess your own situation and what is critical to you, your family and your business in the event of a future outage. As with fire and other weather dangers, it is advisable to have an emergency contingency plan for your technology as well!
Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service provided over fiber optic lines. The Town of Estes Park provides information only and does not endorse any of the listed companies, the views they express or the products/services they offer. For more information about internet service, contact Trailblazer Broadband at info@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/
Trailblazer is pleased to announce that it is partnering with an independent company called MyBundle.tv to provide Trailblazer Broadband clients and Estes Park residents and with a free resource that recommends streaming services and packages based on your own unique TV-watching preferences.
You may already be streaming a few things on Netflix or with your Amazon Prime subscription, but what about Live TV, news, cooking shows, sports? Is it really possible to cut the cable TV cord altogether and stream everything? The answer is YES!
“From the beginning, Trailblazer made the conscious decision not to offer a TV bundle with our internet service because there are so many options out there,” says Kim Smith Trailblazer Customer Experience Manager. “We are not in the TV business, so we knew we would not be able to satisfy the unique preferences of all our internet clients at a competitive price in today’s ever-changing streaming market. That’s why we are letting people know about MyBundle, to make the streaming process easier.”
Here’s how it works.
Get Started With the Find My Bundle Tool
The best place to start on MyBundle is by using the Find My Bundle Tool. At its core, this tool is essentially a “quiz” leading you through simple questions about your existing streaming apps, channels, and services and your content needs and preferences. All it takes is a few minutes to find out how you can cut the cable cord and potentially save hundreds of dollars a year.
Once you’ve finished the quiz and picked the channels you still want to watch, the Find My Bundle Tool quickly configures packages and bundles to meet your needs and presents their price points.
It expedites and simplifies the research process so you won’t miss out on your favorite shows and movie apps or any of the sports and teams you follow. Be sure to check out the Great Value option for even more savings.
Building a bundle with the Find My Bundle Tool lays a strong foundation for all your streaming home entertainment.
Best of all, it is based on your preferences and viewing habits, including what you need for LiveTV and up-to-date news. No more cable packages or lineups with channels you don’t even watch. And with MyBundle’s tools and features, you can see the cost savings over cable with your own eyes.
Discover New Content and Receive Recommendations With a Personalized Streaming Guide
Once the Find MyBundle Tool has created your bundle and saved you money, it’s time to let MyBundle’s technology help you find new shows and movies you’ll love.
By creating your free MyBundle Profile and selecting your existing streaming subscriptions, MyBundle can offer recommendations from any of them, streamlining the search for your next great binge.
MyBundle’s intelligent algorithm searches for content based on your previously entered preferences and viewing habits. Then, it proposes specific shows and movies to fit those preferences, whether the show or film is on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, or Paramount+.
Then, based on your viewing history and recommendations, MyBundle generates and displays a personalized streaming guide unique to you and your tastes. Unfortunately, your cable company and its locked-in channel lineup lack MyBundle’s sophisticated abilities.
Build Watchlists for Movies and Series Across All Your Streaming Apps
Now, it’s time to let MyBundle better organize your content into more efficient, accessible watchlists.
MyBundle lets you create a Watchlist for shows and movies that encompass all of your streaming apps, channels, and services into these universal watchlists. So, rather than switching between apps trying to find a new series or movie that piqued your curiosity, you can see content in your MyBundle Watchlists.
So check out your MyBundle Watchlists and choose what you’re in the mood for on a given night. Maybe it’s a suspenseful police show or a workplace comedy. MyBundle’s Watchlists present all your content across all your streaming apps in simple, well-organized lists so you can get right to watching.
Whether you’re trying to cut the cable cord completely or just adding to your entertainment options, using MyBundle’s tools, you’ll understand how to find the streaming apps and content you’ll actually use and enjoy—and save you money! With Trailblazer Broadband’s high-speed fiber internet, MyBundle can help you cut the cord for good!
MyBundle is independent of Trailblazer Broadband, and using the Find MyBundle tool to get a streaming recommendation is free. Anyone – whether they are a Trailblazer Broadband customer or not – can go to take the Find My Bundle quiz with no obligation.” To learn more about MyBundle and all the great entertainment it has to offer https://mybundle.tv/trailblazerbroadband.
Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service provided over fiber optic lines. For more information, contact Trailblazer Broadband at info@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/.
Whether you love your landline, a.k.a. home phone, or want to say goodbye to it, with high-speed fiber internet you have the speed, bandwidth and reliability to choose from a number of options and likely save money too.
Some people are choosing to use their cell phones or a free internet service such as Skype, FaceTime or Google Hangouts which doesn’t require any additional hardware or setup. You simply use an app on your phone or download the software to your computer, laptop or tablet, and use it for voice and/or video calling.
If you prefer to keep your home phone, VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is a phone technology that allows you to make and receive phone calls using the internet instead of traditional phone lines. It is economical and just as easy to set up as the landline phone service that you have right now. The only difference is it works over the internet instead of a traditional phone line. You probably have already used VoIP before without knowing it, through an app like Skype or Google Voice.
Trailblazer Broadband, Estes Park’s community-owned and operated fiber broadband company, has looked into offering phone service along with internet connectivity. After much research, Trailblazer determined that in light of existing options on the market and our relatively small customer base in Estes Park, it would not be able to offer VoIP phone service at a competitive price to our community.
While Trailblazer doesn’t endorse any specific VoIP phone provider, there are several great options to choose from including Vonage for Home and a provider called Ooma, which is a personal favorite of some associates here at Town Hall and some of our customers because of it’s low cost and ease of use. VoIP phones also provide 911 service, provided they have the internet and electricity to operate. This is easily accomplished in a power outage with battery backup so you don’t lose your phone and 911 service during a power outage. A UPS battery back can be found online or in stores like Best Buy, Walmart, Target, or wherever electronics are sold.
According to a recent AARP article, “At the moment, … Sunnyvale, California-based Ooma appears to be alone in offering something new that addresses reliability in an emergency. For several years, it has delivered very inexpensive VoIP service that competes with the likes of Vonage…In addition to the cost savings, the Ooma Telo 4G automatically gives first responders your home address in a 911 emergency. If you have a power outage, the backup battery will keep the phone running for up to 10 hours.” Read more of what AARP has to say about VoIP service in general and Ooma in particular.
Other advantages of VoIP phone service include:
- Most services work with many existing phones, so you likely won’t need a new phone.
- You will be able to keep your existing phone number or get a new one.
- Set up is pretty simple…You’ll just plug the phone into the back of your Gateway and go.
- Most services come with standard features such as caller ID, call forward, call screening and blocking, etc.
Finally, many people ask about 911 and emergency services since traditionally in an emergency, a good old-fashioned landline phone has been regarded as the most reliable method of communication. However, according to Chief Executive Michael Martin of RapidSOS, which works with thousands of 911 call centers across the U.S., “We are now entering an era where it is actually safer to call 911 from a cellphone because of all of the additional information that you are able to share.” For example, Apple iOS users can choose to share critical health information via the Apple Medical ID feature, a potentially lifesaving function.
As recently as 2004, over 90 percent of households in the U.S. had an operational landline phone, according to data provided by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. In 2020, that figure has plummeted drastically to about 40 percent. As landlines become more expensive and less widely supported, it may be time to think about a change. Learn more about how VoIP works in this helpful Beginner’s Guide.
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