U4 no longer required to update its Indiana Tariff

In recent legislation that State of Indiana recently passed that telephone companies are no longer required to update their tariffs regularly.

U4 Joins the Goshen, Indiana Chamber of Commerce

This last week U4 (UnityComm LLC) joined the Goshen, Indiana Chamber of Commerce. As we have more and more sales and business customers within Goshen, we feel it part of our obligation as a company to join the Chamber.

Chamber membership is great for everyone involved.

Find out more on their web address: www.goshen.org

U4COM continues processing Verizon line split with DSL

U4COM provisioning department is experimenting with its first DSL customer on a U4COM line. The DSL will be provided by Verizon but the local service will be billed by U4. We are hoping for a smooth test on the first line on the 18th of this month. Once we get this tested and confirmed, previous U4COM customers with existing local service with Verizon we will be able to convert.

Package change on some U4COM customers

Today we mailed letters to approximately 300 customers that are on old packages. Due to price increases from Embarq we can no longer offer the packages we were currently offering. Unfortunately we are having the customer choose a new package. This in all cases does not represent price increases, as some customers will choose to lower their package. Customers with questions can be directed to our customer service number on their U4 bill.

Energy Savings Christmas Lights

Over the course of the last 50 years we have been starting to use more energy efficient items. Christmas decorating and lighting has already taken one step toward energy efficiency, its just no one really noticed at the time, because the next stage in lighting was just a cool thing. How many remember the old bulb lighting, the kind that use to be on your grandparents and parents Christmas trees when you were little? Those big little bulbs cost a fortune and were extremely dangerous. These bulbs used approximately 5 WATTS per bulb. Many used at least two strands to light a tree which was around 500 WATTS of power. These bulbs broke very easy and could cause a fire quickly. Around the early 80's Mini Christmas lights were starting to become popular. These were were a huge savings on energy and also if one bulb went out they all didn't go out as in some of the old styles. Each bulb used approximately .5 WATTS. For a normal strand of 100 bulbs this would be equivalent to 50 WATTS. What a savings! 500 to 50 is a big deal, but energy was cheap, and no one cared so much. It was Christmas time and you didn't have to pay the bill till January so it wasn't as big of a deal. Back then you didn't leave your lights plugged in all the time either. These lights ran for approximately 3000 hours. Its where the "You buy new lights every year" feeling comes from. That is roughly 125 days of continuous use. Sound like a lot? Nope!

And now comes the fun part. The new energy efficient LED Christmas lights........ :)

.05 WATTS per bulb.

Yes that's right 500 WATTS to 50 WATTS to 5 WATTS. Now lets put it into cost savings based on .12 per KW like it is in Syracuse, IN. This would be your cost for 1 continuous day of usage and then a continuous month.

500 WATT / $1.44 / $43.20
50 WATT / $0.14 / $4.32
5 WATT / $0.01 / $0.43

This is only based on 100 bulbs, I know most of you have more then 100 Christmas lights on at your house at Christmas time. How many do you have. Its funny to think about but back in high school it was a game to see how many Christmas lights I could get mom and dad to let me put up. Heck energy was really cheap then (I wasn't paying for it). Sorry mom and dad!

So at last count they had 3000 bulbs inside and outside at Christmas time. They are on a cheaper power company of around .10 per kw. They usually keep their lights on for about a month and a half. This is the comparison between regular and LED.

( 3000 Bulbs X .5 Watts X12 hours ) / 1000 = 18KW per day X .10 = $1.80 / Day $54 / Month
( 3000 Bulbs x .05 Watts x 12 hours) / 1000 = 1.8KW per day x .10 = $0.18 /Day $5.40 / Month

So here is the kicker above everything. These new light fixtures last 22 continuous YEARS of operation. 200,000 hours. How about your current set?

Just a thought!

Employees get more monitors

Bill and Jamie both got new monitors over the last couple of weeks. If you ever visit our corporate office, it feels a little like star trek or information overload to some people. Those of you that still use one monitor for everyday work, put in for a purchase request to get another monitor or two, and then make this email self destruct :). Some people just think I am nuts on why I push monitors on my staff to use. There is one simple reason, its productivity. If you use only one monitor, how many times a day do you minimize/maximize? If you really calculated how much time is spent minimizing and maximizing everyday I think you wouldn't believe it.

Information is only as good as it is stored, used, and presented. Within U4 especially, we always have more then one application running at a time, having both applications displayed at the same time is priceless. Recently I sent out a email (that I request yearly) for all staff to submit to me what would help them perform their job more effectively. Almost on everyone's list included in the top place another monitor. I was shocked to say the least, but I aim to please. Going forward on every new workstation we will be converting them into tri monitor stations.

Scott has had a tri monitor station since 2004. I have attached a humorous picture of when you can have to many monitors. Obviously this is a joke, but funny.