MHTC will be performing Wireless Maintenance on May 10th from 7am to 8am CST. This maintenance will affect customers connecting to the following towers, Dodgeville, Mineral Point, Hollandale, and Black Oak. During this time your internet connection will be down. We do apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause. If you have any question please feel free to contact us at 800-843-5827.
May statements are now available online. They can be viewed by going to http://www.mhtc.net and clicking Member Services – eBilling.
If you have not received your PIN postcard, you may obtain your pin by contacting our business office.
MHTC would like to remind you that we value our customers’ online security, and we always seek to warn customers about Internet events that may compromise security. “Phishing” attempts are not a new thing, but as more people have come online they are occurring more often.
“Phishing” is the act of sending e-mail to random addresses claiming to represent a legitimate business operating on the Internet in an attempt to trick the user into providing private information (such as passwords, credit card/bank account information, Social Security numbers) to a bogus website or e-mail address operated by fraudsters. These emails usually claim that it is necessary to “update,” “verify,” or “confirm” your customer account information to maintain your account in good standing, often warning of suspension if you do not provide the requested information.
In reality, any information entered on the bogus website is usually captured by criminals for their own fraudulent purposes. The creators of phishing e-mails literally send out millions of these messages worldwide in the hopes that just a few recipients will respond to them and surrender their personal and/or financial information.
Here are some tips and examples to help you recognize, and avoid the damage from, a phishing e-mail:
Example 1:
From: “MHTC Internet Service” <support@mhtc.net>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 6:46 PM
Subject: Dear mhtc.net Account User
Dear mhtc.net Account User,
This message is from your email administrator / maintenance center email account to all users. We are improving our database and e-mail center due to unusual activities identified in our email system. Therefore, we are deleting all e-mail accounts identified to improve and create space for new ones.
You are required to verify your email account via email, confirming their identity. This will prevent your mail account termination during this exercise.
To confirm your email identity, you provide the information requested below:
* Email Address: (……..) (required)
* Password: (……..)( required)
* Date of Birth: (……..) (optional)
* Country or territory: (……..) (optional)
* Important * Please provide all this information completely and correctly otherwise, for security reasons we may have to disable your account temporarily.
Example 2:
From: mhtc support [mailto:update_centre@mygroupuser.com] Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 4:12 AM Subject: Email-Update
We are upgrding our mhtc data base , We are deleting all unused Email to create more space for new users. To prevent your Email from closing you will update below.
Username: Password: Country:
Notice how the phishing experts have cleverly addressed their heading to make it look like the email is coming from MHTC: “MHTC Internet Service” <support@mhtc.net> and “mhtc support”.
One way to identify a phishing attempt is by misspelled words, poor grammar and a return address that doesn’t seem to be valid. However, in the first email example there are no typos and the email is purportedly from support@mhtc.net, making the email appear to be legitimate.
If you receive a phishing email directly into your Inbox, please contact us so that we can take the appropriate steps to block the offending server. If the email shows up in your Spam Center or on your Junk Mail Summary you do not need to take any action, as the email will be deleted automatically by MHTC and will not cause any harm to your computer.
Remember, MHTC will never ask you to reveal any personal information, passwords, account names or numbers, etc. via email since we have all of this information already on file. If you ever accidentally reply to one of these phishing emails please contact us immediately so that we can change your compromised password.
This last example is trying to get the email recipient to click on links in order to get personal information to gain access to their account or infect their computer with a virus.
Example 3: 
Please view the following links if you would like to find out more about phishing or would like to report phishing/spam attempts to the government:
http://www.us-cert.gov/nav/report_phishing.html.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/phishing-symptoms.aspx
Reference:
There is a security issue with older Java versions that can allow a malicious website to gain control of your computer. Firefox has blocked these versions for your protection. This means that if you had previously install Java on your PC or Mac, it may now be disabled due to security issues. Even if you use a different browser other than Firefox, it would be a good idea to update your Java on you PC or Mac. Please go to the link below and update the Java version that you have on your PC. If you have a Mac, click on software update.
April statements are now available online. They can be viewed by going to http://www.mhtc.net and clicking Member Services – eBilling.
If you have not received your PIN postcard, you may obtain your pin by contacting our business office.
March statements are now available online. They can be viewed by going to http://www.mhtc.net and clicking Member Services – eBilling.
If you have not received your PIN postcard, you may obtain your pin by contacting our business office.
Over the past few weeks a new source of interference has emerged in the Dodgeville area that has caused intermittent issues with our Wireless DSL product. We’ve taken steps to minimize the interference and have purchased addition equipment to further address this issue. We will continue to provide updates as they become available from our testing over the next couple of weeks. Thank you for being our customer!
Cable customers across the country continue to be frustrated with the increasing cost to their cable bills each year. MHTC’s increase was driven primarily by the Broadcast stations, more commonly referred to as local stations. We, like all cable companies, would like to change the process and rules that affect the Broadcast station negotiation, but it requires federal law changes. If you would like to help us change this process please see the information below on how you can contact your congressional representatives. Together we can make a difference.
Contact your Representative regarding
Next Generation TV Marketplace Act
Mt Horeb, Blue Mounds Customers
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin
2446 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
http://tammybaldwin.house.gov/contact/email-me.shtml
Senator Ron Johnson
386 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington,DC20510
http://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-the-senator
Please send to his telecommunication staffer also:
Staffer, Scott Parkinson Email: scott_parkinson@ronjohnson.senate.gov
Senator Herb Kohl
330 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
http://www.kohl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Please send to his telecommunication staffer also:
Staffer, Seth Bloom Email: seth_bloom@judiciary-dem.senate.gov
Dodgeville Customers
Congressman Ron Kind
1406 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
https://kindforms.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=146
Senator Ron Johnson
386 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington,DC20510
http://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-the-senator
Please send to his telecommunication staffer also:
Staffer, Scott Parkinson Email: scott_parkinson@ronjohnson.senate.gov
Senator Herb Kohl
330 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
http://www.kohl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Please send to his telecommunication staffer also:
Staffer, Seth Bloom Email: seth_bloom@judiciary-dem.senate.gov
Please concider using this text when writing to your representitives
As a consumer of cable television I am supporting my local cable company MH Telecom dba MHTC and asking you to support U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise’s bill addressing Retransmission Consent regulation. The regulation affecting the charges to cable TV companies and ultimately me the consumer needs to be reviewed and modernized.
I urge you to support the Next Generation TV Marketplace Act to better serve the interests of consumers.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
[CONSUMER NAME]
[CONSUMER TELEPHONE]
(For additional information please contact the American Cable Association at 412.922.8300 – What is Retransmission Consent? http://www.americantelevisionalliance.org/whats-the-issue/ ).
With the holiday shopping season upon us, there are a lot of new gadgets and gizmos that may be on your wish list. With some of the most popular items you may need assistance with setting up things like email or an Internet connection. Should you have any questions about setting up features on your new electronic device, you can refer to MHTC’s Technical Support site by visiting www.mhtc.net and clicking on Support; here you will find answers to all sorts of questions. Visit today to find out how to set up your email or Internet account, which channel your favorite shows are on, or how to use a specific telephone calling feature.
Thank you to everyone who submitted an email about an inspiring teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week last week. Ms. Dangerfield from Mount Horeb High School was chosen as the winner of the contest. The following email was submitted to us by Katherine:
The teacher that inspires me the most is Ms. Dangerfield. Ms. Dangerfield (or Ms. D, as all her students call her) is the choir teacher at Mt. Horeb High School. She’s very nice and understanding to every choir student she has. She teaches two different choirs at the high school, as well as four extracurricular singing groups for students who want more chances to sing, whether they’re in choir or not. She’s very organized and teaches every aspect of singing you will ever know. We sing a large variety of different styles of music, from folk songs to “church” music by famous composers. She has greatly inspired me to work hard in school and go to college for music education. Ms. D is the greatest teacher I’ve ever had.
Ms. Dangerfield is the lucky winner of an MHTC picnic backpack – complete with plates, silverware, cutting board, wine opener, blanket and lots of space for food and drink. Thank you for all the entries and to all our inspiring teachers!
