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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Mediacom Communications announced this week the availability of Ultra 50 broadband service to homes and businesses in Clearlake, Lakeport and communities throughout Lake County.
Mediacom Ultra 50 is a high-speed Internet service that delivers download speeds of up to 50 mega bits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbps.
Deployment of Ultra 50 is part of Mediacom’s mission to provide the fastest Internet service to homes and businesses in communities of all sizes throughout its service areas.
Ultra 50 utilizes the cable industry’s breakthrough channel bonding technology known as DOCSIS 3.0 that is ideal for bandwidth-intensive applications such as movie downloads or online gaming.
A high-definition (HD) movie (6 gigabytes) can be downloaded in just 16 minutes using Mediacom Ultra 50, as compared to the 4.4 hours it would take to download the same movie using a common 3 Mbps DSL service from a traditional phone company, according to Shawn Swatosh, Mediacom’s senior operations manager for California.
“From the largest cities to the smallest towns, Americans are consuming more bandwidth and demanding a faster Internet,” Swatosh said. “With recent launches, Mediacom Ultra 50 is widely available to ensure that customers throughout Lake County can connect to the fastest Internet speeds.”
Swatosh explained that a variety of consumer applications have rapidly developed and changed how today’s consumers use the Internet. “We watch news and movies online; our use of social networking sites has skyrocketed; we check weather and sports scores online; find recipes; play games; share digital photos with friends and family. The list goes on and on.”
Mediacom was among the earliest cable companies to offer the new-generation broadband service of DOCSIS 3.0, which it makes available to both residential and business customers.
Each Mediacom Ultra 50 customer is equipped with a new, more powerful modem configured for the higher Internet speeds.
“The broadband power of Mediacom Ultra 50 is in greater demand today than even just 12 months ago,” Swatosh said. “It’s because families are using more digital devices that connect to the Internet -- multiple tablets, laptops and smart phones. And also, gaming consoles connect to the Internet to download software and offer ‘live’ interactive games with competitors and friends all over the world. With these dramatic changes in the way we use the Internet, the need for more speed has never been greater. Ultra 50 speed delivers a reliably better experience for the whole family, no matter what they want to use the Internet for.”
In recent months Mediacom installed additional technology in its northern California cable systems to expand the capabilities of its fiber communications network.
Those private capital investments made it possible to broaden the availability of the advanced Ultra 50 Internet service to residential and business areas throughout Lake County.
Mediacom Communications is the nation's eighth largest cable television company and one of the leading cable operators focused on serving the smaller cities in the United States, with a significant concentration in the Midwestern and Southeastern regions.
Mediacom Communications offers a wide array of broadband products and services, including traditional and advanced video services such as digital television, video-on-demand, digital video recorders, high-definition television, as well as high-speed Internet access and phone service.
Through Mediacom Business, the company offers affordable broadband communications solutions that can be tailored to any size business.
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SAN FRANCISCO– Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported that its 2011 solicitation for new supplies of renewable energy brought in more than 300 offers, a new record for the utility.
PG&E’s energy procurement staff are reviewing them closely to determine the most viable and cost-effective projects to meet customers’ long-term clean-energy needs.
“The highly competitive proposals we received offer affordable power to help us achieve the state’s renewable energy targets,” said Fong Wan, senior vice president for energy procurement at PG&E. “The tremendous response to our request reflects the robust supplies being offered by the renewable energy industry, which California has fostered through its aggressive state mandates.”
Since 2002, PG&E has signed more than 110 contracts for about 10,000 megawatts of renewable power.
PG&E now expects to be able to meet California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard, which requires all retail sellers of electricity to deliver 33 percent of their electricity by 2020 from eligible renewable resources like wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and small hydroelectric. The utility is on track to reach 20 percent this year.
Along with large hydro and nuclear power, PG&E now typically gets more than half of its electricity from sources that are essentially carbon-free, making it one of the cleanest utilities in the nation.
Once PG&E determines which of the new offers best suit its customers’ needs for clean energy, it will engage selected developers in negotiations, with the goal of submitting executed contracts to the California Public Utilities Commission by mid-year for review.
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SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang on Friday released his monthly report covering California's cash balance, receipts and disbursements in January, showing monthly revenues came in $528 million below the latest projections contained in the Governor's proposed 2012-13 Budget.
When compared against the 2011-12 Budget Act, January revenues were $1.2 billion below estimates.
"January revenues were disappointing on almost every front," said Chiang. "Thankfully the decisive actions taken recently by the State to stabilize its cash flow will ensure that California can pay its bills through the end of the fiscal year."
The Controller's Office had warned the governor and Legislature that general fund cash could dip below the minimum safety level of $2.5 billion on February 29, and slip into the red in March.
To address this potential cash problem, the Controller's Office worked with the Department of Finance and the Treasurer's Office to develop a series of short-term cash solutions to get the State though what is expected to be a seven-week cash shortfall.
They include additional external borrowing through the Treasurer's Office, a small number of delayed payments, and temporary borrowing from the University of California and California State University systems.
The state also has access to an additional $865 million of internal borrowable funds, due to recent legislation (SB 95) signed by the Governor last week.
To offer a complete view of the State's finances, the report issued today by the State Controller compares actual revenues and disbursements to figures from 2011, estimates from the 2011-12 Budget Act, and the latest projections found in the Governor’s proposed 2012-13 budget.
When compared to the Governor’s 2012-13 budget, personal income taxes in January were down $525 million (-5.5 percent), and corporate taxes also dropped by $128 million (-48.8 percent).
January sales tax totals came in above estimates by $42.8 million (5.6 percent).
The state ended last fiscal year with a cash deficit of $8.2 billion. The combined current-year cash deficit stands at $21 billion.
Those deficits are being covered with $15.6 billion of internal borrowing (temporary loans from special funds) and $5.4 billion of external borrowing.
For more details, read January 2012's financial statement at http://sco.ca.gov/ard_state_cash_fy1112.html.
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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Lake County Websites & Computer Repair is offering a computer workshop on Saturday, Feb. 25.
The workshop will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 15642 Armstrong St. in Middletown in the Jazzercise Center (two blocks behind the post office).
The workshop has a $10 admission to cover costs.
The workshop features hands-on learning using Microsoft Windows and will focus on how to clean up, upgrade and maintain your PC to make it run more efficiently.
The presenter, Mark Rudiger, is the owner of Lake County Websites and has more than 18 years of experience installing, troubleshooting and working with computers.
If you have questions about getting rid of junk files and programs that slow your computer down, ways to remove viruses and how to avoid them, upgrading your RAM and improving the overall system of your Microsoft Windows computer, you will get answers at this workshop.
If you have a laptop, bring it along and connect to the high-speed Internet. If you don’t, you will still get all the same information as Rudiger’s laptop screen will be projected on a 70-inch screen so you can follow along.
Go to www.facebook.com/LCSMGroup to register for this and other upcoming workshops. If you have a Facebook account, “Like” the page and you will get updated information on future workshops.
For more information or to reserve a spot, call Mark Rudiger at 707-987-1923 or email