Chicomm Blog

If you have a fear of technology, your worst nightmare may be coming to fruition sooner than you may have hoped thanks to the Internet of Things. Although this major up and coming telecommunication advancement raises questions about artificial intelligence, it is expected to improve efficiency across all sectors of business and matters of personal life.

What Is the Internet of Things?

The Internet of Things (IoT) will use wireless networks to connect most devices, particularly those that collect data that can be shared. These items act as sensors, detecting activity that can be transmitted to other devices in the network. For example, your smartphone will communicate with your coffee maker, your car with your smart watch, and even your laptop with your refrigerator. 

Over the past decade, companies from every industry have made advancements in making their organization more eco-friendly, or "green." This push for clean business practices has made great strides recently, and there are even opportunities to be found in the telecommunication market. 

Are Company Cell Phones Necessary?

Using the internet is pretty easy. With younger generations growing up with the internet and older ones adopting the technology, it seems as if everyone understands the basics of using the internet, but in reality, very few know how the internet actually works.

What is Broadband?

Internet service is made accessible by broadband networks. Broadband, in its simplest form, is a high-speed network that allows multiple forms of technologies to transmit their signals. The frequencies are carried over either wired or wireless connections.

With the summer underway, the hospitality industry is booming. School is out of session and vacation time is finally being put to use which is great news for resorts and restaurants. But with this spike in business comes an increase in demand and expectations on the staff. Without the proper communication solutions, slow service could easily turn someone’s vacation or event from something fun and memorable to disappointing and frustrating.

When your business’ success depends on how well you are able to provide a service, you cannot afford to cut corners on communication. Use this guide to learn how these new or updated communication solutions can help your guest have an enjoyable experience.

If you’ve received anything from us lately, or checked out our web site, you may have noticed a slight change with our logo. Instead of just our logo, you now will see that added underneath our logo is the statement, “We create the infrastructure behind mobility.” Why this change? Because we felt those six words pretty much sum up who we are and what we do.  

I write this to all of those Police Chiefs, Fire Chiefs and Public Works Directors as well as the IT departments of all the towns and governments that oversee a budget.

Today’s technologies are merging and what you were individually responsible for ten years ago is not the same today. Your technology requirements are starting to converge with other agencies within your city. Police, Fire, Public Works, Administration and Park Districts are all now sharing the same connectivity paths.

When businesses, communities, or organizations begin looking into improving their connectivity and communication, one of the first solutions they turn to is wireless networking, and for good reason. Wireless networking is essentially when a computer-based network uses wireless data connections for connecting network nodes. It is an effective alternative to traditional wired networks and carries multiple benefits, including:

• Resolving connectivity issues where fiber or copper cannot go
• Eliminating recurring fees charged by phone companies
• Giving you easy access to critical information at the point of work
• Providing reliable network connections that minimize downtime and improve productivity
• Extending your secure network to a wider area of coverage

Over the past decade, both commercial and residential areas have been transforming the ways in which they communicate. For example, did you know that 80% of residential homes have moved away from landline telephone connections? People have been quick to adapt to new innovations in technology in terms of how they communicate at home, but not everyone has been as quick when it comes to businesses. Many organizations still operate through copper phone lines, even though more efficient and capable technologies exist. Communication is the most important thing that a business can do, and by not updating the ways in which they communicate, they can fall behind and end up facing communication issues in the long run.

As businesses are increasingly looking to IT departments to improve productivity and control costs, they are recognizing the many advantages of utilizing high-capacity wireless links to replace fiber or aging copper-based leased lines, both in terms of cost and network performance. Put simply, companies can (and should) use wireless links to provide fiber-like performance at a significant savings in costs as compared to copper leased lines.

Summer is typically a time for travel and being out and about.  These days, when you travel or when you are out you want to be able to access the Internet, whether it's to check-in on something at work, access a television show you've recorded, or post to one of the many social media sites out there.  More and more we find ourselves lacking good coverage, specifically when we are indoors. Looking for a Wi-Fi sign or symbol to see if we can connect safely at the places we go -- hotels, parks, beaches, coffee shops, restaurants, and airports has become part of the norm. Leveraging the hospitality of the venue we are at creates an experience for us the end user. Imagine sitting down for that cup of coffee only to find you have no coverage to check in with your social websites or to check your mail. The next time you go for that coffee, will you return to that location? It is more than the product you buy, it is the experience you have!

By the shear presence of the word in our name, many believe Chicago Communications conducts business only in the Chicago area.  While we are proud to call Chicago our home, and have called it home for over sixty years, many of our business endeavors take us well beyond this great City's limits.  We have customers all across the area and several with locations which extend to the broader reaches of the country.  In these instances, we have been very fortunate to continue our partnership with those customers at their extended locations as well.  This has enabled us to expand our reach to the central and southern portions of Illinois, north into Wisconsin, west toward the Mississippi, although extending as far as Arizona, and east into Indiana, but as far as Ohio.