Everyone is excited about our WiFi … are you wireless yet?

A monthly newsletter for BELD & BELD Broadband customers, published February 2014

How many portable devices did you get this past season? Have you connected them wirelessly yet? Not sure where to start with a wireless connection? Don’t know what “WiFi” means? What’s a home network anyway and why would you need one? Let us answer all your questions and do the installation work for you.

If you have more than one computer or want to link all your wireless devices get BELD Broad-band wireless networking for just $3.95 a month! A BELD Broadband wireless router will allow everyone in your home to share a single High-Speed Internet connection.

Do the easy install yourself or, if you pre-fer, we’ll have a friendly BELD Broadband tech install the service for you.

With HomeNet WiFi, BELD Broadband will supply, install and maintain our equip-ment. We’re always in your neighbor-hood, so just call us at 781.348. BELD (2353) to connect to your new BELD Broadband wireless network today!

Don’t forget you can access our new BELD Broadband watchTVeverywhere (WTVE) service over BELD’s HomeNet WiFi on any of your portable devices. WTVE streams some of your favorite programming to your internet connected devices. It’s avail-able anywhere you can receive an Internet signal: inside your primary residence, at your vacation home, in hotels, in shop-ping malls and airports, etc. WTVE is an additional benefit provided to all BELD Broadband cable subscribers. The best part about TV Everywhere is … it’s FREE!

WTVE allows you to access additional pro-gramming at any time from ourcable TV networks—both previouslyaired episodes and live programming will be available, depending on the network.

“We are excited to bring our customers NBCUniversal’s 1,500+ hours of unprece-dented multiplatform coverage of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics,” said Jack Orpen, BELD Broadband Division Manager. “Access via BELD Broadband’s watchTVeverywhere, and High-speed Internet services maxi-mizes the NBCUniversal Olympic viewing experience for our subscribers.”

The XXII Olympic Winter Games from Sochi, Rus-sia, will commence on Thursday, Feb. 6, and run through Sunday, Feb. 23. Check our Facebook page (facebook.com/BELDFB) for

updates on all our WTVE programming.

Important reminder

We’ll cease print produc-tion of Bright Ideas—the monthly newsletter for BELD and BELD Broad-band customers you’re

reading now—with next month’s issue. You’ll still

find it on our website along with lots of other information. Visit beld.

com now to check it out!

Go paperless Sign up for paperless billing

or autopay and we’ll send you a $5 gift card to a local merchant. Sign up for both

electric and broadband billing and we’ll send you a $10 gift card! More than 25% percent

of BELD customers have signed up to receive their electric and/or broadband

online bills at beld.com. Just click “Manage My Account” to

get started today.

BELD Broadband watchTVeverywhere

Braintree Electric Light Department & BELD Broadband...your hometown electric and broadband department

GO U.S.A!

www.beld.com150 Potter Road

Braintree, MA 02184781.348.BELD (2353)

PAYMENT OPTIONSwww.beld.com

Click on “Manage My Account” to pay your electric and broadband accounts with a single payment,

using a single login. Pay by credit card or eCheck

PAYMENT LOCATIONS150 Potter Road

Our office is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through

Friday. Customer Service is openuntil 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Drop BoxesTop of Potter RoadBeside Town Hall

Braintree Cooperative Bank1010 Washington St.372 Washington St.505 Quincy Avenue

BROADBAND HELP DESKMon-Fri: 8 a.m.-8 p.m.Sat-Sun: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

COMMISSION MEETINGSPublic meetings are usually

held monthly. Call 781.348.2353 or check www.beld.comto confirm time and date.

Bright Ideas is printed on 30%post-consumer recycled paper

Follow us

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARDBraintree Women’s ClubSun. 3/20, 12 noon, “Strut into Spring” show at Lombardo’s with fashions from Caryn’s Corner. $35 ticket includes lunch, with a raffle. For info or tickets, call Rose at 781.848.0278.

Braintree Recycling Bulk items are furniture, box springs and mat-tress (considered 1 piece), cut-up carpeting and wood. The items may be placed curbside without calling Sunrise Scavenger. 1-2 pieces of furniture are allowed per week. Carpet and/or wood must be cut into 3-4 ft. lengths, bundled and tied, with a limit of 3 bundles per week.

3rd Annual St. Patrick’s Cure for CancerSat. 3/15, 7-9 p.m., Concert w/Irish step danc-ing, comedians and musicians (Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute Fundraiser). For tickets and info contact Elizabeth Young 781.413.4568 or at elizabeth@youngsings.com

Braintree AARP Chapter #4042Tue. 2/18, 1:30 p.m., D.A.V. Hall on Liberty Street. A tribute to Neil Diamond by Solo Sound Entertainment. New members & guests welcome, for info, Al or Mildred Wilson 781.843.8885.

Baby, it’s cold outside!Winter storms can bring unexpected power outages—but there are some things you can do to be preparedBELD works hard to quickly repair system damage but read on to find out what you can do to prepare your household for potential storm outages.

Have a power outage kit on hand that in-cludes a flashlight and plenty of fresh bat-teries, a battery-powered radio, a wind-up clock, and a manual can opener. Avoid candles, oil lamps, or anything with an open flame. Stock up on canned and dried food, and store fresh water if you have an electric pump. Keep available a traditional corded telephone or cell phone (cordless phones will not work if power is lost), and make sure your cell is charged before the storm hits.

If someone in your household relies on electrically operated life support equip-ment, we strongly recommend emer-gency backup power. This might be a battery-operated system, an uninterrupt-ible power supply, or a generator.

If used incorrectly, generators can pose a serious hazard to the user and the crews attempting to restore power. Never plug them into your home circuitry—plug appliances and fixtures directly into the outlets of the generators outdoors, never inside a home or garage.

If you lose power, first make sure the problem is not due to a blown fuse or

tripped circuit breaker in your home. One quick way to do this is to see if your neigh-bors have power. If you can see actual storm damage impacting wires near your home—in addition to the loss of power—report that immediately by calling us at 781.348.BELD (2353). This will help BELD pinpoint the source of the outage.

Turn off electrical appliances that were on before the outage and will turn on automatically when power returns. (Leave a light switch on to let you know when service is restored.) Unplug sensitive appli-ances such as DVD/Blu-ray players, TVs, computers, stereos, and microwaves— temporary power surges can damage microprocessors inside your electronic equipment. BELD recommends using plug-in surge protectors.

Taking preventive action is your best de-fense against having to deal with extreme cold weather conditions. By preparing your home for winter emergen-cies during times of extremely cold weather, you can reduce the risk of weather-related problems.

Braintree Electric Light Department & BELD Broadband...your hometown electric and broadband department

Thomas Reynolds Chairman

Anthony AgnittiVice Chair

James Regan SecretaryC

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HOLIDAY CLOSINGSPresidents Day, February 17