2017 Articles

I trust that you understand, dear reader, the number "2017" is this year's date, not the number of new articles that I expect to write this year and post on TecumsehCityBlog!

I have had a lot of fun writing articles in my new website. I have created a whole bunch of them dealing with different subjects including a number of very personal ones about what is happening in my life over the past 2 years. I hope that you have found them interesting and enjoyable to look at and will continue coming here to read what I write.  Again, it is my plan not only to write about issues that have an impact on me and my family but also articles that allow me to comment on matters that are going on in this area. 

If you have anything special that you want me to write about, feel free to email me to make the suggestion that I do so. If it is something that I think that I can handle, then I would be happy to produce such an article. I do have to say though, dear reader, that I might not agree with your position that you set it out for me and I may actually write something that is not the same as yours but that should be okay too.  I certainly would let people know what you proposed even though I may disagree with your point of view.

There are lots of articles that I see on various websites that I like referring to you, dear reader. It gives me the opportunity to let you know about them and to give me the opportunity to express my position on them.  They are interesting to me at least and explains why I post about them.

Here are some that I have seen over the past little while which I wish to discuss and let you know what my position on them is.

SHMUEL FARHI ARTICLE

I thought I would let you know about this article, dear reader, so you could get some information about this gentleman who is investing in our area. Please note his comment about the suggestion that he might be a "relative" of our former Mayor in the article. It is not true based on what he said.

The article is: "Developer Shmuel Farhi Answers Burning Questions About Windsor Investments." It is one written by former Councillor Alan Halberstadt in Biz X Magazine in the January, 2017 edition of the magazine on pages 6 and 7.

I have decided not to comment on it but rather just to let you know that you ought to read it yourself to gain some information about this gentleman and what he is proposing to do in this area. It will also give you an idea about the property that he has purchased so far and why there has not been construction on some of his properties.

TECUMSEH IS A LEADING TOWN

I must admit that until I moved to Tecumseh I really did not know very much about this town. Since living here, obviously I know a lot more about it by reading more news articles about it and seeing additional Council information. Moreover, there are a fair number of important articles about things that happen in this Town that we as residents here should know about and are now being reported in the press.

Here is one that you may appreciate which gives another reason why Tecumseh is so important to people who live in this region. It seems to be far advanced in what it does and Windsor and other Towns ought to be learning about it for their use:

"Fire chief pushing for an emergency online notification system

Windsor's fire chief says an emergency online notification system would keep residents in the know during periods of severe weather." (Colleen MacDonald, CTV Windsor, January 2, 2017)

Clearly, this is important because of the near disasters that we had in the summertime with the horrific storms that we had around here. It is quite important for residents to know what is going on and what should be done.

Here is an important side of that article Tecumseh residents ought to be happy about:

"The cost of the online system would be about $65,000. The report will be discussed during the city's 2017 budget deliberations.

Last year, the town of Tecumseh introduced an alert system that was utilized during the intense storms in September."

Thank goodness that our situation in important matters can be looked after so well.

MNSI'S NEW SERVICES

There is no doubt that MNSI must believe that it has a very competitive position in the "telephone" marketplace for the millions of dollars that it is spending building up its own independent fibre network to be used throughout the area.

Here is what it is doing now that was written quite some time ago. My wife and I adopted this program when we moved out to Tecumseh. Its cost is quite amazing compared with what some big competitors charge:

"In the last four years, MNSi has spent more than $6 million expanding its network of fibre optic cable in Windsor, Tecumseh and LaSalle, he said. That allows it to offer unlimited Internet to the customers it can reach on those lines without the restrictions and additional charges imposed by Bell.

MNSi’s latest salvo has been to enter turf that was once Bell’s alone. A year ago, the local company began offering home phone service bundled with its Internet offering...

MNSi charges $59.95 a month plus tax for high speed Internet and local phone service that includes call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, 911, touch tone and 250 minutes of North American long distance a month." (Ellen van Wageningen, Windsor Star, September 13, 2012)

We are not yet in the area where I live now where we can take advantage of their new fibre product line but there is no doubt that it will come to us relatively soon.

Here is what the article also said about their future in this business:

"It is a long-term strategy that is expected to take years to pay off, Zekelman said."

I am telling you all this, dear reader, because of what was just announced regarding MNSI.  There is no doubt that a lot of money has been spent over the past several years for MNSI to get a strong position in the marketplace. I expect that the MNSI executives now believe that they have a big advantage here based on what they have done to date and want to get new customers now for their fibre system as quickly as possible:

"In pockets of homes throughout Windsor, LaSalle, Tecumseh and Lakeshore, a Windsor telecom company is laying the groundwork for the fastest Internet service available.

MNSi Telecom is spending about $5 million a year installing fibre optic lines locally. It’s in anticipation of Bell and other so-called “incumbents” taking advantage of new CRTC rules allowing them to charge higher fees for the use of their aging network.

“We’re going to own our infrastructure right to the customer,” said Clayton Zekelman, MNSi’s president and owner." (Sarah Sacheli, Windsor Star, January 2, 2017) 

Just as an aside, I saw this line in the newspaper article that I believe is quite important it is one of the huge advantages to me when I have a technical services problem:

"Zekelman prides himself on being a locally-owned and operated company. When customers need technical support, they can call a local number that connects to employees in MNSI’s Tecumseh Road East office, not some call centre overseas."

Over the past few months, especially because of the messes involved with Windows 10, I have called MNSI reps to get their assistance when I have a problem. And I have had some really bad ones!  To be honest, some of the issues that I have had are not necessarily "ISP matters" with which they deal with all the time but involve problems that I have had with the Windows software working properly. In every one of these occasions, an MNSI rep has remained on the phone with me, sometimes for quite long periods of time, to solve each of these problems that I am under because of Microsoft's software. I am most appreciative of that effort of these employees!

There are a number of other stories that I want to report on but I will leave it for another article to be published soon.