Mid-Rivers customers have recently been the target of a series of spam calls. The callers claim to be representatives of the cooperative and state that the customer needs new equipment due to recent upgrades. These scammers are targeting areas that are scheduled to receive fiber services, making their claims seem believable. If you receive a call like this, hang up and call a trusted Mid-Rivers number to verify the caller.

As project areas are released, subscribers will be contacted individually by Mid-Rivers personnel to discuss any changes in services and to schedule an installation date and time. There is no charge for the installation, and the standard backup battery is included with your service subscription. Every customer will be contacted, including telephone-only customers, as landline telephone services will also be moved to the new fiber-optic lines for improved quality and reliability. If you have questions about when you are scheduled to get fiber, please feel free to contact us.

We understand that these spam calls can be frustrating and concerning. Your safety and satisfaction are our top priorities. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Mid-Rivers email customers can look forward to an upgraded experience starting February 25, 2025. This upgrade will feature robust and user-friendly spam filtering, an enhanced custom admin panel, and improved security options. Additionally, this new experience will give users fifteen times more inbox storage with a capacity of 15GB for no additional charge!

Preview of the upgraded webmail interface.

• Email Access: Customers can continue to access email by going to the same link, https://mail.midrivers.com/. Users who have this URL address bookmarked in their browser will not need to change their bookmarks to access the new interface. The “tuxedo” version of webmail will no longer be available after this upgrade.

Please be aware that any custom user settings in the old Webmail platform, such as auto responders, signatures, and blacklists, will not be converted to the new platform. Webmail users who wish to use these custom features will need to set them up again on the new platform starting February 25.

Customers who are accessing Mid-Rivers email via an external email client (such as Outlook or Mail) will not need to make any changes to settings, features, or accounts to continue receiving messages in their chosen email client.

• eScout Spam and Virus Filtering: Keep your inbox safe with our included eScout Spam and Virus Filtering service. eScout Spam and Virus Filtering is a more robust and user-friendly filtering service, allowing users to customize filtering options. Customers can visit eScout Spam and Virus Filtering to view any quarantined messages or mark messages as SPAM.

Customers will receive a regular digest email showing which messages have been flagged and quarantined by the filtering service.  If you find that an email was mistakenly flagged, simply “rescue” the email from quarantine right from the digest email with the click of a button.

Preview of the daily digest email.

• Settings Panel: The new Settings Panel will allow users to customize email accounts with ease. Users can change their password or turn on a read receipts feature. Using the enhanced settings panel, customers will also have the option to improve account security by setting up 2 Factor Authentication (also known as 2FA). Using 2 Factor Authentication is highly recommended to ensure your account is as secure as possible.

If you have questions about this upgraded experience, please call us at 1-800-452-2288 or chat with us using the secure chat feature on our website at www.midrivers.com.

Due to the change to an Unlimited plan, and requests from multiple customers related to privacy concerns, the “Internet Usage Detail” pie chart on printed bills and the “Detail Utilization” information in SmartHub online and the My Mid-Rivers mobile app are going away.

The January 2025 bill will be the first printed bill without the pie chart. The pie chart data will be removed from SmartHub and the mobile app when usage billing closes for this cycle.

You will still see total “Monthly Internet Usage” on your printed bills, and “Accumulated Usage” (which you can view by Monthly or Daily usage) in SmartHub and the app.

With this change, the Message Center will be moved to the front page of the bill as shown in the sample below.

Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc., recently released a payment of capital credits to the Cooperative’s members and patrons, with a capital credit retirement totaling $1,134,545.95. The 2024 retirement includes a portion of the 1996 patronage allocation and portion of the 2023 patronage allocation.

Mid-Rivers accepted a new Universal Service Funding (USF) offer and a new associated build-out obligation in late 2023, providing revenue certainty for the next 15 years and allowing us to cut the timeline nearly in half for the remaining rural fiber build-out.

Mid-Rivers constructed new fiber facilities to over 800 rural locations in the Lambert, Musselshell, North Ryegate, South Roundup, and South Wolf Point areas in 2023. All were locations that previously had poor or no broadband options. Our 2024 construction is well underway in rural Grass Range and Ekalaka, and will kick off in the rural Roy and Lindsay areas later this summer. This year’s construction goal is 800 miles of new fiber at an estimated cost of over $30 Million.

Baker Hosts Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative Annual Meeting & Customer Appreciation Event
Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. members gathered at the Fallon County Fairgrounds in Baker, Montana, on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, for the Mid-Rivers Annual Meeting. Items of business included electing three Cooperative Trustees, informing members of the cooperative’s financial performance and future plans, and awarding scholarships to area students.

The Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Annual Meeting and Customer Appreciation Event will be held on May 29, 2024, at the Fallon County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall in Baker, Montana. Member registration will begin at 10:00 AM, followed by the Business Meeting at 11:00 AM and a free customer appreciation lunch at 12:00 PM. Members in attendance will receive an attendance gift. Drawings for door prizes will be held throughout the meeting.

Mid-Rivers Communications is pleased to announce the award of 76 scholarships to students from the Cooperative’s service area, an increase of 40 scholarships over the original 36 planned. Last fall, the Cooperative announced the availability of 30 Higher Education Scholarships of $2,000 each, and 6 Dawson Community College/Miles Community College Scholarships of $2,500 each. However, following a review of the applicants and funds available for scholarships, the Mid-Rivers Board of Trustees voted to expand the awards to include scholarships for every eligible applicant, and to increase the award amounts to the top applicants in each category.