Last week in Lewistown, Mid-Rivers Communications had the great pleasure of awarding $19,000 in additional scholarships to 19 unique, respectful, and engaged young people at our 2025 Annual Meeting.

Awarding scholarships is always our favorite time of year. Our Chief Brand Officer Staci Knuths hit the road this year to personally congratulate over 100 of the 120 competitive scholarship recipients who received $195,000 in scholarships.

The Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Annual Meeting and Customer Appreciation Event will be held on May 28, 2025, at the Trade Center located at Central Montana Fairgrounds in Lewistown, Montana. Member registration will begin at 10:00 AM, followed by the Business Meeting at 11:00 AM and a free customer appreciation lunch following the meeting around 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 120 scholarships to students from the Cooperative’s service area, an increase of 84 scholarships over the original 36 planned. Last fall, the Cooperative announced the availability of 30 Higher Education Scholarships of $3,000 each, and 6 Dawson Community College/Miles Community College Scholarships of $3,500 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.

Candidates are being sought for the election of Trustees for Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc., which will take place on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Lewistown, MT. All interested candidates must be nominated by petition. Petitions may be obtained by calling 1-800-452-2288, online at www.midrivers.com or by sending an email request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Completed petitions may be returned via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or mailed to Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc., PO Box 280, Circle, MT 59215. Nominations by petition must be received by 5:00 p.m. on March 28, 2025, to be included in the official ballot and have a candidate profile in the Annual Report mailed to all active members. Candidates must be a member of Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc., and maintain residence in the district where the candidate seeks election. The districts up for election are:

• District 1 – Grass Range (428), Lewistown (535, 538) and Roy (464)
• District 2 – Lavina (636), Roundup (323), N. Ryegate (575), Ryegate (568) and Winnett (429)
• District 3 – Custer (856), Jordan (557), Melstone (358), Musselshell (947), and Rock Springs (354)

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.

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.