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June 2006

Inside this issue: Digital Business Telephone Plan, Summer Blues, Travel Plans, Citynet Wholesale, Our most important tool – Our People

Digital Business Telephone Plan

Citynet Digital Phone Plan is going strong in the Morgantown to Clarksburg area since the formal introduction just a few weeks ago. Residential and business service is available for anyone currently having a broadband connection to the internet.

"Business customers can really save big on their monthly telephone costs and reduce their accounts payable procedures as everything can now be on one bill. The average business customer will save 40% or more for Citynet’s Business Digital Phone service." said Luther Toney, COO of Citynet’s Retail Division. "Our system gives business owners the control of their phone system that they’ve never enjoyed before. They get the normal features like caller ID, speed dialing, and voice mail. With Citynet they also receive voice mail to the phone and to their email inbox; that way they can hear voice mail messages anywhere they go. Also, we have an automated attendant that will handle incoming calls and direct the caller to the right extension. Our "Rules" feature allows customers to decide where and when the phone rings. This is an important item for a small business owner who is trying to stay in touch and still have a life!" said Toney.

If you are a business owner or operator, it will save you money, time, and effort to learn the Business Digital Phone story from Citynet. Call us at Call 800.903.8906 for all the details. If you prefer, you can sign up online at www.citynet.net and click on the "Sign Up Today" checkerboard.

Remember, with Citynet Digital Phone service you don’t have to buy new phones for most of our features to work for you.

Summer Blues

Well, not for the school kids, but parents have a different set of problems when the kids are home from school for the summer. It is difficult to supervise a child’s usage of the internet when everyone is at home, but more and more frequently both parents are in the work force; making the internet a large concern to many.

To help overcome this situation, Citynet strongly advises parents to educate themselves and their children about the very real dangers lurking on the internet. We’ve all read about child stalkers and smut peddlers. Net Nanny is a great resource to limit youngsters’ ability to visit websites that are deemed out of bounds by parents. Everyone with young children at home needs to have some form of internet site blocking!

What many do not realize is that information sharing is equally dangerous. Children do not understand that they should limit the amount of information that is available about them on the internet. It’s nice to share pictures, birthday’s, and other harmless information with real friends and family, but parents need to take heed to avoid this information from being posted on general chat rooms or meet and greet sites. This can lead to problems for the entire family.

With summer here, we at Citynet wish everyone a very happy and safe summer. Just as a parent would protect their children with sun block…you have to protect them online, too.

Travel Plans?

We can’t let summer get going too strong without suggesting that everyone visit our wonderful and scenic state. West Virginia has a lot to offer anyone looking for a great time at a very reasonable vacation cost. Statistics show that West Virginia is a travel bargain!

Before you plan on heading out anywhere else, why not visit West Virginia first. Citynet hosts a wide variety of West Virginia travel sites, all chocked full of travel information and contact numbers. Here’s a brief listing of our sites:

www.wvonline.com - The master list of all our sites.
www.westvirginia.com - The grand daddy of all West Virginia travel sites.
www.wvlodging.com - Find a B&B, CVB, resort, state or national park, and more.
www.wvwhitewater.com - Find an outfitter, river conditions, Fair/Festival, etc.
www.skiwv.com - Don’t rule out our fine ski resorts. Summer is great too!
www.bicyclewv.com - Tours, packages, trails, book online!
www.wvtrails.com - Trail search and maps. Full trails resource guide.
www.wvgolf.com - Check the links and America’s first golf course.
www.wvsportsmen.com - Fishing and hunting galore.
www.wvcalendar.com - Want to know about it, when and where? We’ve got it!
www.epostcard.com - Send a card from WV to friends and loved ones.


Citynet Wholesale

Teresa Hilligoss and Betty Richardson, both members of the Citynet Wholesale sales team, attended the 55th Annual West Virginia Telecom Association (WVTA) Convention and Trade Show in May. The WVTA proved, as always, to be a hidden gem "telecom family" tradeshow, where the Citynet Wholesale team was further able to develop relationships with key customers, such as Citizen's, Armstrong, Stratuswave and Fibernet.

WVTA is certainly not the typical telecom industry show. Fewer than 50 people attended and the entertainment focused on bingo by the campfire—facts which kept one of our key competitors from attending the show.

However, what many of our competitors don't realize is that Citynet Wholesale met customers like Ron Deitz with Citizen's at this show about 4 years ago. Since then, Citizen’s has grown to be in our top 10 accounts and might prove to hold a big key to future growth for us throughout the state of West Virginia with a deal that could light our entire Virginia network. "Never doubt the power of relationships, networking and building contacts in this industry," Hilligoss said.

Betty Richardson had never attended the WVTA before, but found it to be a goldmine for developing her relationship with Armstrong, one of our newest accounts. Richardson said, "Armstrong has quickly proven to be an untapped resource for new business. After meeting 7 new key contacts at the show, I couldn't believe how much quality time I was able to spend with them for such a minimal cash investment. I never thought being in sales would involve bingo and brisket, but these new relationships will definitely open doors for me to grow this account."

Despite its unique format—and perhaps because of it—WVTA helps Citynet do what it does best—develop relationships and seize the opportunity to solve key customer problems.

Our People

This month, we are featuring two more key employees, one is our Human Resources Director, and one is responsible for our retail sales operation.

William Morgan, Director of Human Resources. Known to all as Spider, Morgan manages Citynet’s employee benefit programs including: health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance and our 100% matching 401K retirement program. He administers our liability insurances and bonding requirements, along with all aspects of Citynet’s Human Relation/Employee Relation areas including hiring, policy procedures and is our representative for all state and federal agencies relating to HR. Spider, a resident of Morgantown and a WVU grad, has over 30 years of executive level HR, sales, and general business operations experience.
william.morgan@citynet.net

Tim Thompson, Vice President - Sales, Retail Operations. Tim has had a wide and varied career spanning over 21 years in the telecommunications industry. He began his career in 1984 with TMC Long Distance and has held many positions in general sales management with AT&T, Adelphia Business Solutions, and Fibernet. Tim is a Marshall University graduate. At Citynet, Tim has responsibility for Citynet’s Retail Division sales in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. Tim is based in Charleston, WV.
tim.thompson@citynet.net