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Kevin Cales Joins SRT as Director of Sales

Kevin Cales Joins SRT as Director of Sales

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MINOT, N.D. – SRT Communications welcomed Kevin Cales on April 10 as the cooperative’s Director of Sales. Cales brings more than 10 years of experience driving growth, efficiency, and organizational performance across cooperative, retail, and energy operations.

Previously, Cales served as Vice President of Retail Operations for several years, promoted from Director of Ag Home Retail, with United Quality Cooperative in New Town, ND. He led multiple retail centers, sales in lumber, fuel, and ag, and millions of dollars of inventory across the business.

“Kevin has achieved an impressive track record in sales and operations,” said Cassidy Hjelmstad, SRT CEO and General Manager. “More importantly, he understands the cooperative model and will reinforce our commitment to member value by strengthening local relationships and optimizing the product mix we offer. We look forward to Kevin’s insights and leadership as we continue to innovate for our members.”

As Director of Sales, Cales will drive revenue growth, lead sales strategy, and build a high-performance culture while advancing the cooperative’s mission-driven, member-first focus. “I am excited to join SRT at this pivotal moment,” he said. “I look forward to leveraging my experience in the retail industry to accelerate our strategic growth and deliver innovative solutions that drive value for our patrons.”

Cales and his wife live in Minot and have three daughters. In his free time he enjoys biking, fishing, hunting, and hiking.

He succeeds Dan Roberts, who retired after more than 33 years with SRT.

SRT Communications, headquartered in Minot, North Dakota, is the state’s largest telecommunications cooperative and a multi-gig internet provider. Established in 1951, SRT employs roughly 180 people and serves more than 25,000 customers across north-central North Dakota. SRT built a fiber optic broadband network throughout its service area. Services include high-speed internet, phone, and security and surveillance systems for home and business. Learn more at www.srt.com.

5 Effective Tips to Improve Your WiFi

5 Effective Tips to Improve Your WiFi

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Whether you have a house with kids who can’t help but run their WiFi gadgets all at once or if you’re just getting into the smart gadget world yourself, we have compiled a few helpful tips to have a better WiFi experience in your home.

1. Turn Your Modem Off Then Back on Again

As simple as it sounds, sometimes all your WiFi needs is a modem reboot. Like other electronic devices like your smart phone and computer, when a modem is on 24/7 sometimes it just needs a power cycle to get things working properly again. Simply turn off or unplug your modem from the wall outlet, wait 30 seconds to 1 minute, and then plug it back in. Once you see green lights, you’ll know the modem is back up and the WiFi is ready to go! 

2. Hardwire Devices When Possible

Many use the terms WiFi and internet interchangeably, but there is a difference. Internet is the service itself, and WiFi refers to a way of accessing the internet, usually through wireless devices like your cell phone, tablet, or any smart gadgets labeled as “WiFi.” Sometimes certain devices work better when they are hardwired, or rather having a cable run from your modem directly to the device. Some great suggestions for devices that do well when hardwired are gaming consoles like Xbox and Playstation, Smart TVs that stream apps like Netflix and Hulu, or even your computer if you do a lot of gaming or watching videos. Having certain devices hardwired helps eliminate some interference that naturally occurs with WiFi and allows for faster speeds to the hardwired devices.

3. Turn Off Devices When Not in Use

If a device like a computer, smart phone, tablet, or Smart TV are still powered on even when you’re not using them, they can still use up some of your WiFi and bog down your speed in that way. If a device is not being used, it’s best to turn it off. For example, even if a tablet’s screen is locked, it still can use WiFi when backing up to cloud services or performing background activity like automatic updates. Bonus: you may even save some electricity by getting in the habit of turning off Smart TVs and computers when not in use rather than leaving them run in the background, now that’s a win!

4. Request a WiFi Assessment

Have you noticed certain rooms in your home just don’t get the same connection to the WiFi as others, and seem slower? If this is the case, you may be a good candidate for a WiFi Assessment. We offer whole home WiFi as part of your SRT Internet service, which means we want to do our very best to give you good WiFi coverage in your home, which may require additional equipment called access points. Call our customer service at 701-858-1200 to set up a free WiFi Assessment for your home!

5. Still Unsure? Call Our 24/7 Internet Help Desk!

Sometimes you have tried everything, and things just don’t want to cooperate. When in doubt, call our Internet Help Desk. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days week, and 365 days a year and are here for you when your internet is giving you trouble. They can be reached at 701-858-7873, or via online chat at srt.com/chat for your convenience.

We hope these tips and tricks will help you feel like a WiFi expert in no time. As always, feel free to call or chat with us if you have any questions regarding your SRT Internet. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on all things SRT!