Affordable Connectivity Program

As of February 7, 2024, the program stopped accepting applications. Consumers enrolled in the ACP will continue to receive their benefit until the program ends. The Affordable Connectivity Program is administered by USAC with oversight from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

ICS is pleased to announce we have been approved by the FCC as a provider for the Affordable Connectivity Program to help lower the cost of broadband services.

What is the Affordable Connectivity Program?
The Affordable Connectivity Program is a federal government benefit program operated by the FCC that helps ensure that households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare and more. The benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households.

Who is eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program?
A household is eligible if at least one member meets one of the criteria below:

• Enrolled in SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance, or Lifeline

• Receives benefits in the free or reduced-price school breakfast or lunch program

• Awarded a Pell Grant during the current award year

• Participates in Tribal-specific programs

• Earns an income at or below 200% of federal poverty guidelines

• Currently resides in federal low income housing

Hackers Exploit Equipment but ICS Users Remain Unaffected

This past week, one of ICS’s major industry service providers experienced a widespread equipment attack though illicit IP traffic. ICS has nearly 40 of these systems deployed all across the country at various communities. We are pleased to say that none of our units were compromised by the recent illicit IP traffic that has affected so many users nationwide.

At ICS, we take equipment security with the utmost importance. All our equipment is secured behind a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to allow us a remote connection to the equipment interface for management purposes. None of our equipment utilize a public facing IP address. We believe that our stringent security measures we have put in place have deterred the recent attacks and left our equipment protected and our users’ service unaffected.

ICS Launches 352 Units in Iowa City

ICS Advanced Technologies is proud to announce the recent completion and Internet launch of 352 units at The Quarters at Iowa City. ICS is delivering 100 Mb, symmetrical Internet speeds over Ethernet to each unit as well as a 64 channel, high definition ICS TV package. 

The Quarters at Iowa City is ICS’s fourth collaboration with The Tailwind Group but is the first rehab to be completed together. The first three Tailwind collaborations were new construction student housing projects but this student housing project was already leased up and had been serving the community for years.

“Rewiring established communities has become a specialty of ICS and when we can completely update a property’s low-voltage infrastructure and do so with no CapEx to the owner, it’s a Win Win!”
-Jason Van Dyke, Vice President, ICS Advanced Technologies

The Quarters community is a resort-style housing community specifically designed with young adults and their budgets in mind. The Quarters community features a fully equipped gym, clubhouse with resort style pool, individual and group study areas, green spaces throughout, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, tanning beds and a game/ lounge area.

The Quarters at Iowa City website can be found at https://www.thequartersiowacity.com/.

ICS Launches Gigabit Internet in Towson, Maryland

ICS has partnered with Gilbane Development Company to launch services in Towson, Maryland. Altus, a 214 unit/ 720-bed upscale, purpose-built student housing community is located near Towson University. 

The project includes 1 Gigabit of symmetrical ICS Internet service over Ethernet as well as a robust Wi-Fi network throughout the community. A custom 64 channel, high definition ICS TV package is available to all bedrooms, common areas and resident community areas.

The Altus community boasts 2 outdoor courtyard, a sky lounge,  fitness center with yoga area, dog park and more. They are currently leased up at 100% occupancy and will be delivering on time for Fall semester at TU. Construction at Altus began in June of 2018.

Altus’s new website can be found at https://www.altusapts.com/.

ICS Will Launch 388 New Units in Ames, Iowa

ICS is happy to announce we will soon be partnering with Hunziker Property Management to launch services at Old Orchard/Creekside Mobile Home Park in Ames, IA. Old Orchard/Creekside is a well-maintained manufactured home park with 388 occupied lots in the neighborhood of Iowa State's College of Veterinary Medicine. 

ICS will be investing one million dollars into the park's infrastructure to deliver 1 Gbps symmetrical Internet service over Ethernet to each resident with a la carte Dish Network television options. Services launch December 31st, 2020 with a three-year ramp-up to deliver services to all residents. 

Old Orchard's website can be found at https://www.amesoldorchard-creekside.com/

August 10, 2020 Storms

What happened?

On August 10, 2020 a rare derecho storm lashed through Iowa bringing winds in excess of 100 miles per hour that caused devastation, property damage, and power outages across the entire state. Due to downed power poles and loss of power to a significant portion of the state, ICS Advanced Technologies services are being affected in multiple areas.

What should I do if my service is down?

If your service is currently down, the most efficient way to communicate is to email our Support Team at support@ics-llc.net. Please include all pertinent information and unit number if you have one and whether or not your building has electricity. Alternatively, you may call the ICS Support Team directly at 515-268-4000, but please note due to increased call volume, hold times may be longer than usual.

What is ICS doing to fix my service?

If your power is currently down, that may affect your ICS communication services. Your ICS service may restore automatically when your power is restored. If you have opened a trouble ticket and your ICS service is restored alongside your power, please let us know so we can take your ticket out of our queue.

If ICS has fiber damage due to down power poles, we are working in conjunction with our upstream circuit providers and power company to restore services as soon as it is safe to do so.

We will continue to trouble shoot as power is restored until all customers are fully operational again. Rest assured we are working tirelessly to restore service to all customers as soon as possible.

We appreciate your patience as we work to get your critical communication services restored as quickly and safely as possible, as allowed by local authorities.

Thank you,

-The ICS Team

ICS Server Upgrade Scheduled

As ICS expands to new cities and supports more customers, we have been working on updates for our server infrastructure to better meet demand and increase stability of our Internet services. We have a planned update to our Internet server infrastructure and software on Tuesday June 9th, 5:00 AM CST to 6:00 AM CST. Internet service will continue to work during this time period. Residents will not be able to register new devices or change their Internet speed during the update.  
 
This update helps us bring better service to you and your customers in a number of ways.  

• Recover servers that support our Internet service faster for disaster events like power outages, fires and floods.  

• Automatically rebuild servers in the unlikely event a server does go offline.

• Automatically scale servers to meet demand. 

To Our Customers

ICS and COVID-19
 
We know your inbox has probably been flooded with emails in response to the COVID-19 pandemic but as a member of the ICS FAMILY, we wanted to let you know how we are keeping you and your residents connected during this challenging and uncertain time. 
 
At ICS, our core value is taking care of our customers and that remains the same today. ICS and its employees are working around the clock to make sure we are delivering the same high speed, quality Internet service you and your residents know and love. 
 
We’re particularly focused on ensuring the 45,000 users on our network stay connected to their families, friends, co-workers, fellow students and communities during this time of crisis. As many companies have transitioned to telework, schools and universities have implemented online learning and medical offices are encouraging telehealth and remote consultations, we want you to know the ICS Network was built to support the increase in online activities.
 
You may have read online or heard on TV all this additional online work will “Break the Internet” and we are here to tell you that we got this! Our network was built to absorb an increase in demand and we have plenty of bandwidth capacity to fulfill your resident’s needs. Here’s a few other ways we are working to meet your resident’s expectations:
                
No Data Caps. Ever.
ICS has never and has no intention of capping data usage or charging for additional use.
 
Symmetrical Speeds
Our upload and download speeds are the same at 99% of our properties. Upload is crucial in this time of remote work and video conferences.
 
24/7 Customer Support
Our local support team is here to help via phone call, text, chat or email. We have temporarily closed our support location for walk-in traffic, but we can still be reached when your residents need us most.
                
If you are facing financial hardships during this time, please reach out to your ICS sales rep and we will work with you to keep you and your communities connected.
 
We are continuing to monitor the situation closely to ensure we continue to deliver the same ICS Internet you trust us to provide. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us. We’re in this together and we’re here for you.
 
The ICS Team

COVID-19 and ICS

We have made the decision to temporarily close our Support Office to the general public until further notice. 

The situation regarding COVID-19 is changing rapidly and we must all do our best to help ease the spread of the virus.  Following recommendations from local authorities on social distancing and limiting public gatherings, we feel this is the best course of action for the safety and wellbeing of our employees and customers.

ICS will still have support staff able to assist with all your Internet and TV needs via phone, text message, email or chat. We will also continue to deploy our field technicians for installations and repairs.   

ICS has made a pledge to do everything we can to keep you connected. We’re monitoring our network closely to ensure we continue to deliver the same high speed, Internet connection you are used to.

The ICS Team

TECHNICAL SUPPORT PHONE: (515) 268-4000

SUPPORT VIA TEXT MESSAGE: (563) 265-2158
MONDAY - SUNDAY 8:00AM - 12:00AM 

SUPPORT VIA EMAIL: SUPPORT@ICS-LLC.NET
MONDAY - SUNDAY 8:00AM - 12:00AM 

TheBlaze is no longer available

Effective December 20, 2019, TheBlaze is no longer available on DISH’s channel lineup. TheBlaze has made the decision to stop broadcasting their channel on all cable and satellite TV providers in the U.S. While TheBlaze will not be available on paid TV providers, they will still be distributing on their standalone streaming service, available on blazetv.com or the BlazeTV App. TheBlaze often offers a 30-day free trial with a cancel anytime policy, and their monthly subscription is $10 per month and billed through TheBlaze. TheBlaze is available on Roku, AppleTV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Google Play Store, and Apple App Store.

Interface Student Housing Conference

Austin, Texas — Join ICS and 1,300 of the industry's top players who are expected to attend and participate in InterFace Student Housing 2019. Student Housing Business magazine and InterFace Conference Group will host the 11th annual InterFace Student Housing conference April 8-10, 2019, at the JW Marriott in Austin, Texas. For details, visit interfaceconferencegroup.com.