Author Archives: Alana

Friends and Neighbors Promo

Psst neighbor have I got a deal for you; two kittens and a laptop

Share the local internet love with our Friends and Neighbors promotion! If you live in a Cruzio Certified Building, refer Cruzio Internet to one of your neighbors and get $100 off your internet bill. Let your buddies know about how much you love fast, affordable, independent, and local internet. Save them from the clutches of big corporate telecoms!

When your neighbor signs up, have them use promo code ‘REFER’ plus your account number.

Your entry will look like this:
REFER – 00000
(CODE – ACCT#)

If you need to look up your account number, you can find it on the online portal, on your monthly bill, or give us call.

Once your neighbor has been connected for 3 months, we’ll apply the $100 credit to your account. Easy! And don’t worry, we’ll make sure your buddies are part of the deal too. They can thank you for a free installation and setup!

Now get out there and recommend some local internet to your friends and family!

Send your neighbor to:

Button; Link to faster.cruzio.com


Terms and Conditions: $100 credit is applied after the third month of the referred customer’s new service. Not good with other deals and promotions. No cash value; account credit only. Promo start date 4/1/2023; only signups after this start date are eligible for this promotion. New Wireless Pro and Fiber Pro signups only. Promo end date 7/31/2023. There is no limit to the number of people a customer can refer – please, refer away!

Cruzio Newsletter #213

Cruzio Newsletter, Number 213, November 14, 2022


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Cruzio Newsletter #212

Cruzio Newsletter, Number 212, July 28th, 2022


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Equal Access & Pajaro Valley Shelter Services

Maria Sotelo’s daughters pictured here: Left: Yuriana 8th grade; Right: Jacqueline 12th grade. Jacqueline is planning to attend Cabrillo College after high school graduation to become a dental hygienist. “Ever since the pandemic hit, my daughters have been asked to do most of their schoolwork on their computers. Having internet access has made it so convenient for my kids to complete their homework at home.” -Maria Sotelo.

In January of this year, Cruzio Internet and Pajaro Valley Shelter Services (PVSS) partnered to bring internet connections to local families transitioning out of homelessness. This is the latest community partnership and infrastructure project funded by Equal Access Santa Cruz County, an initiative to close the digital divide in our region.

Pajaro Valley Shelter Services is a non-profit with a mission to help families experiencing homelessness transition into self-sufficiency and stable housing. At any given time, PVSS has up to 130 individuals – children and adults – residing in its shelter and housing programs and serves over 215 individuals annually. Homelessness is an issue pervasive in Santa Cruz County. As of the last count in 2019, there were over 2,000 estimated homeless individuals in the County, and that number has only seemed to increase since then. The pandemic was of no help. PVSS reports that the pandemic disproportionately impacted the predominantly Latinx, extremely low-income families that PVSS serves. In April 2020, a month into the pandemic, 57% of PVSS families lost their employment due to shutdowns and business slowdowns.

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An Exciting Year at Cruzio in 2021

Happy New Year from Cruzio! We’re so optimistic for this next year and have so much exciting news to share with you. But first, a recap of 2021:

2021 garners some mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was a huge improvement from the absolute panic that was 2020, but it was also a year-long period of limbo and uncertainty. This year, we’re still waiting to see how the latest variant plays out with some skeptical optimism for the worst to be over soon. While last year might not have brought the peace of mind we’d hoped for, it did bring unimaginable progress that will carry us through this year.

We kept coworking going
Coworking is one among many industries to take a hard hit during the pandemic. We have such a beautiful space and community here at Cruzioworks and it was necessary but challenging to witness that put on indefinite hold during the height of the pandemic. It’s a rocky road before we’re back in full swing but in the meantime, we’re here for our members and looking forward to growing our community in 2022. A number of dedicated Cruzioworks members and our stellar Works team kept the coworking spirit alive. We owe a special thanks to our team at the Front Desk, Alex, Carlos, and Pily, for keeping all the plates spinning and keeping up with complicated, ever-changing mandates and guidelines. It’s a huge job being responsible for keeping everyone safe while maintaining an accommodating workspace, and this team really did an incredible job at balancing all of that!

Cruzio Internet headquarters

We grew our local and independent network and continued to push for Equal Access
We’re always growing our network and expanding to reach more residents and businesses in Santa Cruz County. This year was one of our biggest years for expansion yet. We’ve increased our overall coverage with 38 new points of network distribution and over 700 new wireless and fiber connections. We made considerable progress in covering more of Scotts Valley – a particularly tricky area to serve with so many trees and mountains. We also brought infrastructure to Watsonville and brought on more customers in the Parajo and Watsonville areas this year than ever before in the history of our network.

Another part of our work that has added importance in the pandemic is the Equal Access Santa Cruz initiative, a partnership between Cruzio, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, the County Office of Education, school districts and multiple local organizations. Equal Access kicked off in 2020 at the height of the pandemic when students schooled exclusively from home, leaving many families to burden a compounding crisis between the pandemic, and their children’s education.

This year, Equal Access Santa Cruz raised almost $2,000,000 and we’ve been able to build out new infrastructure to reach an additional 2,000 students who are now eligible for internet access. The funding from community donations, business partnerships, and government awarded grant money made it possible to bring internet to those most in need and in areas long neglected for necessary broadband infrastructure upgrades.

Thanks to Equal Access Santa Cruz, we grew our coverage in Watsonville by over 30% in areas that hadn’t previously had adequate infrastructure.

We brought internet to Buena Vista and Tierra Alta labor housing
Our biggest project this year through Equal Access Santa Cruz was at the Buena Vista and Tierra Alta labor housing in Pajaro Valley in March. The complex has 143 units and houses about 150 of students who previously had no reliable or affordable connection to the internet even as they tried to school throughout the pandemic. Thanks to Equal Access funding, our partnership with the school districts and housing authority, and our infrastructure planning, we were able to connect the entire complex with direct lines to each unit in record time. We dedicated two of our teams to be out there every day for the month of March so that when families returned to the camp in April, their children would be able to participate in their classes. It was a huge success that has become a blueprint for our projects moving forward, as well as one that we are sharing with other small ISPs looking to make a difference in their communities.

We brought internet to Farm Discovery
In April we brought internet to Farm Discovery at Live Earth Farm, also located in Parajo Valley. This was a smaller build but no build is too small to need internet service, especially if you’re a remote community in the Pajaro Valley hills. Bringing internet to Farm Discovery meant they could continue their schooling program which helped working parents find a safe space to leave their kids during the day where they could participate in school. Thanks to a donation from Driscolls, we hooked up the Farm as well as used it as a crucial distribution point for the small community surrounding it which previously had only limited and expensive options available for broadband.

We’re excited about what Equal Access has in store for 2022 and we think you’ll be too
Equal access Santa Cruz will be bringing better internet to the Live Oak area in the first half of this year. We’re working with the school districts to grow our coverage in the area, which, despite being in-town and densely populated, doesn’t have many reliable and affordable options. Additionally, this is an area that stands out to us because there are many low-income families in the school district who are the most vulnerable to internet access inequity. Our initial plans aim to add 4 new sites with 400-800 available new connections.

Equal Access is also growing beyond Santa Cruz and we’ve taken the model to Monterey County. Cruzio Internet has been awarded a grant to build infrastructure to the San Jerardo housing co-op in Salinas. Once complete, this project will bring internet directly to the units of 250 permanent residents and 100 seasonal residents. The co-op is a low-income farmworker community and this will make a meaningful difference in their day-to-day lives and access to resources.

We’re continuing to support local business in 2022
It’s a big year ahead for restoring local business and so we’re dedicated to supporting that effort in the new year. We’ve partnered with the City’s Economic Development Board to help with their Downtown Pops program. Participating Pop-Up shops will have internet connections free of charge for the duration of the program. We’ll also be rolling out a promotion for new business signups this Spring.

And some very exciting news
Finally, we have a very exciting announcement about our growth into San Mateo County! More on that story very soon!

It’s been an exciting year and we’re nothing but excited for 2022. Thank you to everyone on our network – whether you’ve been here with us since ’89 or you’re a brand new customer – for your continued support of local and independent internet. Here’s to 2022 and a great year for all of us!

Coastside.Net and Cruzio have joined forces

San Mateo and Santa Cruz County ISPs merge

Santa Cruz and San Mateo have a lot in common. We’ve both got great lighthouses, for one

We’re delighted to announce that Cruzio Internet and Coastside.Net are joining forces. Because we’re such similar companies, and we’ve been friendly for so many years (decades!), this should be an easy and beneficial merger.

Most important things first: if you’re looking to login to your Coastside.net email login here.

Below we’ll try to answer your basic questions about the merger. If you have any questions about this or about your services or account, reach out anytime at Cruzio.com/contact.

Who is Cruzio?
Cruzio is one of the oldest independent ISPs in the country and in recent years we’ve grown our wireless and fiber service footprint significantly. As we’ve expanded, we’ve worked with community partners to include low-income families through our Equal Access initiative, which we hope to expand in San Mateo County.

OK, who’s Coastside.Net?
Coastside.net is San Mateo’s largest independent ISP. They cover large areas of Half Moon Bay, El Granada, Pescadero and La Honda, and all the way into Palo Alto and Redwood City. They offer similar services to Cruzio and have been around for almost as long.

I’m a Coastside customer, what’s this mean to me?
First of all, nothing will immediately change. You’ll still keep getting a bill from Coastside and enjoying the same great service. If you need customer service, just contact Coastside as usual. Over the next weeks and months we’ll be combining our operations and you’ll start getting billing statements and support from Cruzio. As we combine our resources, we’ll have more ability to support you, and we’ll also be strengthening the network, and even rolling new services in the Coastside footprint.

How do I contact Cruzio if I need support?
All our contact info is available at cruzio.com/contact. You can call us at 831.459.6301 or toll-free at (800) 303-3302, or swing by and see us sometime at 877 Cedar St #150, Santa Cruz CA.

I was a Skyline wireless customer, what’s this mean for me?
The Skyline wireless network is now part of the Cruzio network. We’ll be working with the Coastside team (including Bill, the founder of Skyline) to make sure the Skyline network is better-maintained than ever and we’re offering the best possible service and speeds.

Will you be keeping an office in the Half Moon Bay area?
We have no immediate plans to move from the current offices at 525-B Obispo Rd in El Granada. As the months pass, we’ll be looking at our office and warehouse space needs.

What about my Coastside email address and/or website?
No change. Your Coastside.net email address will continue to function as before. Coastside-hosted websites will continue to operate in the same way.

What’s happening to Rob and Steve?
They’re still on board! They’re joining the Cruzio team and will continue to be integral parts of daily operation, supporting all our customers and helping build a better and bigger network.

What does this mean for me as a Cruzio customer?
Nothing immediately. But by joining forces with Coastside, Cruzio is now significantly better equipped to grow, build better products, and support and maintain our local, independent network. The future is bright indeed.

For real? That’s a big expansion of Cruzio’s coverage (I hear you’re going to Monterey too?). Are you sure you can maintain service quality?
A big part of why we joined up with Coastside is to bring on the skills and experience of a talented team. Rob and Steve have years of experience running a network and by adding them to Cruzio’s team we dramatically increase our abilities to serve our community. We’re also hiring new techs and expanding all the time. If you’re interested in joining our team go to https://cruzio.com/careers/

I’m looking the Cruzio website, seems like you offer some higher speeds — can I upgrade my connection?
We’re bringing higher overall broadband capacity to the Coastside network right away and will be looking at where we can offer faster speeds very soon. If you want to register interest, go to faster.cruzio.com and fill out an inquiry. We’ll get back to you as soon as we have news.

Coastside.Net is Now Part of Cruzio

Hello Everyone,

I have some very exciting news to share with you all … Coastside.Net is now part of the Cruzio Internet family!

I am proud to say this is not the end of Coastside.Net, rather the next chapter in our evolution of doing what we love: providing quality internet in today’s fast-paced digital age with personal, friendly service and support. This next chapter is the merging of like-minded people to do bigger and better things.

Steve Dennis and myself will continue to be integral parts of daily operation and always available to support you. We wish Jeff the best on his retirement, and to Austin with his continued studies at CSU Chico. We are blessed to have the continued advice and support of Bill Prince and Georgia Stigall, who did the heavy lifting to make Skyline Broadband a reality.

I am excited to join forces with the awesome folks at Cruzio. Like Coastside.Net, Cruzio’s roots date back to the dawn of the internet. And, like Coastside.Net, Cruzio is independently owned and committed to being a valued partner in the community.

On behalf of myself, my family and all Coastside.Net staff (past and present), I want to thank you for your patronage and support over the years. We look forward to being part of the bright future of Cruzio and continuing to bring you the high level of service and support that you deserve.

Best,
Robert Genovesi