COVID-19 Response

As your trusted local provider, our priority is taking care of you as you navigate this trying time. We are committed to providing reliable services backed by excellent customer support and continue to install new services, upgrade services and make repairs for customers.

We continue to install internet and phone service at homes and businesses. We also have self-installation options for some of our services. If you are interested in self-installation, please let us know. For the safety of our customers and employees, we are not currently installing television service due to the amount of time needed to be in the home or business.

Please see the Appointments section for the measures we are taking to ensure your safety. Call us at 319-626-2211 to see how we can help keep you connected at a time when you need it the most.

Do you have an appointment for South Slope to come to your home or business? We are closely following CDC guidelines for cleanliness, and have implemented additional sanitation procedures to prevent the spread of the virus, including properly cleaning hands, equipment and tools before and after each appointment.

When scheduling an appointment, we will ask if you or someone in your home or business is ill or experiencing flu-like symptoms; or is under quarantine. In those cases, we will need to schedule the appointment 14 days out. Prior to your appointment, we will email you a Coronavirus/COVID-19 Risk Disclosure, Waiver and Release which will need to be signed before our South Slope technician enters your home or business.

The South Slope technician will be wearing a mask at your appointment. We are also asking that anyone in your home or business above the age of two who will be in the same room as the technician wear a mask and maintain social distancing during the appointment. If you do not have masks, we can provide them for you. If you have any questions or need to reschedule your appointment, please call us at 319-626-2211.

We understand that the need for a reliable internet, phone and television connection is greater now than ever before. We are continually monitoring our network to ensure that all of our customers will have a strong and reliable connection when they need it the most.

As so many of you have moved to working and learning from home, we have redistributed internet traffic onto multiple fiber-optic rings to minimize the risk of network congestion. We have also increased our backhaul capacity almost 3 times as the need for connectivity and faster transmission of data increases daily.

If you are having issues with your internet, phone or television service, please call us 24/7 at 319-626-2211, live chat with us between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Mon-Fri at southslope.com or email info@southslope.com.

If you need to increase your internet speeds during this time and are on our fiber network, we are able to change your internet plan within one business day and you will not be charged an activation fee. As always, our internet plans come with unlimited data. View South Slope Internet Plans

We understand the financial impact COVID-19 is having on so many people in our communities. If you are struggling to pay your South Slope bill, would like to explore ways to lower your bill or need alternative payment plans, please call us at 319-626-2211 so we can help. For your safety, instead of paying in person at our drive-up window, please pay online through SmartHub or over the phone through SecurePay (888-480-9705). Effective immediately, we no longer charge the $2.50 convenience fee for paying through SmartHub or SecurePay.  In addition, beginning with the April 1^st invoice, we will no longer have the $1 paper bill fee.

Eligible families may qualify for a monthly benefit on home phone, wireless phone or broadband internet services through the Lifeline Assistance Program.

For families with school-aged children who don’t have internet service at home, please check with your school district for plans regarding internet access for continued learning.

• Iowa City Community School District
• College Community School District
• Benton School District
• Clear Creek Amana School District
• Solon School District

COVID-19 has brought to light many safety concerns when it pertains to large groups of people and social gatherings. Based on recommendations from the CDC and to ensure public safety, we have canceled Community Center events through  December 11th. For those that have events scheduled in this timeframe, we will work with you to find a new date or we can provide a refund.

If the CDC recommendations on the size of gathering or timeline change, we will update this page at that time. If you have any questions, please contact our Community Center Coordinator, Emily Thole, at 319-665-5430 or email communitycenter@southslope.com.

We encourage you to take precautionary measures and regularly clean your devices.

• Regularly clean your wireless devices, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, accessories and surfaces that you come into contact with regularly.
• For cleaning your personal cellphone, Apple, Samsung, and Google have tips online on how to properly clean each device.
• We also encourage you to not share your phone with other people and keep it out of restrooms.

With the coronavirus sweeping the world, it is also propelling scammers to prey upon fears as a way to steal your information. We recommend being on the lookout for scams and following the tips we provide in our coronavirus blog.

It’s also important to protect your information while using Wi-Fi. If your network isn’t secure, hackers can steal valuable private data such as credit card and banking information.

• With home Wi-Fi, be sure to set a strong and unique password using different symbols, letters and numbers to make your network more difficult to hack. To strengthen security on your Wi-Fi router, also keep your firmware up to date.
• Consider setting up a guest Wi-Fi network as this slows down anyone who is trying to get access to your primary network without your permission. To do so, you need to access the web interface for your Wi-Fi router, log in to the network, and follow the instructions provided by your router manufacturer to create and set up the guest Wi-Fi network. If you have South Slope Managed Wi-Fi, simply log in to the GigaCenter router web interface and follow these steps:

1. 1. 1. Turn on the guest Wi-Fi network for the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
      2. Provide a name for the guest Wi-Fi network (also known as the SSID).
      3. Set a strong password that’s also easy to remember for your guests.

• If connecting to public Wi-Fi, only work on secure, password-protected internet connections and don’t log in to bank accounts or make online purchases as that data can easily be stolen if that Wi-Fi network is hacked.

For more security tips, check out our website blog and follow us on Facebook.