Verizon 4G Network Expanding to Plainfield Thursday

Customers all over the Chicago area will be able to access the high-speed cellular network starting this week.

Cell phone service will get speedier for some Verizon customers starting today. On Thursday, Verizon Wireless will expand its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network into Plainfielf as well as parts of the greater Chicago and northwest Indiana. Greater Chicago area Verizon spokeswoman Arianne Venuso said the network will allow customers to surf the Web, send photos and download music and movies up to 10 times faster than the existing 3G network. “You’re talking about blazingly fast speeds,” she said. “If you want to download a movie on your phone or tablet, it’s literally in seconds.” Customers must have a 4G-enabled smartphone or mobile hotspot MiFi device to access the network, Venuso said. If 4G customers travel outside a 4G coverage area…

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We Asked

Should Mail Service be Reduced to Five Days a Week?

We ask these Average Joes and Janes if they can live with a reduction in postal delivery days if it meant saving tax money.

Businesses are supposed to make money, not lose it. That's UPS and FedEx do, making a profit for its shareholders, but the U.S. Postal Service projects it will lose more than $238 billion over the next decade. NPR reported the post office plans to shutter or consolidate as many as 2,000 branches to help close the gap. Another solution being offered is to reduce the number of days of service from six to five, eliminating Saturday delivery. The suggestion was made last year, but Ruth Goldway, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, and Congress has yet to take action. Rose Parks, of Plainfield, doesn’t like the idea of less mail days, but believes it will happen. “When it comes to reducing anything, you don’t like it,” Parks said. “If …

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About Town

Folks Brave 25-Below Wind Chills for Crack at New Verizon iPhone

The crowds at the Plainfield store were not as great as seen elsewhere, but the manager says they'll sell out by day's end.

When Peter Baird, the manager of the Plainfield Verizon store, got to work at 4:30 this morning, seven iPhone fanatics were shivering on the doorstep in nearly 25-below zero wind chills.  “The woman at the front of the line was sitting against the door, all wrapped up in a blanket,” Baird said.  By the time Baird unlocked the doors at 7:30 a.m. to face the first day Verizon customers could buy an iPhone in its stores, about 15 half-frozen customers rushed in to grab up their fancy new Verizon smart phones.  In Chicago, there are reports of Verizon buyers braving frost bite this morning in lines that wrapped around buildings.  You have to wonder how smart those pre-dawn, sub- zero iPhone enthusiasts were, at least in our neck of the woods. …

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Argoudelis Wants to Extend Township Shuttle to All Plainfield Seniors

A second bus would be needed, and it's not known whether the village or the other two townships would be willing to fund the service.

If Plainfield Township Supervisor John Argoudelis gets his way, some seniors who live in Wheatland and Na-Au-Say townships will be able to catch rides on the Plainfield Township senior shuttle bus.  On Wednesday night, Argoudelis rolled out a plan to extend senior shuttle service to all village of Plainfield residents – including a large number who live in Wheatland Township and the handful in Na-Au-Say, which is in Kendall County.  The popular and widely used township senior shuttle now brakes at the township line – 135th Street to the north, Theodore Street to the south, Gaylord Road to the east and County Line Road to the west.  “It is an unmet need,” Argoudelis said. “I think we need to look into expanding the service.”  Monika …

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About Town

This Kind of 'Paddy Wagon' You'll Want to Ride In

Service provides a ride home for folks who have over-imbibed -- and for their cars, too.

Some Plainfield partiers may get a ride home from the bar this New Year's Eve in the Paddy Wagon.  But this Paddy Wagon isn't a ride to a DUI. In fact, it's a good way to avoid one.  Paddy Wagon is a New Lenox-based service started by Kevin McTernan that sends two guys to pick up people who have "over-consumed" at a nightclub, wedding or party. One drives the tipsy person home in their own car, while the other fellow follows in a back-up car.  "We never use the D-word," McTernan told me.  Paddy Wagon will have two cars standing by to drive home customers who pony up for one of Limestone Brewing Company's New Year's Eve party packages, which range from $35 a person to $150 per couple, depending on whether you want finger food or a three-…

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