Internet Service Providers are required by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to provide the following information regarding mass market retail broadband Internet access services, including information regarding the commercial terms of its service offerings, the performance characteristics of its services, and the network management practices that it employs.
Residential/Service Partner billed business:
PENTELEDATA provides Internet bandwidth and associated support services to cable and telephone companies: Service Electric Cable TV and Communications, Service Electric Cablevision, Service Electric Broadband Cable, Ironton Telephone Company, Palmerton Telephone Company and Blue Ridge Communications (collectively, Service Partners). PENTELEDATA also manages an Internet network of which its Service Partners are a part. Each Service Partner may provide additional disclosures and specific information relevant to their customers. If you are billed by one of the Service Partners, please see your Service Partner’s website and disclosures for applicable information.
PenTeleData Business Customers:
PENTELEDATA provides service directly to Business customers for use in commercial activity. Those customers have a contract directly with PENTELEDATA and are billed by PENTELEDATA.
This disclosure is intended to provide information sufficient for consumers to make informed choices regarding the use of such services and for content, application, service, and device providers to develop, market and maintain Internet offerings that may use PENTELEDATA’s network to reach end-users. This disclosure incorporates and includes by reference PENTELEDATA’s “Acceptable Use Policy” (“AUP”), available here.
This statement relates solely to that portion of PENTELEDATA’s networks devoted to providing mass market retail broadband Internet access service to its customers. Only Business Internet Service provided via cable modem is considered for this disclosure. Other portions of the network may be used to provide cable service, phone service, or other information or non-mass market data services, each of which is subject to their own terms and conditions of service. For further information regarding other services offered by a Service Partner and PENTELEDATA, please see www.ptd.net.
PENTELEDATA reserves the right to alter its policies and network management practices at any time, and the information contained in this Internet Disclosure Statement may change accordingly. PENTELEDATA will post any material changes to its policies at www.ptd.net.
Service Description: PENTELEDATA provides to Business entities what is known as “fixed broadband” Internet access services that are designed to provide the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or substantially all Internet end points via their hybrid fiber-coax network. PENTELEDATA offers multiple packages of broadband Internet access service to Business entities for commercial use with varying targeted speeds, features and data usage limitations that may affect the suitability of such service for real-time applications. The features, pricing and other commercial terms of PENTELEDATA’s service offerings are modified from time to time. Each package is priced to reflect the particular speed, features and data usage limitations of that package.
Pricing and Fees: The current pricing, promotional rates and terms, and other terms and conditions of PENTELEDATA’s packages of broadband Internet access service (along with information regarding fees, such as those for installation, early termination, modem rental, service charges, and additional network services) can be found on your PENTELEDATA contract signed at the commencement of service and at PENTELEDATA’s websites at www.ptd.net or by contacting PENTELEDATA’s customer service center at 1-800-281-3564. The pricing and other commercial terms of PENTELEDATA’s broadband Internet access services are subject to change and the information provided in this disclosure statement is not intended to supersede or modify any of the terms and conditions of service as applicable to a particular customer.
Performance Metrics: The following information regarding the targeted and actual speed, packet loss and latency of PENTELEDATA’S Business Cable Modem service is for the multiple packages as described below. The targeted speed that customer may achieve, the maximum speed enabled by the firmware in the customer’s modem, and the package purchased by that customer will vary depending on which particular package a customer selects.
The actual throughput speeds that customers can expect to experience with their service are provided. Although PENTELEDATA engineers its network to deliver speeds up to the targeted speed, the actual speed that a user will actually experience at any given time depends on a number of factors, some of which are not within PENTELEDATA’s control. Service is always provided on a best efforts basis and speeds or other performance characteristics cannot be guaranteed.
Factors beyond our control that impact actual speeds include:
The limitations, capabilities and capacities of the customer’s computer (including its age, processing capability, operating system, the number of applications running simultaneously, and the presence of any adware and viruses), modem (modem performance may degrade over time, and certain modems are not capable of handling higher speeds), equipment and/or local area network (LAN) devices such as wireless routers;
The type of connection between a customer’s computer and modem. For example, in-home wireless connections between the computer and the router or modem may be slower than wired connections. In-home wireless connections also may be subject to greater performance fluctuations, caused by factors like interference and congestion. PENTELEDATA recommends that customers confirm that their in-home wireless connections are able to support the speeds that PENTELEDATA’s services deliver. Certain older in-home wireless connections and routers cannot perform at the speeds delivered by PENTELEDATA’s higher speed tiers.
The distance packets travel (round trip time of packets) between a customer’s computer and their final destination on the Internet, including the number and quality of the networks of various operators in the transmission path. The overall speed of that Internet connection. The performance of the content and application providers the customer is accessing, such as a search engine or video streaming site. To control traffic or performance, many websites gate or limit the speeds at which a visitor can download from their site. Those limitations will carry through to a customer’s connection.
The performance characteristics of transmissions over portions of the Internet that are not subject to PENTELEDATA’s control;
The number and types of simultaneous websites or applications being accessed;
The number of users at a particular moment, and other factors in the end-to-end transmission path from a subscriber’s location to the Internet endpoint being accessed; and
Congestion or high usage levels at the website or destination. When you access a site or particular destination that is being visited by others at the same time, you may experience a slower connection if the site or destination does not have sufficient capacity to serve all of the visitors efficiently at the same time.
There are a number of publicly available sources of information regarding actual performance, each of which uses a different methodology and thus may produce different results. One such free speed test site is Ookla Speedtest, available at http://www.speedtest.net/. Please note, however, that all speed tests have biases and flaws. Each of these tests measures limited aspects of an ISP’s speed and therefore must be seen as a guide rather than definitive measurements of performance. To obtain appropriate results, we recommend that you connect to a speed test server located in your geographic area.
Chart of Test results: click this link to see our Open Internet Disclosure speed test results
Data Usage Allowances: In addition to reserving the right to manage network usage to ensure that the activity of a small number of users at a particular point in time does not degrade, inhibit or interfere with the use of their network by others, PENTELEDATA maintains a “data usage” policy that can address total usage of a customer’s account each month for Business Cable Modem Service.
The bandwidth usage policy may change as posted to the PENTELEDATA website www.ptd.net and www.penteledata.net
Customers can track their bandwidth usage here.
Congestion and Network Management Practices: The bandwidth and network resources used by PENTELEDATA to deliver its broadband Internet access service are limited and shared among users. While PENTELEDATA strives to provide sufficient bandwidth to meet the foreseeable needs of their customers, the network may be negatively affected by the rapidly increasing demands of users whose actions strain the ability of the network to meet that demand. Conscious of this, the FCC allows broadband Internet access service providers such as PENTELEDATA to engage in “reasonable network management practices” to respond to situations such as network congestion or excessive use that can unreasonably burden the network and cause service degradation, including security attacks and network congestion. PENTELEDATA’s use of certain network management tools and techniques may affect users’ Internet performance, such as download and upload times or response times while surfing the Internet or playing games, but such effects typically will be noticeable only for a brief period of time, if at all.
PENTELEDATA’s network management tools and techniques do not target or block specific content, applications or services, and instead focus in a content-neutral manner on bandwidth usage in real time, with the goal of providing reasonable and equitable access to the network for all similarly situated customers. To the extent that the use of network management practices may affect the performance or other characteristics of Internet service, they are designed to affect all similarly situated customers equally. PENTELEDATA’s network management tools and techniques instead focus on identifying, anticipating and avoiding network congestion by monitoring network usage patterns and adjusting or expanding network parameters to resolve any resulting congestion issues.
Specific network management tools and techniques may include detecting and curtailing malicious traffic patterns, preventing the distribution of viruses or other malicious code, measuring subscriber bandwidth usage, prioritizing certain traffic such as network control packets, limiting the aggregate bandwidth available for certain usage protocols, regulating the delivery speed of mass emails, rejection or removal of “spam” or otherwise unsolicited bulk email, detecting and preventing the distribution of viruses and other malware, traffic prioritization and other tools and techniques as PENTELEDATA may from time to time determine to be appropriate.
New network management techniques are also being developed on an ongoing basis to address evolving challenges and threats to the network and users, and PENTELEDATA may elect to use some or all available network management techniques on a temporary or as-needed basis. Other network management tools and techniques may also be employed to allow PENTELEDATA to comply with various legal requirements, including, but not limited to, providing proper assistance to law enforcement, national security, emergency response and disaster relief authorities.
No Blocking: PENTELEDATA does not block or reduce speed of any specific legal traffic except for congestion and network management purposes. Upon proper notice and direction from law enforcement authorities, PENTELEDATA will block access, to the extent practical, to specific websites that provide illegal content such as child pornography.
No unreasonable discrimination: PENTELEDATA does not block or rate control specific protocols or applications.
Application Specific Behavior: PENTELEDATA does not discriminate against or prevent users of their service from sending and receiving the lawful content of their choice; running lawful applications and using lawful services of their choice; or connecting their choice of legal devices, provided that such applications and services do not harm the network or the provision of broadband Internet access service, cause malicious traffic patterns, facilitate theft of service or the distribution of unlawful content, or otherwise harm or unreasonably impair other users of the service. Similarly, PENTELEDATA does not impair or degrade particular content, applications, services or non-harmful devices so as to render them effectively unusable, subject to the policies and procedures outlined herein.
Third Party Services: PENTELEDATA may enter into arrangements to provide Internet service to third party establishments (such as coffee shops, bookstores, hotels or libraries) who then may offer such service to their customers, guests or others. Nothing herein is intended to address network management practices, performance characteristics or commercial terms that may be adopted by such third party premises operators in connection with the provision of Internet service to others.
Device Attachment Rules: PENTELEDATA requires commercial customers to connect to their network using a modem that PENTELEDATA provides and that its research has indicated is compatible with their equipment and services, and that does not harm the network.
Security: PENTELEDATA also employs certain practices to protect the security of their customers and their network from unwanted and harmful activities. These include practices designed to protect PENTELEDATA’s servers against viruses, worms, spyware, and Denial of Service attacks and to prevent spam and identity theft. PENTELEDATA will employ such practices on a case-by-case and as-needed basis to protect their network and their customers. These practices (which could include limiting traffic to DNS and DHCP servers) could be triggered if PENTELEDATA detects traffic levels that significantly exceed certain baselines. Further, PENTELEDATA may also on occasion and for limited periods of time inhibit certain Internet ports that are commonly misused to harm networks.
When security measures are employed, they may affect the performance characteristics of service or the ability to access certain websites, but such measures are employed in a manner designed to have a non-discriminatory impact on all similarly-situated customers. PENTELEDATA engages in network security measures such as those outlined above to enhance the online experience of their customers. However, no such measures are infallible and we cannot guarantee against security problems.
Service Termination/Suspension: PENTELEDATA reserves the right to terminate and/or suspend service in the event the account is identified as violating the terms and conditions or the acceptable use policy and/or is improperly impacting other users’ service. PENTELEDATA will make a reasonable attempt to contact the customer prior to suspension or termination of service.
Spam Filtering: Inbound filtering for PENTELEDATA email will block email from any source that exceeds their thresholds for email that is sent using identified spam methods. This includes but is not limited to number of recipients, number of rejected users and certain header information. These thresholds are dynamic and more data cannot be given without compromising the integrity of PENTELEDATA’s filtering methods.
Impact of Non-BIAS Services: The FCC’s “open Internet” rules distinguish between mass market retail broadband Internet access services and other non-mass market data service that share bandwidth capacity with our broadband Internet access service over our last-mile facilities. The FCC calls these services non-BIAS services. For example, some Service Partners’ digital phone service shares bandwidth with PENTELEDATA’s broadband Internet access service and because of its nature sometimes receives network priority and may temporarily impact broadband Internet access service at particular times. If PENTELEDATA delivers other Internet Protocol based services or any specialized or managed service in the future that impacts Customer Internet services, we will provide additional information. Both the Service Partners and PENTELEDATA also routinely monitor how all their services use bandwidth to minimize any impact on their broadband Internet access service.
As described above, the Service Partners and PENTELEDATA monitor network usage and congestion, and may apply network management techniques to protect the efficient operation of the network and to ensure a quality online experience for all users. Consistent with such practices, the Service Partners and PENTELEDATA may, from time to time, prioritize packets from non-BIAS services over the Service Partners’ and PENTELEDATA’s broadband Internet access service. In general, however, such actions will not adversely affect the provision of broadband Internet access services.
Privacy Policy: Your privacy is very important to us. Personal information you provide to your Service Partner (for residential service and Service Partner provided business service) and PENTELEDATA is governed by your Service Provider and PENTELEDATA’s Privacy Policies. PENTELEDATA’s is found at www.ptd.net and is subject to change from time to time. Personal information is used primarily to provide your services, and is shared with third parties as is needed to provide the service but also in accordance with PENTELEDATA’s Privacy Policy and consistent with applicable law. PENTELEDATA reserves the right, as required or permitted by law, to provide account and user information such as billing records, service and connection history, email, IP addresses, computer and modem MAC addresses, contact information, to third parties and to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in the investigation of any criminal or civil matters. In some cases, we are requested not to disclose to the customer the request for such information has been made. PENTELEDATA cooperates with such law enforcement requests. Further cooperation may include, but is not limited to, monitoring of PENTELEDATA’s network consistent with applicable law.
For Questions, Complaints and Redress Options: For immediate assistance with issues or complaints involving your broadband Internet access service, please contact PENTELEDATA’s customer service centers at 1-800-281-3564 or use the chat function at www.ptd.net seven days a week to assist you. You can also contact us by email: for customer service issues, custserv@corp.ptd.net; for technical and network issues support@corp.ptd.net. Our mailing address is: PENTELEDATA LP I, 540 Delaware Avenue, PO Box 197, Palmerton, PA 18071. For information concerning the FCC’s formal and informal complaint procedures, please refer to the FCC’s website at http://www.fcc.gov/guides/getting-broadband.