Email FAQ

If you want to block someone or a domain from emailing you, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to https://promail.ptd.net and log in using your email address and password. Make sure to do this for each email account you want to block the sender.

2. Look for the Gear Icon in the top right corner of the screen and click on it.

3. From the drop-down menu, select "Settings".

4. In the settings box, find and click on "Blocked and Allowed Senders".

5. In the "Blocked Sender" field, enter the email address or domain you want to block.

6. After typing the email address, click on the "Block" button to add the user to the list.

7. If you need to block more users, repeat steps 5 and 6.

8. Once you have added all the necessary users to the blocked senders list, click the "Save" button to save the changes.

9. Keep in mind that it may take up to 1 hour for the changes to take effect, so allow some time for the modifications to be applied.

By following these steps, you can easily block specific users or domains from emailing you, reducing the possibility of unwanted messages in your inbox.

If someone tried to send you an email but received a bounce message stating that the message was blocked for spam content, you can follow these steps to add the user to your allowed senders list and bypass the spam filtering. Additionally, please have the user forward a copy of the bounce message with the full email headers to support@corp.ptd.net so that the matter can be reviewed.

1. Login to your email account at https://promail.ptd.net using your email address and password. (You must do this for ever email account you want to allow the sender to email)

2. Once logged in, locate the Gear Icon in the right-hand corner of the screen and click on it.

3. From the drop-down menu, select "Settings".

4. A settings box will open. Look for and click on the option labeled "Blocked and Allowed Senders".

5. In the provided Allowed Sender blank field, type the email address of the user you want to add to your allowed senders list.

6. After typing the email address, click on the "Allow" button to add the user to the list.

7. If you have finished adding all the necessary users to the allowed senders list, click the "Save" button to save the changes.

8. Please note that it may take up to 1 hour for the changes to take effect, so allow some time for the modifications to be applied.

By following these steps, it will help reduce the possibility a specified user will be blocked as spam, allowing them to reach your inbox successfully.

 You can call our Technical Support Department at (800) 281-3564 to speak with a technician. Technical Support will attempt to answer any questions related to email that were not covered here. You can also email your questions to support@corp.ptd.net.

No. Many email viruses spread as attachments from known and unknown senders. The general rule of thumb for opening attachments is: if you were not expecting it, do not open it.

Yes. PenTeleData maintains a list of all service-affecting email messages that are sent to our customers.

Yes. Viruses not only spread via email, but they also spread in a wide variety of other ways including via an open Internet connection, websites, file sharing programs, instant messaging programs, etc. Viruses can affect almost every computer that connects to the Internet. The best practice is to keep updated anti-virus software on your computer(s) and use it to scan for viruses on a regular basis.

PenTeleData's email servers scan most incoming and outgoing email for viruses and remove them and stop the message from reaching its destination if necessary.

An email virus is a computer virus that spreads via email. Usually, these viruses spread by sending email messages to everyone in an infected computer's address book.

No. SMTP Authentication only affects those users who use dedicated email software such as Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, or Eudora.

PenTeleData maintains its mail servers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and attempts to maintain 100% uptime and 100% delivery rates; however, on occasion due to circumstances beyond our control, service is affected. Service, authentication, and delivery times are not guaranteed. As such, the PenTeleData email servers are not meant for large-scale commercial deployments (due to the large numbers of viruses and spam messages that are processed daily). Commercial customers that require customized mail services should contact the Commercial Sales Department.

No. Residential customers that wish to send mail through our network should either purchase a PenTeleData emailbox or utilize their current emailbox provider's SMTP servers. To purchase a PenTeleData emailbox, please contact our Customer Service Department at (800) 281-3564.

Sender verification is a general term to describe various methods of verifying that the sender of an email message is indeed who sent the message. PenTeleData requires sender verification on the Promail Server to combat the rising email spam problems.

Please see our Acceptable Use Policy.

If you are connecting via another ISP, you can send email from your PenTeleData email accounts by configuring your mail client to use PenTeleData's Promail Server. The Promail Server requires SMTP Authentication. This setting is normally found in the account options of your email client. Alternately, you can access your PenTeleData email through the web interface.

Yes. PenTeleData allows you to send and receive email while being connected to another ISP. However, depending on the other service provider, it may be blocked; therefore there is a slight chance that it may not work. Since PenTeleData has no control over another ISPs policy, there is nothing PenTeleData can do. My PenTeleData Webmail is another alternative and is readily available.

Promail is the PenTeleData email server which supports SMTP Authentication, SSL connections, and uses Sender Verification to allow users to send email. SMTP Authentication requires that a login name and password be used whenever a user sends a piece of mail. This will dramatically reduce the amount of SPAM which moves through our system, as well as completely eliminate relaying on our servers. Using SMTP Authentication, PenTeleData customers who travel can now send email, using their existing accounts, regular email software, from anywhere in the world! SSL (Secured Sockets Layer) gives our customers the option of digitally encrypting their incoming and outgoing email for added security.

A "reply-to" address is an email address where all replies to an email go, to when the recipient of the message clicks the "reply" button in their email software.

Changing the "reply-to" address differs with each email program. You should consult the help documents for your particular email program or contact the program vendor for assistance.

Some email providers have implemented a method where by their email server will block incoming email from mail servers that have been sending a large amount of spam or junk email. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the PenTeleData mail server may have been blocked. When this occurs, PenTeleData makes every effort to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Our new email server ( promail.ptd.net ) is less likely to be blocked due to its improved methods of handling email. Instructions on how to configure your email program to use the PenTeleData Promail Server.

Email is a tool for communicating with others. Make sure you familiarize yourself with general rules of email etiquette.

Email can bounce for many reasons. Some of the most common reasons include: the recipient's email address was not spelled correctly, the recipient's email address does not exist, there may be a problem with the recipient's mail server, you may be blocked from sending messages to the recipient's mail server, etc. The specific reason for the delivery failure can be found in the body of the failure notice that you receive. For additional assistance with an email failure notice, please contact our Technical Support Department at (800) 281-3564 to speak with a technician. To aid the technician in assisting you, please have the failure message open when you call.

You may add as many additional emailboxes to your account as you like. Each additional emailbox is just $1.95 per month.

You can contact the PenTeleData Customer Service Department at (800) 281-3564 to add additional email addresses to your account. Most residential Internet service accounts, including Full Access dial-up, Cable modem and DSL accounts, include five free emailboxes.

No. Bulk emailing, such as sending commercial messages to a list of customers, is not permitted. If you wish to send out bulk email messages, you should contact a Commercial Sales Representative at (800) 281-3564 about how to do so.

Any email box that is inactive for six consecutive months will be deleted. Any email within an inactive email box is probably spam and will be automatically deleted without inspection along with the email box. Once deleted, the email address associated with the email box will be deleted and become available for assignment to other customers. An email box is inactive if it has not been checked in 6 months, does not have an email forward associated with it and is not the primary login for a dial-up account. If you intend to keep a mailbox active you may do so by retrieving email from within the email box at least once every 6 months. PenTeleData is not responsible for any loss of any kind because of the deletion of boxes or the email inside. If your email box is deleted for inactivity, you may contact Customer Service at (800) 281-3564 to have the email box reinstated if the email address is still available.

Yes, PenTeleData reserves the right to delay or reject when more than 500 messages is exceeded per day for inbound and outbound e-mail.

You can contact the PenTeleData Customer Service Department at (800) 281-3564 for assistance. Since PenTeleData accounts are secure, Customer Service will need to verify your identity and ensure that you are authorized to have access to the account.

Yes. You can change your password yourself online or you can speak with our Customer Service Department at (800) 281-3564. To change your password online, point your browser to www.ptd.net and click on the "Account Management" link on the right side of the page. Type your username and current password for that email account when prompted. Once you have logged in, click on the "Change Password" link to change your password.

No. Even if you use email software that is separate from your web browser, you must have an active Internet connection to access your email. email messages that you have previously downloaded may be accessed while offline, but you must be connected to the Internet to send and receive new email messages.

Yes. To access your email through My PenTeleData Webmail, point your browser to www.ptd.net and click "My PenTeleData Webmail" on the right side of the page. When prompted, enter your username and password. Your username will be everything before the "@" symbol in your email address. Your password will be the corresponding password for that account.

NOTE: Usernames and passwords are case-sensitive. Please be sure your capitalization is correct.

To access your PenTeleData email, you will need to set up an email program on your computer, or you can access your email through "My PenTeleData Webmail". For assistance with setting up your email software, please contact PenTeleData's Technical Support Department at (800) 281-3564, or visit the support section of the PenTeleData website.

Yes. Attachments are limited to a maximum size of 30 MB (megabytes).  Please keep in mind that it will take longer for the recipient to receive the message than it took you to send it. Large attachments can fill the recipient's mailbox or cause the mailbox to lock up, preventing the recipient from receiving any other email.

Note: Attachments are limited to a maximum size of 30MB in Webmail, and 15MB in other e-mail programs.  The overall e-mail (including attachments with encoding) cannot exceed 30MB when sending.  E-mail attachments are base64 encoded, which will make the attachments about 30-40% larger than the original file. For example, 20MB of jpg files could easily exceed 25MB when base64 encoded.

An email attachment is a file that is "attached" or added to an email message. Attachments can be pictures, sounds, text, programs, or any other type of file.

An email address is a unique address that is used to send and receive email over the Internet. Your PenTeleData email address takes the following form: username@ptd.net , where "username" is the name you chose when you signed up for your PenTeleData Internet service account. If you do not know your username and/or password, please contact our Customer Service Department at (800) 281-3564.

Email is electronic mail. It is a digital method of transmitting messages containing text, pictures, and sounds over the Internet to another person's computer.