This document will provide you with an introduction to all of the features of PenTeleData's Email Storage Space in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) format. For anyone who is interested in taking full advantage of their PenTeleData Email Storage Space, this is the beginners guide for you.

My Email Storage Space usage appears high, what would cause this?

High Email Storage Space usage can be caused by a number of reasons:

  • The most common cause for additional Email Storage Space charges is that the customer's email software has been incorrectly configured to leave all email messages on the server after they have been retrieved and read. To resolve this problem, please call our Technical Support Department. We can then review your settings and make the appropriate changes within your email software, if necessary.
  • Another cause would be the amount of email attachments you have received in the past thirty days. Large attachments will take up more space on the server and will therefore increase your amount of Email Storage Space.
  • Also, unused mailboxes associated with your account can still receive email. Whether these messages were intended to reach that destination or fall under the category of unsolicited email (spam), they still take up disk space. This disk space is included in the calculation of your Email Storage Space. If you have additional email boxes, it is important to check them regularly to ensure that they are below their complimentary 5 GB of Email Storage Space.
  • If you use "My PenTeleData Webmail" located on our web page at ptd.net to access your email, you may have previously deleted messages still residing in your "Trash" folder. Just as deleting a file on your computer moves the item to the trash folder, deletion of an item in "My PenTeleData Webmail" moves the message to the "Trash" folder. Since PenTeleData is still storing data for you in this "Trash" folder, an accumulation of email here can result in additional storage charges. To make sure that you are not being charged email storage space for already deleted messages, simply log in to "My PenTeleData Webmail" and click on the link titled "Empty Trash". This will ensure that all the email you had previously deleted will be completely removed from our server.

How do I check how much Email Storage Space I am using?

You can check your Email Storage Space statistics online by pointing your web browser to http://www.ptd.net/ and clicking on the "Account Management" link which is located on the right side of the page.

Enter the beginning part of your PenTeleData email address for your username (everything before the @ptd.net) and the corresponding password to login to the PenTeleData Account Management page.

After you have logged in, click on "E-Mail Usage" to view a report of your disk space usage.

I am receiving email notifications that I am nearing my 5 GB of complimentary Email Storage Space. What exactly does this mean?

These notifications are automatically generated and sent by our system when you have used 90% of your complimentary Email Storage Space.

Please note that your current Email Storage Space usage is an average which is calculated over the last 30 days. Once you remove email from your Email Storage Space, it may take some time for the average amount of storage space to drop below the level at which these notifications are automatically sent.

How is my Email Storage Space calculated?

Email Storage Space is calculated by using the average of the total amount of data that your email is occupying on our server over a thirty day period.

Please note, any files that reside in your Personal Storage Space do NOT count towards your complimentary 5 GB of Email Storage Space.

How much Email Storage Space am I allowed?

Each residential account has 5 GB of complimentary disk space allocated for Email Storage Space. If you exceed your complimentary 5 GB of email storage, all new inbound email will be returned to the sender.

What is Email Storage Space (ESS)?

Email Storage Space (ESS) is the total amount of data, in MB (megabytes), which your email messages are occupying on our server. Each character in an email message is equal to one byte of storage space. Attachments within an email message (pictures, sounds, etc.) can contain significantly more data and therefore take up more Email Storage Space.