Speed FAQ

PenTeleData only provides technical support for Ethernet cards which are provided directly by us or from your local cable company. If you’ve purchased your Ethernet card from another vendor, you will need to contact the vendor directly for any support or troubleshooting issues. Most Ethernet cards which we sell are fairly easy to install and a detailed instruction manual is usually provided. Make sure that you’ve tried to follow any driver installation guidelines which were included with the card to the best of your ability before contacting Technical Support.

No, PenTeleData does not employ server-side Web Caching at this time.

Due to the way that cable modem networks are designed, it is necessary for all modems of a particular brand name to use the same version of modem firmware on the network. Because of this, our customers are not permitted to upgrade their modem firmware on their own. However, whenever a new firmware revision is approved for your modem, the upgrade will be sent to your modem automatically through the cable network. Often, new firmware revisions tend to create more problems than they fix due to bugs or other problems with the code. Because of this, we only upgrade the modem firmware on our modems after a new revision has been thoroughly tested and has proven to operate in a stable manner on our equipment. Please note that automatic firmware upgrades are only available for modems which we supply through our partners.

There can be several reasons as to why this is occurring. The main cause would be that you are accessing the Internet at peak hours and the site you are downloading from at the time can not adequately handle the high traffic demands. In addition, someone who lives close to you could be moving large amounts of data and causing all nearby users to experience slow speeds due to the shared bandwidth concept inherent of your cable modem service. We do make every effort to monitor situations such as this and resolve them as they occur.

If your PC already has an available Ethernet port, PenTeleData strongly suggests that you use this method as your connection. Ethernet is the most reliable way to connect your computer and does not require any additional software to be installed. The USB method requires additional device drivers which will be provided to you on a CD when your modem is installed. Please note that the USB connection method can NOT be used on Macintosh computers.

Many newer computer systems already have a built-in Ethernet port. If your system has a motherboard Ethernet port already present, you will not need to purchase an Ethernet card; simply use the port which you already have. If you do need to purchase an Ethernet card, make sure you purchase one which is "10/100" compatible, as these cards are capable of handling current cable modem speeds as well as being ready for any future speed upgrades. If you are concerned about good online gaming performance, make sure you choose an Ethernet card which is capable of "Bus Mastering," as this ensures that the Ethernet card will not steal resources from other PCI devices in your system. Please note that PenTeleData does not provide technical support for Ethernet cards. If you experience difficulties with installing the card or necessary device drivers, please contact the manufacturer of the card for assistance.

Probably not. In most cases, problems of this type are caused either by configuration problems in your router settings or an inherent problem with the router itself. Also, many router manufacturers offer firmware upgrades which often fix known issues with their hardware; visit your router manufacturer's website for more details. Please note that PenTeleData Technical Support does not offer support for home networking equipment of any kind, including routers, wireless products, hubs, game consoles, etc., with the exception of our High-speed Wireless Home Networking products. Otherwise, please contact the manufacturer of your particular device for additional assistance. In addition, you may be required to disconnect any additional networking equipment when speaking to our Technical Support Department in order to assist in the troubleshooting process.

Very high latency may cause online games to "lag" and hamper your online gaming experience. If you are playing an online game and are having slowness issues when connected to a particular server, you may want to attempt to find another server to join. If the lag problem is resolved, the first server probably had issues. Please note that game servers are "as is" servers, as we have no control over the performance of the millions of gaming servers currently available on the Internet. Also, many gaming servers are configured incorrectly or overused. For example, it is not uncommon for a Dial-Up user on another network to host a game server and allow several broadband customers to connect to it at the same time. In a case such as this, the server will be extremely slow, as the host computer does not have the necessary bandwidth required to properly host a server. Because of issues like these which are beyond our control, PenTeleData is unable to offer technical support for gaming server issues. If you've read the above and still feel that your modem is operating slower than normal, please contact Technical Support at (800) 281-3564 and speak to a technician. In addition, remember that most of our cable partners offer different speed packages and you may want to consider upgrading your service.

In order to ensure that you get the most out of your cable modem service, it is necessary for your computer to meet the minimum requirements for the service, as stated below. Although many older PCs will allow a cable modem to be attached, the hard drive speed can be so slow on older systems that the system actually cannot keep up with the cable modem and the Internet will seem very sluggish. Our minimum system requirements are as follows:

When transferring data to and from the PenTeleData network, your transfer speeds should be at least 85% of the speed package you’ve purchased and anything within this range is considered acceptable.  Please keep in mind this is under optimal conditions and can be affected by end user equipment/network, normal data overhead from cable modem transmissions can sometimes use 10% or more of your modem’s available bandwidth.

To get the most accurate results please make sure:

• Your computer is directly connected to the cable modem
• All background programs/updates are disabled (malicious software may be installed without your knowledge)
• Your network card (NIC) is capable of handling your subscribed Internet speeds
• You are testing via PenTeleData Speedtest (www.ptd.net > Help Desk > Speed Test)

Yes. PenTeleData's does offer a bandwidth benchmark utility.

• Computers which are connected to routers, switches, or using wireless access points will have inherently slower transfer speeds compared to computers which are directly connected to a cable modem.
• Computers which have malicious software installed (i.e. viruses, spyware, or adware) may experience slow transfer speeds, as software of this type tends to drastically slow down your broadband connection.
  • If you suspect that your PC contains malicious software, we recommend that you connect your computer directly to the cable modem and scan for any malicious software.
  • After this has been completed, please perform your speed testing again. In order for bandwidth speed tests to be accurate, you must be located as close to the test server as possible.
• If you are using a bandwidth speed test which is hosted on a webpage in California, for example, the test packets must travel a long way to reach you and this and will obviously skew the results of the test.
• Finally, normal data overhead from cable modem transmissions can sometimes use up to 10% or more of your modem’s available bandwidth. This data overhead is not reflected in download speed tests.

A Megabit (Mb) is one million bits of information. Therefore, if the rated speed of your cable modem connection is "3 Megabits," this means that your cable modem is capable of downloading roughly 3 million bits of information per second.

A Megabyte (MB) is 1,024 Kilobytes. Using the example above, if your cable modem capable of downloading 3 million bits per second, this would equal .366 MB.
A Byte is 8 bits and is equivalent to one character of text. Using the example above, 3 million bits would be equivalent to 375,000 Bytes.
A Kilobyte (Kb) is 1,024 bytes. Using the example above, 3 million bits of information is equivalent to 366Kb.

First, we recommend that you re-boot your PC(s) and try to access the Internet again. If that does not resolve the problem, power-cycle your cable modem.

To power-cycle your cable modem:

• Unplug the power cable from the cable modem for a few minutes and then plug it back in.
• If you have a router, you should power-cycle that as well.

If following the suggestions above did not resolve your problem, please contact our Technical Support Department and a technician will assist you further. You may be required to disconnect any additional networking equipment when speaking to our Technical Support Department in order to assist in the troubleshooting process.

If one or more aspects of your service are not functioning but you still have access to the web, point your browser to ptd.net. Once there, click on the "Support" tab at the top of the page. Next, click the "Network Status" link located on the left side of the page. Any current outages will be displayed here, as PenTeleData makes every effort to ensure that the information on this page is current at all times.

Please note: Due to network security concerns, the Network Status page is not accessible from outside of the PTD network - If your service appears to be completely down and you cannot access anything on the Internet, please visit the contact page and call the number for the residential or commercial network status.