Too many of our customers are worried about 2 things:

1. Keeping employees away from harmful, distractive, and unproductive sites
2. Keeping kids away from harmful, sexual or otherwise bad sites.

Thanks to OpenDns.com there are EASY, CHEAP, and BEAUTIFUL solutions for all of our customers.

Families and Homes should use FamilyShield. You set it up in the router and the WHOLE network and EVERY device is shielded. No more managing every PC and worrying if the kids figured out how to unlock your software (Netnanny, SafeEyes, etc). You can manage the whole product from their website, without even being at home. Yes, if you are at work and you want to open up Facebook for an hour for the kids while you are at work, 2 clicks and you are done.

Businesses use OpenDNS’ business products. These range from free to some cost, but are significantly less expensive and far more elegant than in network hardware based solutions. It is the essence of a cloud solution. The entire system is managed from an online portal with web filtering, reporting and statistics, web security, etc at your fingertips.

Educational institutions can take advantage of free solutions too.

If you would like a demo or want to find out more, just contact us below.

A number of our customers in downtown Lewisburg and its surrounding community have asked us to comment on the new Open Range internet service being offered as of June 2010. We think the service is a great idea and does fit a niche market so we thought we would try to discuss its pros and cons as well as outline where we see it being a fit for users in the area.

PROS:

1. For $60 you can get phone and internet service.
2. Your existing phones can plug into it so you do not need new phones.
3. The unit is portable so you could take it between home and work if you wanted. Note that you need to live and work in the Lewisburg borough area. We are not sure how far into the “suburbs” of Lewisburg that it travels.
4. You can shed your ties with Windstream.
5. The device also functions as a wireless router for your home or office.

CONS

1. The internet speed is a dismal 1.5mbps. That is likely fine for the average web surfer but it is not great for businesses or homes with multiple users who need fast internet access.
2. The phone service is VOIP. That means your phones and PCs SHARE the same connection so their could be times when the phone service is choppy. That could be an issue for businesses that are on the phone alot, especially with multiple people making phone calls.
3. To date, OpenRange cannot port Windstream phone numbers. That is, you can’t take your 524 or 523 or 522 phone number with you. Most businesses can’t afford to lose their current number so we see this as a major hurdle right now and hope OpenRange can solve this issues

We believe this device is ideal for small businesses with 1-2 PCs, no major internet speed requirements, and only 1-2 phone lines. Remember, you likely can’t use your fax through this connection so you will still have to pay for separate fax lines most likely. To use this service, you need to be in the vicinity of Linntown and downtown Lewisburg.

We wish OpenRange success and hope their service provides our customers an alternative and keeps the ISP market competitive in our area.

In the Lewisburg area many DeJazzd customers are now Windstream customers whether they like or not. We thought would provide a tutorial on how to setup your Windstream or DeJazzd email in Outlook. In this examepl we use Outlook 2010 but the settings apply to any email client, such as Thunderbird,  Outlook Express, Windows Mail, etc.

Many people enjoy the freedom a web-based email as it allows you to access your email from any computer. If you would prefer this flexibility we recommend you just use Windstream’s webmail interface at http://webmail.windstream.net. Other people want to check their email in a traditional email client like Outlook, Thunderbird,  Outlook Express, etc. If you use one of the email client and want to setup your Windstream/Dejazzd email please follow the steps outlined in the how to video below!

Click here to watch tutorial video on Outlook Email Setup for Windstream Email Accounts.

If the video is difficult to follow, please follow the basic guidelines below.

1. Make sure your incoming (POP3) and outgoing (SMTP) servers are set to be promail.ptd.net
2. Make sure you username is NOT your full email address. For example, if you PTD  email address is johndoe@ptd.net your username would need to be johndoe and NOT johndoe@ptd.net
3. Make sure you have your CORRECT password typed in.
4. Make sure you have chosen outbound authentication (your SMTP server requires authentication) and that it uses the sames settings as your incoming server. This is usually the default radio option in Outlook
5. DO not change the default ports for the mail servers. Ports 25 for SMTP and ports 110 for POP3 are the correct ports to use.

The day Windstream took over D&E accounts was the beginning of the end. D&E Communications was a pretty innovative company with local employees and pretty good customer service. Windstream is the total opposite. They fired most of the local personnel and customer service is now beyond horrible.

Because of the horrible line issues, poor customer service, and inability to talk to anyone who has any real ability to make change, we encourage ALL of our customers to switch to Cable Internet to PTD through Service Electric, CATV, etc. We also encourage our customers to switch their dial tone telephone lines from Windstream to cable. Ironton Telephone provides superior service, solid line quality, and very accessible and helfpful customer service. We have the main sales rep on speed dial, and the techs at PTD are also very helpful.

To be blunt, we hope all of our customers make the switch. Maybe some day Windstream will self-correct and provide what we expected from D&E, but until then we strongly recommend cable in the territories where Windstream provides service.

Step 1: Unplug your routers and modems (cable or DSL) and wait 30 seconds, then plug them back in.
Step 2: If that doesn’t work, reboot your PC.
Step 3: Call your Internet Service Provider.

• PenTeleData: 800-281-3564 Press 2, then 3
• DEJAZZD: 570-524-6894 Option 4
• VERIZON: (800) 567-6789
• WINDSTREAM: 888-292-3827

Or you can just contact MePush!