PimComm Internet - Frequently Asked Questions

General customer questions:

Q) I want your service, how do I sign up?
A) Come see us to sign up, or fill out the signup now on our main page here!

Q) Why is your service different than other providers here?
A) The service we provide is Fibre Optic service, pure fibre from our internet access to your door. There may be business cases where we are providing service by another means, but if you're a residential customer: your service is fibre optic.

Q) What is so good about Fibre?
A) Fibre optic technology allows for high-speed data transmission. We're using low powered lasers to connect you to the internet, with incredibly fast speed.

Q) How reliable is PimComm service?
A) Your future internet service is online, rain, snow or shine.

Q) What data limits do I have on my service?
A) The only limits we impose on our customers is the package speed you sign up for, and that the service is best effort for the type of service you have. Don't forget that we reserve the right to police unfair usage of the service as outlined in our acceptable use policy.

Q) I want to host a public-accessible service or server on my internet?
A) You must have a business service with PimComm to do this.

Q) My WiFi speed isn't as fast as my hardwired speed, why?
A) Many technical reasons exist as to why WiFi could be slower than hardwired service.

Q) I've been notified that my internet service might be participating in some type of criminal, undesirable activity, or might be improperly exposed and vulnerable to the internet, what do I do?
A) It is your responsibility to find, repair or remove all devices that are connected to your internet service that could be violating the Acceptable use policy.

Q) What is acceptable use of your service?
A) Were glad you asked, check our acceptable use policy link at the bottom of this website.

Q) What happens if I'm notified that I'm unfairly using your service?
A) We will provide you the necessary technical information available to us to help you stop the violation.

Q) What happens if I choose to ignore your advice, or continue operating my service in violation of the acceptable use policy?
A) PimComm reserves the right to terminate your service for failure to comply with the acceptable use policy.

Q) What devices do I need to make sure are updated?
A) All of the devices connected to your internet should be updated, and should be receiving security updates from the manufacturer.

Q) I have devices that I would like to connect to the internet, that are no longer being supported by the manufacturer?
A) We discourage connecting devices that are no longer supported or End-Of-Life to our internet. These devices can pose a huge security risk to not only yourself, but us as a service provider. We politely ask that you do not connect these devices to the internet.

Q) What devices aren't allowed on PimComm Internet?
A) Any device that is intended to contravene laws or regulations within Canada.
Any device that is considered "End-of-life" by the manufacturer.
Any device that can no longer receive security updates.
Any device that participates in copyright infringement (acquiring TV, movie or other content illegally).
Any device that could impact others ability to use or access the internet.
Any device that has an optical port is not allowed to be connected to PimComms infrastructure without former written approval from PimComm.

Q) Can I sell, lease, rent or share my internet with other users?
You are not allowed to sell, lease or rent your internet to others. You can share your internet with people that you trust who may be visiting you, but are not allowed to share access with neighbours. You take on full responsibility for their device as the customer of PimComm.

Gamer or technical questions:

Q) I'm a gamer, or members of my household are serious gamers.
A) Let them play their games on our service, if there are technical issues that arise from playing games on our internet, we will propose potential solutions to these problems. Which may or may not include changes to your service, upgrading to a business-style service or pay for an additional monthly service.
Not all gamers require special changes to their service, but we recognize some situations that could benefit from this issue and we will do our best to help you find a solution.

Q) What can I do to improve the speed and reliability of my WiFi?
A) Hardwire any "mission critical" devices, prefer devices with Ethernet ports, place your wireless devices in line-of-sight of the Wireless Router/Gateway, try changing WiFi Channels to less congested channels, change WiFi channel widths, or restrict allowed devices to ones that support more modern WiFi standards.

Q) I've hardwired my devices, but I'm only getting a fraction of the speed that I'm paying for, why?
A) Make sure the ethernet cable is a quality, cat 5e or cat6-rated ethernet cable, and make sure the device you're using to test doesn't have any problems with it; malware, viruses, antivirus software, and adapter age or adapter settings can cause hardwired services to perform poorly.

Q) What is a Cat Ethernet cable?
A) The main thing to know is that a Cat5e cable can support speeds upto 1Gbps and should be considered the minimum standard. Cat6 is definitely recommended and can achieve speeds greater than 1Gbps for short distances. Cat3 is obsolete and can only support 10Mbps, Cat5 is obsolete and can only support 100Mbps.
Cat is short of "Category" and the higher the Cat number, the faster the speeds are. These cables are backwards compatible with older standards, but may not perform as expected on older equipment.

Q) Do you NAT (network-address-translation) your residential customers?
A) Yes and No. The devices provided to our customers may perform NAT.
PimComm will NAT residential customers internet connection into a pool of public IP (IPv4) addresses.
PimComm provides dual-stack connectivity, so as more services come online with IPv6-support, your experience will be less "natted" from outside of the device inside your household (depending on the IPv6 configuration in-use).

Business specific questions:

Q) I have a business service, what rules do I need to follow?
A) You need to follow our acceptable use policy, and properly maintain your services and software updates (or have a separate managed service provider perform this for you).

Q) I require additional technical support.
A) Sure, contact us and we'll provide you some options. One of which may be reaching out to a Managed Service Provider to help you better comply with maintaining your equipment, required software and security updates.

Q) What is emergency or maintenance window?
A) PimComm may experience an emergency that requires software or equipment to be updated promptly, or there may be a situation that arises where service could be rendered unusable. These would be considered emergencies and we will act within our ability to keep the service connected (as long as it isn't contributing to the outage or emergency).