Rate your ISP

[Ed_L]

When I bought the new computer, I received 6 months free (yeah, right!) access to DellNet, which is powered by MSN. I have about 3 months left, and when my time is up I'll probably be going elsewhere. Here's the pros and cons from my point of view:
(This is a dial up account)

Pros:
1. It's very rare when I can't connect.
2. Customer service is outstanding.

Cons:
1. E-mail functionality is spotty.
2. With a web-based account (like I have), you are limited to
attachment sizes of 1.5 megs or less.
3. I routinely have problems sending files close to
(but under) 1.5 megs.
4. You can not change to a Pop3 account
without losing the time remaining on your account.
5. Their e-mail is set so that you cannot use software other
than Microsoft's.

Neutral:
1. I usually connect between 42 kbps and 46 kbps.

Additional note:
When I first set up my account, they did not explain that I could only send larger files if I chose a Pop3 account, which couldn't be read from the www. They only gave me the option to read my mail from the web (which I rarely do). I would not recommend MSN. Still waiting for availability of something besides dial up in my area.

1. Who is your ISP?
2. What kind of account is it (dial up or whatever)?
3. What are the pros and cons?

Ed

[d_kendal]

I'm using the Edmonton Freenet (Dial up).

Pros: Cheap, about $100 canadian (approx. $65 US) per year, connection speed is usually somewhere around 45kbps, a few (non web based) email accounts.

Cons: not much. there's the occasional down time, but it's pretty good usually. a lot of it is volunteers, so tech support isn't always great.

there's Freenets almost everywhere, where you can get low prices for decent service. here's a listing for the US: http://www.freenet.mb.ca/othersys/freenets/usa.html (Ed- there's a listing in there for Indiana if you're interested in something like that)
In the next couple months I'm planning to get Telus ADSL.

- David

[Ed_L]

Thanks David. I'll check it out.

Ed

[ItzRandy]

After being with Pacific Bell DSL for a year, I finally had my rates go up to $49.95 US a month. It is now under the corporate umbrella of SBC Global which so far has had no negative impact on my account.

Speed is outrageous compared to dialup. During my last speed test I clocked in a download speed of 1.26 Mb p/s. When I recently moved I was forced back to dialup for about two weeks and I thought I would kill something if I had to go any longer. If you spend any significant amount of time on the net and you have DSL available in your area, the money is well spent!

My friends that have cable connections are not nearly as pleased with their services. Sure they have the capability for greater speed but with sharing the bandwidth, they never see the greater speed.

[thomasgeorge]

Thats simple...on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being miserable and 10 being excellent, I rate the ISP here at a -235.6. Staying connected for more than 20 minutes continous is a noteworthy occurance and a connection speed of greater than 19.2 for anything is also an occurance worthy of celebration.Its a dial up network, CMC claims the monthly fees but little else, especially the ability to improve the service. On the bright side, it doesnt rain very much here and there is no lack of ground squirrels. Tom

[Chris W.]

Well out here in the middle of nowhere we have a whopping - One choice for an ISP.

We belong to a Co-op phone company and they have a monopoly on the ISP business as well as who they will allow to provide long distance service.

In the past the connection was okay at best...but lately I've have more disconnect problems and down time.

The price one pays to live in a wonderful place I guess.

[chris h]

This thread has surprised me as I assumed you’d be knee deep in broadband and cable in the US. This doesn’t appear to be the case. I have a pay flat rate dial up service that is excellent, all server downtime apart from unforseen is announced prior to work and dropped connections are rare. I also have a couple of free ISP links for back up but rarely needed although their performance is good. No broadband here yet but I can live without it for the time being.

Friends who have broadband are paying about £23 per month although I understand there is some new hardware required.

[winwintoo]

I love my ISP...

I have high speed (DSL/broadband) from SaskTel which is the provincially owned telephone company. Downtime is so rare that I can only recall about twice that it has happened. Tech support is great - they have dedicated Mac support people besides the well-trained Windows and Linux types.

The only downside is that with a dedicated ip address, you can only have one computer connected at a time - but for an additional fee you can have additional ip addresses if you need them.

I have considered switching to cable modem but why mess with a good thing?

Margaret

[chris h]

Whats required hardware wise for ADSL ?

[winwintoo]

I think all you need is an Ethernet card in your computer. In my case, the ISP supplies the modem and a filter on the phone line.

My Macintosh computers all have Ethernet build-in so I didn't need to worry about that. There was a $99 "hook-up" fee which covered the cost of the filter and the visit by the installer.

The modem costs about $400 if you have to buy one (mine is supplied)

Margaret

[d_kendal]

the main ADSL provider (Telus) here in Edmonton sells a self install kit for about $250 canadian (and they have a $200 rebate on that) which includes the external ADSL modem, phone filters and software. the service costs $35 per month.

- David

[chris h]

David, I noticed these self install kits have appeared over here. When broadband first appeared over here it was about £35 per month but for various reasons both regulator and market forces its in the lower twenties now

[d_kendal]

wow, £35 is about $80 canadia do you know why it costs so much over there?
- David

[chris h]

The national telephone network was government owned up until about 15 years ago but was then turned into a private organisation 'BT' with the idea that other comm companies could buy into the network. However BT was loath to do this and swung the lead with regard to new phone technologies having no direct competition over here. Private ISP's are able to sell broadband to their customers but BT has been slow to install the technology to allow this. However the government has leaned on BT and that as well as a change in management has started to cause prices to follow market forces and fall. BT says 70% of the population over here has ADSL connectivity but thats rubbish. However I think things will speed up in the near future.