Guide to choosing a Internet Service Provider (ISP).

General Overview:
Viewed through the eyes of the typical consumer, a rich array of choices exists in the narrowband ISP space. Consumers now are free to ask a series of questions that enable them to differentiate one ISP from another. Consumers often find the task of finding a new ISP a daunting task we have created a helpful resource for consumers to use as a reference guide.

Use following as your guide lines:

Brand - With over 9,000 ISPs available, choose an ISP you know and trust. Some ISPs may not have the depth of services or variety of features offered by larger, more established companies.

Security - Look for an ISP that has a strict and fully disclosed privacy policy so you can be sure your personal information will be safe and secure. If you're not careful, some may even sell your personal data to third parties. It's also a good idea to look for the Better Business Bureau Online seal so you can shop online with confidence.

Technical Support - Look for an ISP that offers both live and online customer care and technical support. Some companies offer 24x7 support which might be outsourced so the quality of service might be lower then expected. You might look for an ISP that offers in house technical support but may not offer 24x7 support, normally these ISPs will offer a higher quality of service.

Features - When looking for a new ISP you will want to choose one that offers the features and service you want. Most ISPs offer a variety of price plans to fit your budget, multiple email IDs, personal web space, chat rooms, instant messaging, games, anti-spam & virus filtering to cut down on unsolicited email messages.

Speed and Reliability - Since you'll be downloading information from the Web, look for an ISP that has a strong record of providing reliable, speedy access and downloads. Most ISPs these days offer national access through a major wholesale dialup provider like Level3, UUNet, Qwest, ICG and MegaPOP you might want to ask what their relationship to these companies are and possible do some research on the backbone providers they use.

Question: Does the ISP go down often? How long does it take to restore service?
Remark : Defiantly one of the first questions you will want to ask your ISP, but keep in mind a lot of ISPs buy their dialup access from middle-men and it might take longer for services to become operational again. When asking your ISP see if they deal directly with their dialup vendor or if they use a middle-man.

Question: Does the ISP have a backup system that guarantees service? Will the ISP accept large mail messages or are messages truncated at a certain length?
Remark: This is another great question to ask the ISP you are looking to choose. If their mail server crashes will your old email be restored.

Question: Does the ISP offer newsgroups?
Remark: Most ISPs do offer newsgroups either on their own or they outsource them from SuperNews, GigaNews and son on.

Question: What is the ISP’s connection to the Internet? Is there a lag when connecting?
Remark: A very good question you don't want your ISP to be connected to the Internet with a 128k ISDN line :)

Question: Does the ISP use multiple redundant connections to protect against connection failures? Does it channel all traffic through one pipe?
Remark: Redundancy is a definite must in the ISP industry, this is something you will want to ask.
We hope this information has helped you in your quest to find a new Internet Service Provider.


This Article is (C) The ISP Report.

Question: Is there a setup fee for the account?
Remark : Most ISPs will charge a setup fee. This is however not a bad thing ISPs need to help keep monthly service rates low so they charge a setup fee.

Question: Does the ISP provide flat-rate accounts?
Remark : When signing up with a new ISP make sure you find the low-down on their dialup packages, make ISPs claim to be unlimited but may imposed a hourly limit and charge for the extra hours.

Question: How many hours per week or month are included?
Remark : A lot of ISPs offer a limited amount of hours per month. Normally 150, 200 or 300 hours are common. Unlimited access is nice, but keep in mind its not dedicated. Also keep thing in mind if you have 150 hours of access per month that's 5 hour of access everyday for the month. 150 Hours is plenty for any normal consumer.

Question: Does the ISP offer metered accounts?
Remark : Some ISPs will offer metered accounts, 10, 20, 50 hours a month. This is perfect for people who want to check email occasionally or travel and need to get online to check weather etc..

Question: Does the ISP charge extra for usage during peak times?
Remark : Some ISPs still charge for usage during peak times, this is more common with rural or smaller ISPs, its defiantly a good idea to check with the ISP to make sure before signing up with them.
Phone Lines:

Question: Does the ISP provide dial-up numbers in the local area?
Remark : Make sure to check with your local telephone company to ensure the ISPs dialup number is a local call for you. Most ISPs offer some sort of nationwide access this is important if you travel or move.

Question: Do the dial-up numbers in the local area support the my modem speed?
Remark: Most ISPs have implemented the 56k v.90 and v.92 standards that are available today.

Question: What is the ratio of subscribers to modems? How long does it take to connect during peak times of the day? If the lines become busy too often, will the ISP stop signing up new accounts until new modems are added to the lines?
Remark : Most ISPs run a 10:1 user to modem ratio, this means in theory the ISP can support 10 users on 1 modem. Make sure your ISP cares about customer service and quality any good ISP will suspend new accounts until the capacity problem is resolved.

Question: Does the ISP regularly update its equipment?
Remark : You might make sure you ISP has good quality hardware and facilities, after all you will need this reliability for your email and internet connections.

Question: Does the ISP provide an alternate line in the local area to use if there is a problem? Are there local dial-up numbers for other area codes? Does the ISP provide an 800 number to connect?
Remark : Most ISPs offer more then once access number in every cities, you will need to confirm this with the ISP first. One myth is, that if the ISP only has one dialup number you will receive busy signals this is for the most part not true, that dialup number maybe forwarded to a major POP and connected to thousands of modems.

Question: What are the ISP’s technical support hours? Do they provide technical support during evenings and weekends? Does the ISP provide a toll-free technical support number? How difficult is it to get through to technical support? What is the average waiting time?
Remark : You want to choose a ISP that offers you the best support and care since you are paying for it. Call the ISPs helpdesk and pretend you are a customer and see how you are treated, this is the best way to see how friendly their support representatives are.

Question: Will the ISP give technical support via e-mail, or only via phone? How fast is the response time?
Remark : Most ISPs offer support via email, trouble ticketing systems and Telephone. Most ISPs return emails within a few hours, but make sure to check with the ISP you are looking. One good way to test this is send an email to their sales department asking them questions and see how long it takes them to reply.

Question: How large is the ISP’s technical support staff? Does the ISP provide online help pages? Are they helpful or too technical?
Remark : Keep these things in mind when choosing your new ISP, after all the worst thing is sitting online for 5 hours waiting for support.
Software:
Question: Does the ISP provide software for connecting? Is the software an additional cost?
Remark : Most ISPs will offer some sort of dialup configuration program to help you setup your connection.

Question: Does the ISP provide software for all types of computers and operating systems? Is the software easy to configure? Does the ISP provide service support for installing the software?
Remark : This is a very good question to ask if you are running Linux or another operating system.