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.