Before you subscribe
Be very careful into getting sucked in to the "free" hours that many companies such as AOL and MSN
use to get you to sign up. Free is usually not so free. Internet service is no exception. On every instance a credit
card number is required, and depending on which ever expires first; the free hours or 30 days, the initial trial
period is considered "used up" and your card gets billed and keeps on getting billed until you talk to
a sales person. Avoid the word "free" like the plague when it comes to Internet service.
There is a flip side of the coin also. The providers who charge a setup fee! It is not a very difficult to
create a mailbox and add a user to a domain. Makes me feel like a set up fee is designed to sucker people into
staying with a service. Just for the simple reason that they have an "investment" at stake. If a provider
wants a setup fee say thanks but no thanks and move on!!
Unlimited access is essential! If a provider is rushing to get you off line after a given amount of time.,they
are most likely are scrimping on of phone lines, modems and other equipment. If you want to stay online 24/7 that
is your business. Most providers will let you. Please don't take advantage of a good thing either. Tip: When first
speaking to an ISP ask for their user - modem ratio! Anything below 50:1 is acceptable.
After you subscribe
Before I get into a little more technical information I would like to point out some up front or minor areas
to look for. The infamous busy signal. In certain areas of the country it can be impossible to connect during evenings
and weekend hours. Don't put up with this!! When I dial in for a service that I am paying good money for and can't
connect on the first try. I find it completely unacceptable. A busy signal is a clear fibber optic quality message
that it is time to move on!!
At times we are connected for a lengthy periods of time and we get disconnected for lack of user activity.
Again, this is another practice that is unacceptable. For Example, I don't like trying to download very large files
and getting to 98 pct. and have to start over again just because my ISP disconnected me. Good Old AOL loves to
disconnect its users after there was no input for 45 minutes. Indeed they give you a warning but who sits in front
of their computer waiting for a system messages while downloading huge files?
Ok it is time to get a little bit more technical. There are presently 5 areas of the Internet: The World Wide
Web, File Transfer Protocol, Internet relay chat, Email and News Groups. For all intent and purposes the first
3 of the 5 will be basically the same through any ISP. Email and News Groups have to be watched a little more closely.
For Mail you should want something known as POP3 (Post Office Protocol). It is the
Internet standard and as long as you have a valid address and password you can get your mail from any other
ISP that uses POP3. Anywhere in the world at any time!! Most ISP's do use it, but pleas ask!! It is worth it!
Newsgroups, This is the one area of the Internet that varies most on all ISP's. Newsgroups can be very valuable
when it comes to raw information and files. Every ISP subscribes to what is called news feed. When something is
up loaded to the address that hosts the news group and is thus picked u by the host who feeds it to your provider.
The problem is storage space and there are a vast number of companies that do news feeds. Yes, Many ISP's do it
them self. In short, the greater number of articles the better but it is difficult because not many people have
the advantage of comparing the feed of one company over that of others. Simply ask around! In the real world and
the internet how many articles (posts ) Your favorite group has at a given day. After all that's is itself what
the news groups is for. To get information. Thus what is wrong to look to the news groups for info about the news
groups.
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