Want ISP Recommendation

[Marc]

I've become very dissatisfied with my current ISP, AOL, and am looking for a new one. I would like my new ISP to have reliable connections, reasonable web page downloading speed, and the flexibility to use Internet Explorer and the e-mail client of my choice. I'm not yet interested in going the DSL route and want to stick with dial-up access. What are some good ISP's to consider?

[glc]

I use Surfree - it's $14.95 a month and they have dialups everywhere.

Other decent national ISP's that do not use proprietary software - Earthlink/Mindspring, AT&T Worldnet.

Check your local phone company (Ameritech, SWBell, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, etc.)

Netzero is a good free ISP - you just have to put up with the Zeroport ad banner.

AOL isn't an ISP - it's the Internet on training wheels.

[Edited by glc on 10-15-2000 at 07:42 PM]

[Xayd]

If you don't have a need for nationwide dialup locations, check out local ISP's. A local should always be faster than a national ISP, all other things being equal. Reason is the dialup server is local, but after that you end up being fetched across an 800 number (or worse, satellite link) to your ISP's closest backbone link. With a local ISP, the backbone link will in all likelihood be just that...local.

Agreed on Earthlink and AT&T. If you do go with a national ISP, those two are your best bets. No proprietary software required for either of them.

Xayd

[Edited by Xayd on 10-15-2000 at 08:00 PM]

[glc]

Xayd - Surfree is cheaper and uses a lot of the same dialups as Earthlink - they rent from everyone (psi.net and navipath here) and mail is outsourced to Critical Path, so it *works*. I dumped my local because they got bought out and service went down the terlet.

[Marc]

Thanks GLC & XAYD

I'll go ahead and look into those options you've suggested. While I'm at it, is there any way to transfer my "favorites", "Address Book", and "Personal File Cabinet" to the Internet Explorer and my new e-mail client from my AOL software?

[glc]

http://206.161.202.65/forum/showthread.php?threadid=4328

[RayH]

Almost any of the major free ISPs gives better service than AOL. If you can tolerate the banner, go for the free. You can use Window Sniper (go up to DOWNLOAD.com (http://www.download.com)) to cloak the ad banner. Instead of the ad banner being on top, it'll be below your browser. That way, it's still active, but not bothering you.

The trick with the free ISPs is to have about three of them and don't use their attached e-mail services. Use an online service, like Yahoo or Hotmail. Both can be served through Outlook Express 5.x

If you're constantly downloading big stuff, you may want to consider paying. A good regional service is usually better than the nationals. But I haven't had any particular problems with the freebies.

[RayH]

I'm back to using ADDRESS.COM (http://www.address.com) as my primary ISP. Their ad banner is a lot smaller than Juno's and is fairly reliable service. Their service now supports both Yahoo and Hotmail through OE5. I use Juno as a backup.

Use Windows Sniper and you can't tell the difference between the two. Although Adress.com has a better connection usually.

[Edited by RayH on 10-21-2000 at 10:39 PM]