DSL rant and Dial-up rave

[KParker]

Rant:
I just signed up for Verizon DSL (Maryland) and thought I'd share some of my experiences. The install went pretty easy, but their software installed an older, branded Netscape (which I didn't select to install, but it did anyway)even though I already had Netscape on my computer. So I had 2 Net Browsers installed. Then their browser changed all the files in my computer to Netscape. Tech support claimed they had no idea of what I was talking about, but the TOS also says no support for IE. So I finally figured out how to change everything back, but still annoyed just the same.

Rave:
If anyone still needs decent dial-up for a good price, check out SpinInternet. I have had them for the past year, and they have been great for $15.95 a month. They are in New York, and yes, they were very close to the Towers. Considering the mess, they were only down for about 12 hours. I've always had a decent connection with this ISP and the tech support is always great.

[glc]

You don't need their software to get PPPoE DSL working. RASPPPoE is much better than their crappy connection manager and is a small free download. I *NEVER* install ISP's provided software on ANY machine unless it's something like AOL that requires it - but then again, AOL isn't a real ISP, it's an "online service" with an Internet gateway (Internet on training wheels).