Evaluation of Internet Service Providers

• Terminology
• Criteria
• Other Information

Terminology

• Backbone. The major connection between ISPs. In reality, the backbone is a multi-level network, but it can be considered as a single entity.
• Bandwidth. The amount of data that can be sent over a line (such as a telephone line). The larger the bandwidth, the less time it takes to send data. For example, T1 telephone lines have a larger bandwidth than standard phone lines.
• Domain Name Server (DNS). This is a computer at your ISP that looks up your name and determines where to send the message. For example, to send a message to fred@netdog.com, the DNS determines where netdog is.
• Email. Electronic mail. Eudora is a well known (and considered one of the best) email program which you can use to read and send email. There are others.
• Home Page. When you are Web browsing and go to a new location, you first see their home page. In many cases, you can have one of your own, too.
• Internet Service Provider (ISP). This is the company that you contract with to give you access to the Internet.
• List Server. This is a mechanism that distributes email (e.g., alerts, etc.) to everyone on a mailing list. You subscribe to the list server to get the mailings.
• Modem. The box that connects your computer to the telephone line. Many brands are available. Reviews in PC Magazine indicate US Robotics is the best. I agree. (See PC Magazine October 1994 and March 1995 issues - good articles). An internal modem is built into your PC. An external modem is a separate component, and has lights that can help you see what is happening.
• Modem speed. The faster, the better (but before you buy a fast one for an old PC, be sure the PC UART (a communications chip) and serial board can handle it). Typical speeds are 14.4, 19.2, and 28.8 kilobits per second (thousands of bits per second). In the good old days, 1.2 kbps was considered outstanding. A bit is a one or zero. It takes 8 bits to represent one character. For internet access, especially if you plan to do Web browsing (which involves transfer of lots of large graphics files), get the fastest modem you can. If all you want to do is email, speed is not as important.
  Modems now adhere to V.32 BIS and V.34 standards, where they try to communicate at the fastest speeds possible, and then "fall back" to slower speeds if telephone line conditions degrade. A good-quality modem will allow you to consistently communicate at high speeds. When you use the same types of modems on each end, connectivity is usually better.
• Newsgroup. A newsgroup is where people post articles. Everyone can read posted articles and post their own responses. There are thousands of newsgroups you can join.
• Response time. You want fast response time when reading email or browsing the Web. Slow response time is frustrating, and uses up your connect time.
• SLIP and PPP. When you connect to your ISP, the communication protocol will be one of these two. SLIP is fairly simple, while PPP (point to point) is more complicated, offers error correction, and is more reliable. If you dial into your ISP, you will connect using a dynamic SLIP or PPP protocol.
• URL. Uniform Resource Locator. This is a link between documents on the Web. It might look like the following: http://www.betterworld.com/suwa/letter.html The http stands for Hypertext Transmission Protocol. The actual computer site in the above example is www.betterworld.com. The single slashes separate directory paths at the computer site. The final letter.html is a single document, prepared in Hypertext Markup Language.

Criteria

• Modems and phone lines. Are there enough so you won't get a busy signal?
• Response times. You want fairly fast response with few delays.
• Reasonable rates. A reasonable rate is $20 to $25 for 20 to 50 hours of access per month. Be careful about lots of hours (or unlimited hours) for a low fee - this can sometimes mean that your response time will be bad and you might busy signals because customers stay connected for long periods of time. Also note there may be a connect time limit and forced delay before you can log in again - both are impediments to your productivity.
• Good technical support. To find out if a provider has good technical support, determine their hours of support. Then make a call or two to their technical support to determine if you get placed on hold for a long period of time. Ask others who use the provider.

1. Cost.
2. Time in business. This older a company is, the more stable it probably is, and the more reliable its service. Small start-up companies can suffer from growth pains, which manifest as inadequacies in technical support and equipment. Equipment problems usually show up as busy signals (not enough modems) or slow response (inadequate processors or bandwidth).
3. Number of dial-in users. More customers means a more stable company, but it could mean problems with technical support and response time.
4. Number of modems. The more, the better.
5. Customer-to-modem ratio. 10:1 to 12:1 is considered good, 20:1 to 30:1 is considered poor, and means you may get busy signals when you dial in. However, although customer-to-modem ratio is a valid measurement for a small ISP with a few hundred dial-in customers, it becomes less meaningful for larger providers. With larger providers with thousands of dial-in customers, the crucial measurement is the percentage of busy signals customers encounter. Capacity in this case is determined by the number of customers actively connected during peak periods as compared to the total number of dial-in ports.
6. Frequency of busy signals., based upon comments from various parties. You want to avoid busy signals.
7. Modem vendor and type. Good modems work better but cost more.
8. Modem speed. The faster, the better. Expect at least 28.8.
9. Connection type. Dynamic SLIP or dynamic PPP. PPP is preferable.
10. Backbone connectivity. The faster, the better. T1 is good, connecting at 1.45 megabits per second. Frame relay connectivity means that you are dealing with slower connectivity at 56 kbps. This usually indicates the provider is running out of a low-cost home setup. T3 is much faster than a T1.
11. Home page available. Useful if you want your own home page.
12. Own Domain Name Server (DNS). Some ISPs don't have their own DNS, and have to use some else's, which slows down your response time.
13. Own Newsgroup server. If your ISP has its own newsgroup server (e.g., a separate computer), you will get faster response.
14. Own Email server. If your ISP has its own email server (e.g., a separate computer), you will get faster response.
15. Technical support.

• List server technology. If you want to set one up (with you as the originating party), check if the ISP offers one to you, and at what cost. Also determine if they are using MajorDomo, ListServ, SmartList. MajorDomo is popular, but ListServ and SmartList offer more features to the originating user.

• Contact various Internet Providers
• Ask other users of Internet Providers
• This document
• Other similar comparisons between providers

Additional Information

• Do see The List - a comprehensive list of Internet Service Providers with a search facility.
   
  
• BudgetWeb.com offers the largest collection of low-cost web space services.