Good ISPs Exist !
By Jon Miller
Robbie, I must disagree a lot with what you have said about Internet Service Providers, and feel I must add my two cents.
>[ Nonetheless, upon hearing of the problems which AOL and many other
>[ ISP's are having with "flat-rate service", I am now willing to return
>[ to "metered service" and pay a fee for each minute that I'm connected.
>[
>[ I believe that an ISP charging by the minute will provide service as
>[ promised in a professional manner, and the children monopolizing the
>[ telephone and Internet circuits with their Web Browser toys will
>[ quickly disappear when the bill comes!
There are _many_ very fine "independent" ISPs out there who provide excellent service. I pay a flat $24.95 per month for unlimited time. There is _rarely_ a time when I have any problems; I've not had a busy signal for months, and data transfers are always very quick, even during peak hours. I even have 100 megs of hard-drive space for my web site.
Yes, there are times when there are minor problems, but many of them can be blamed on the working of the Internet itself -- problems can occur in anywhere up or downstream. There is, not yet, any such thing an ISP who never has problems. We need to keep in mind the rapid growth of the Internet as of late -- along with the fact that it is not so much a "planned" network, but rather a pieced together system. Sometimes I find it amazing that it works a all.
Also, I have a very popular web site, receiving 40-50,000 hits per day. To maintain it all, I'm on line for several hours per day. If I had to pay per hour, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would take down his web site: we'd see many fine sites coming down if the cost were so much higher.
My personal recommendation? Find a "local/independent" service provider. I guarantee you will find many fewer problems than with most of the national services. The independent providers do not have the means to give out free disks with every modem sold, so many people are unaware they even exist.
Regards
Jon Miller
291 Thomas Ave
Saint Paul MN 55103
[ Jon also noted that his ISP turned down requests for service
[ until enough telephone lines were installed to handle the customer
[ demand. Now _that's_ a professional operation! -- Robbie |
(Message sent Sun 19 Jan 1997, 06:41:29 GMT, from time zone GMT-0600.) |
|
|
Mechanical
Music Digest™ Archives
