Selecting an ISP
by Don Singleton
Tulsa Computer Society
From the February 1997 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter
One of the subjects requested by several people responding to the questionaire on possible programs for an Internet Sig Meeting was how to select an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This question has come up at several other meetings as well. Rather than scheduling a program on the subject, I thought this would best be covered in an I/O Port Article, so here it is.
When most people ask that question, they really want to you to identify one or two possible providers, i.e. to narrow down the selection process. However it is very difficult to do, without knowing the exact requirements of the individual seeking an ISP. Could you pick out a pair of shoes that would fit me, and that I would like, without somehow having the use of my feet, and as the saying goes, being able to walk in my moccasins? Could you pick out a car that I would like, and which would fit my needs, or would you be likely to impose your opinions and likes and dislikes in the selection process? What I think I need to do is discuss each of the points one should consider in the selection process, attempting to identify why certain features would be important to certain people, and then let you determine which of those features have importance to you, and therefore which you should consider in the selection process.
Shell Account
For example, one thing that I really like to have an ISP provide is a shell account access, in addition to a graphical PPP access. What this means is that I like to be able to call in to the shell account from a DOS communication program like Procomm (the one I use) or Qmodem, and get a Unix Prompt, which is similar to a Dos Prompt. Accessing the system this way means I can just get text data, so if I want to browse the World Wide Web and go to a site with significant graphical images, I will need to go into Windows, and call in through a PPP interface to run a browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer. But I spend significant portions of my day in DOS, not in Windows, and I can call in through a shell account, and check my email, without having to stop what I am doing in DOS and go into Windows, and the whole process is much faster than going into Windows to do it. And if I want to go to a WWW site that has primarilly text information I need, I can do that through the shell account as well, using the character mode LYNX browser in Unix.
The disadvantages of a shell account are significant: one must learn at least a little Unix, and you can't view the graphics on a web site. But there are some advantages of shell access as well: there are some situations where web pages must be given particular rights, such as pages that use certain Access Counters, and it is much easier to go into the web directory through a shell and use CHMOD to assign those rights. Also when I travel, and will have access to something like CompuServe or America OnLine, if I am expecting an important email message I can use a shell account to create a temporary ".forward" file to forward my email to my CompuServe or AoL account, and then when I get back home remove the ".forward" file, and resume getting email at my ISP, all without having to disturb those sending me email.
Some ISPs supply shell access with all of their accounts, others have it available with some types of accounts, but not with others, and some ISPs do not make shell access available at all. This is a very good example of why I would prefer not to try to recommend a particular provider -- since I like shell access, I would tend to favor alternatives that included shell access, yet many people get along quite nicely without shell access, and if they had it, they would not know what to do with it.
Web Page
Another service which some ISPs supply with some or all of their accounts is space for a free web page. They don't build the page for you, you either must learn (by attending some of our Internet Sig meetings for example) how to build it yourself, or you may hire someone (such as myself) to build it for you, but they provide you with 1 meg, 2 meg, 5 meg, or even 10 meg or more of space on their system, for your web page. For your information the Tulsa Computer Society's Web Page was less than 1 meg for a long time. Most ISPs don't care what you do with your web page, as long as it is legal (please don't include adult oriented graphic files that would be liable to get them in trouble with the law), although at least one ISP I know of does not allow you to focus on any profit making business in your "free" web page. You can publish your political views, or poetry you wrote, or tell people what your hobbies are, or show them some pictures you created, but don't offer to sell any of that work. Most ISPs don't care whether you do business on your free page or not, as long as it is not going to be so popular as to make major demands on their Web Server's throughput.
Email
Perhaps the main thing you want in terms of Internet Access is email (electronic mail). All ISPs give you the ability to receive Email, and some of them offer you multiple mailboxes, so that your mail can be kept separate from your spouses mail, and that of your kids, but some of them only offer you a single mailbox. In selecting an ISP, you need to determine whether one mailbox is sufficient, or do you need to focus in on ISPs that support multiple mailboxes. You can always go to places like Juno that offer free email, but Juno does not (currently at least) support attatched files.
World Wide Web
Perhaps the main thing you want in terms of Internet Access is the ability to browse the World Wide Web, and check out some of the web sites you see mentioned on TV or in the newspapers. Most ISPs will provide you with some Web Browser software. It may be the latest version, or it may not, and it may be the software you prefer, or it may be another browser (you may want Netscape and they may give you Internet Explorer, or you may want Internet Explorer and they may give you Netscape), but exactly what software they provide should not be a major factor in selecting an ISP, as long as what they provide you lets you access the World Wide Web, because you can download the latest version of your favorite browser from the Internet (www.netscape.com for Netscape, www.microsoft.com for Internet Explorer). In fact we have links from the Tulsa Computer Society for both of these browsers, as well as sites like Stroud or Tucows where you can download a lot of other Winsock Client Programs.
Unlimited Access
Many providers offer "unlimited access" for a certain fee each month. Doesn't it seem reasonable that the best buy would be to go with the provider that offers unlimited access for the smallest monthly charge? It may seem reasonable, but it may also be wrong. What does unlimited access really mean? Are they guaranteeing you that anytime you call, day or night, you won't get a busy signal? The only way they could guarantee that is to have one phone line for each customer. A business phone line costs between $50 and $60 a month, plus the cost of the modem, plus that line's share of the cost the ISP incurs buying Internet Access from the company that he connects to. Can you explain to me how a company could guarantee you that level of access, and just charge you $20 or less per month? Obviously they can't, so what they have to do is try to have enough lines that most of the time when their callers call in they don't get too many busy signals before they finally get connected, and they have to hope that some of their customers will want to do most of their accessing in the early morning before work, others will want to do most of their accessing during the daytime, others will want to do most of their accessing in the early evening, others in the late evening, and still others at 2AM. If they are unlucky, and a significant portion of their customer base wants access at a particular time, say early evening, then they are either going to have to install more phone lines, or their customer base is going to have to put up with a lot of difficulty getting in.
You want to make sure the ISP you are thinking of signing up with has enough phone lines to let you get on, DURING THE TIME YOU PLAN TO USE THE SERVICE. This is why we insist that any company that wants to be listed on the list of Internet Service Providers we publish each month must give us their modem number. You won't be able to actually connect without an account, but you can dial that number, during the time of day you expect most of your access to take place, and see how many times you get through to a modem whistle, and how many times you get a busy signal.
Bandwidth
Having too few phone lines is not the only way that unlimited access can be limited. The ISP might not have sufficient bandwidth in his connection to the Internet. One of our members was using AT&T and complained about how slow it took her to download graphic images. Since AT&T is my long distance carrier, I took advantage of their 5 free hours a month, and signed up and ran some tests, and found that in the evening and on weekends, AT&T was just as fast as three local ISPs that I had access to, but during the weekday, AT&T could take 5 to 10 times as long to download a file or a large graphic image, than to capture the same file or image, at the same time of day, from any of the three local ISPs that I was testing against. Apparently they support a LOT of business customers, and don't have sufficient bandwidth to handle the needs of those business customers and their other dial-in customers as well. Unfortunately there is not much you can do to check that out ahead of time, but I would caution against making any really long term committments to an ISP, at least until you have been able to determine they have sufficient bandwidth to handle the loads at the time of day or night that you plan to do most of your accessing.
But can't you just ask the ISP what sort of bandwidth he has available? Well I have seen ISPs claiming T1 access just because they have a frame relay cabinet in which they can add 56kb channels up to 1.5 mb (which is what T1 provides), or claiming T1 when they have it on order, or are thinking about putting it on order. But even if there was some way to be certain exactly what sort of bandwidth they have to their provider, is their provider attempting to deliver more bandwidth than they have access to from the backbone? And even if your prospective ISP really does have a full T1 to a super provider who has multiple T3s to the backbone, how many customers is your ISP servicing? If they have 100 customers online at the same time you are, and they are all downloading large files or large graphic images, there is enough bandwith to keep your 14.4 modem busy, but your 28.8 is going to be coasting much of the time.
On-Line Services, National ISPs, or Local ISPs
Potential ISPs fall in three major categories: On-Line Services, National ISPs, and Local ISPs. On-Line Services are companies like America On Line (AoL) and CompuServe (CIS). They have excellent forums, conference areas, etc that are available just to their own members, and they also offer access to the Internet, however, in my opinion, it is slower to access the internet through one of them, than it is through a local ISP. If you plan to make major use of the proprietary areas they have available, and only occasional use of the Internet they may be a good choice. Or if you travel a significant amount of the time, staying in major cities all over the US, they can be a very good choice, because you can usually find a local access number in most major cities. National ISPs like Netcom do not have their own proprietary content, like AoL and CIS, but like them they do have access points in most major cities, so if you travel a significant part of the time, staying in major cities all over the US, a National ISP may be a good choice. If you spend most of your time in Tulsa, I would not recommend either OnLine Services or National ISPs. I would select one of the Local ISPs we list in the I/O Port (preferably one that supports the Tulsa Computer Society through advertising in the I/O Port). For one reason, the money you pay them stays in Oklahoma, and helps our economy, rather than going to the East Coast or the West Coast. But even more important, if you have a dispute with them, their offices are right here in town, and you can go visit them face to face, and get a much better resolution to your problem than if you have to deal with them on the telephone, on hold, frequently on a Toll Call.
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Tulsa Computer Society 02/07/97
Don Singleton, President
tcs@galstar.com