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The Internet can be confusing, if not intimidating at times to the casual user. Some typical questions might include, What does ISP (Internet Service Provider) stand for and how do I choose the right one? Should I get a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or will a regular dial-up be sufficient? Our Information Resources department has produced a research paper that compares national Internet Service Providers (ISP's). A national ISP is defined as one that services the majority of the continental United States. ISP's can range in both price and features. While remaining focused on national ISP's this information will cover the full range of price and feature offerings for both full service and free ISP's.
Contents
Introduction
Summary
Full Feature Service Providers
America Online
AT & T WorldNet
CompuServe
EarthLink
MSN
Prodigy Internet
Free Service Providers
Juno
NetZero
Feature Comparison
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to research and compare national Internet Service Providers (ISPs). A national ISP is defined as one that services the majority of the continental United States. ISPs range in both price and features. While remaining focused on national ISPs this report will cover the full range of price and feature offerings both full service and free.
Summary
Internet Service Providers may be national, regional, and local. ISPs may have a monthly charge associated with them or be free of charge.
The national fee-based ISPs charge around $20.00 a month. This includes up to 56Kbps dial-up connectivity, one e-mail address, newsgroup support, and a personal web page. Regional ISPs have similar price/performance to national ISPs. Local ISPs provide a wide range of services and in many instances superior reliability and customer performance to national and regional ISPs. Due to their limited points of presence (POPs), local ISPs are not useful to the mobile user or cohesive administration of multiple locations over a wide geographic area. Finding a reliable local ISP could be difficult. Of the national fee-based ISPs EarthLink seems to be the favorite.
National free Internet service providers have a very wide range of performance. All require demographic information on signup. Most free ISPs require a specialized browser to be used. These browsers track which web sites the user visits and target ads accordingly. The user is bombarded with advertisement banners and is sometimes required to click into an advertised web site before continuing. A user's junk mail should also increase as their name and information is sold to marketing companies. The major problem with all free ISPs is busy signals. It is widely recommended that anyone using a free ISP sign up for more than one to increase the chances of getting through. Of the free ISPs reviewed the top rated three are BlueLight, Excite, and AltaVista.
Full Feature Service Providers
Full feature service providers researched:
- America Online
- AT&T WorldNet
- CompuServe
- Concentric
- EarthLink
- MSN
- MindSpring.
- Prodigy Internet
America Online
Contact:
| Service Name |
America Online |
| Internet Sites |
AOL |
| Parent Company |
America Online Inc. |
| Central Offices |
Dulles, VA |
| Customer Service |
800-827-6364 |
| Technical Support |
800-827-3338 |
| Hours Available (EST) |
8:00am-2:00am, 7 days |
Pricing:
|
Type
|
Base Cost
|
Hours Included
|
Additional Hours
|
|
Setup Fee
|
None
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Trial Offer
|
Free
|
100
|
$2.95
|
|
Monthly
|
$4.95
|
3
|
$2.50
|
|
Monthly
|
$9.95
|
5
|
$2.95
|
|
Monthly
|
$21.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
|
Content Monthly
|
$9.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
AT & T WorldNet
Contact:
|
Service Name
|
AT&T WorldNet Service
|
|
Internet Sites
|
ATT
|
|
Parent Company
|
AT&T Corp.
|
|
Central Offices
|
Bridgewater, NJ
|
|
Customer Service
|
800-967-5363
|
|
Technical Support
|
800-967-5363
|
|
Hours Available (EST)
|
8:00am-Midnight, 7 days
|
Pricing:
|
Type
|
Base Cost
|
Hours Included
|
Additional Hours
|
|
Setup Fee
|
None
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Trial Offer
|
Free
|
1 month
|
N/A
|
|
Monthly
|
$9.95
|
10
|
$0.99
|
|
Monthly
|
$19.95
|
150
|
$0.99
|
|
Monthly
|
$21.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
CompuServe
Contact:
|
Service Name
|
CompuServe Interactive
|
|
Internet Sites
|
Compuserve
|
|
Parent Company
|
America Online Inc.
|
|
Central Offices
|
Columbus, OH
|
|
Customer Service
|
800-848-8990
|
|
Technical Support
|
888-889-2287
|
|
Hours Available (EST)
|
Monday-Friday 7:00am-1:00am
Saturday-Sunday 1:00pm-10:00pm
|
Pricing:
|
Type
|
Base Cost
|
Hours Included
|
Additional Hours
|
|
Setup Fee
|
None
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Trial Offer
|
Free
|
100 hours
|
$2.95
|
|
Monthly
|
$9.95
|
5
|
$2.95
|
|
Monthly
|
$24.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
EarthLink
Contact:
|
Service Name
|
EarthLink Network
|
|
Internet Sites
|
Earthlink
|
|
Parent Company
|
EarthLink Network Inc.
|
|
Central Offices
|
Pasadena, CA
|
|
Customer Service
|
800-395-8425
|
|
Technical Support
|
800-395-8410
|
|
Hours Available (EST)
|
24 hours, 7 days
|
Pricing:
|
Type
|
Base Cost
|
Hours Included
|
Additional Hours
|
|
Setup Fee
|
$25.00*
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Trial Offer
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Monthly
|
$19.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
* Setup fee waived if registering online or with registration code
MSN
Contact:
|
Service Name
|
Microsoft Network Premier
|
|
Internet Sites
|
MSN
|
|
Parent Company
|
Microsoft Corp.
|
|
Central Offices
|
Redmond, WA
|
|
Customer Service
|
800-386-5550
|
|
Technical Support
|
877-635-7019
|
|
Hours Available (EST)
|
Monday-Friday 9:00am-1:00am
Saturday-Sunday 11:00am-8:00pm
|
Pricing:
|
Type
|
Base Cost
|
Hours Included
|
Additional Hours
|
|
Setup Fee
|
None
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Trial Offer
|
Free
|
1 month
|
N/A
|
|
Monthly
|
$6.95
|
5
|
$2.50
|
|
Monthly
|
$21.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
|
Content Monthly
|
$6.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
|
Content Yearly
|
$69.50
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
|
Yearly
|
$69.50
|
5 per month
|
$2.50
|
|
ISDN Monthly
|
$49.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
Prodigy Internet
Contact:
|
Service Name
|
Prodigy Internet
|
|
Internet Sites
|
Prodigy
|
|
Parent Company
|
SBC
|
|
Central Offices
|
White Plains, NY
|
|
Customer Service
|
800-213-0992
|
|
Technical Support
|
800-213-0992
|
|
Hours Available (EST)
|
7:00am-3:00am, 7 days
|
Pricing:
|
Type
|
Base Cost
|
Hours Included
|
Additional Hours
|
|
Setup Fee
|
None
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Trial Offer
|
Free
|
250 hours
|
N/A
|
|
Monthly
|
$9.95
|
10
|
$1.50
|
|
Monthly
|
$19.95
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
|
Yearly
|
$198.00
|
Unlimited
|
N/A
|
Free Service Providersresearched:
Free ISPs support their services through targeted advertisements and through selling of user demographic information. Many require the user to enter very detailed demographic information and may periodically require the user to click into a vendor's website before continuing. As free ISPs try to minimize their nuisance factors, reviews are much more subjective and anecdotal than fee-based ISPs. As with all free ISPs, the busy signal is the major problem. It is widely recommended that anyone using a free ISP sign up for more than one to increase the chances of getting through.
Juno
Contact:
|
Service Name
|
Juno
|
|
Internet Sites
|
JUNO
|
|
Customer Service
|
800-TRY-JUNO
|
|
Technical Support
|
800-562-7719
|
|
Hours Available (EST)
|
24/7
|
Service:
Offers personal web page and web based e-mail. This service is the easiest to install and run. However, it also has the worst reputation of the major free ISPs. This service is not recommended for anyone unless they are starting to look at the Internet and are totally not technical. A user will quickly want to go elsewhere.
NetZero
Contact:
|
Service Name
|
NetZero
|
|
Internet Sites
|
NetZero
|
|
Customer Service
|
805-418-2020
|
|
Technical Support
|
805-418-2020
|
|
Hours Available (EST)
|
24/7
|
Service:
NetZero's software can sometimes be slow or non-responsive. However, it's rare to get a busy signal when trying to connect to NetZero, and once connected, the service is usually very speedy. The service includes the regular ad window present in most other free ISP's, and NetZero also shows you an advertisement when you disconnect. NetZero also requires a great deal of personal data to signup. POP based e-mail, no personal web page.
Feature Comparison
|
Full Feature ISPs
|
AOL
|
AT&T
|
Compu-Serve
|
EarthLink
|
MSN
|
Prodigy
|
|
Monthly Cost Unlimited
|
$21.95
|
$21.95
|
$24.95
|
$19.95
|
$21.95
|
$19.95
|
|
Point of Presence (POPS)
|
555
|
421
|
514
|
2300
|
800
|
611
|
|
Maximum Dialup Speed
|
56Kpbs
|
56Kbps
|
56Kbps
|
56Kbps
|
56Kbps
|
56Kbps
|
|
V.90 Support
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
|
56Kbps Fees
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
|
Static IP Addressing Available
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
|
800 Number Access
|
$6.00/hr
|
$6.00/hr
|
$6.00/hr
|
$4.95/hr
|
no
|
no
|
|
Free Web Site Space
|
2MB
|
5MB
|
5MB
|
6MB
|
N/A
|
6MB
|
|
Extra Space
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
varies
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
CGI Support
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
N/A
|
yes
|
|
Java
|
no
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
N/A
|
yes
|
|
Site Reports
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
yes
|
N/A
|
no
|
|
E-mail Addresses
|
5
|
6
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
|
Newsgroups
|
30,000
|
25,000
|
unlimited
|
unlimited
|
18,000
|
20,000
|
|
Free ISPs
|
Juno
|
NetZero
|
|
Cost
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Maximum Dialup Speed
|
56Kbps
|
56Kbps
|
|
E-mail (one address only)
|
web
|
pop
|
|
Web Page
|
yes
|
no
|
|
Extensive Demographics Req.
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Macintosh Supported
|
no
|
no
|
|
Newsgroups supported
|
no
|
no
|
|
