I was pretty happy with MSN as my ISP for maybe five years now. I had unlimited access for $21.95/month. Recently, however, they've been upgrading my machine when I log on. First, I lost the ability to respond to E-mails on my main account because they'd consumed all my storage. THEN they updated the Hotmail stuff and, if I've deleted my cookies, they throw me into screens from which I can't escape. On top of all this, they now throw up a message every once in a while stating that I'll be logged off in 30 seconds. Even if I'm here to click on those, I'm logged off after a period anyway [no matter WHAT I'm doing on the Internet]. The Hallmark moment was the bill for last month which was $39.90. Did I ever agree to pay this? I clicked on "my account" information and got a message that said that I'd logged on from another ISP. Heh.

Any suggestions?

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), December 15, 2001

Answers

cable modem time? I'm considering it.

-- (lars@indy.net), December 15, 2001.

...and the silence is deafening.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), December 15, 2001.

Anita:

I have had AOL since web crawler was the browser. I don't use any of their services, with the exception of sports scores. I haven't found their tech support very useful. They once disconnected me for inactivity when I was doing a required download of their software. ;o)))

Why do I keep it. 1. There is always access. 2. I travel alot. No matter how podunk the place is, AOL is always a local call. This includes places outside the US [though you must watch the charges].

At work, I have a fiber optics connection to the net. It works well but is of little use when I am out of town.

Best Wishes,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), December 15, 2001.

Cable modem, I loved it until I couldn't afford it any more. Will get it back when I am in financially better condition. No interference with the phone, which I seldom use, but my daughters complain about, it is so fast I had witdrawals going back to a dial-up.

I don't like my web browswers making decisions for me, updating anything unless I choose to have it updated.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), December 15, 2001.

Anita, are you sure your problems are originating with MSN? It sounds to me like you might require the services of an exorcist, as opposed to a new ISP! You might check with TB2K for an expert opinion on demonic possession...

-- (just an@anonymous.one), December 15, 2001.

Hope this >f ella loves his less.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), December 15, 2001.

Cable modem is where it's at. We use Roadrunner. They recently made nationwide dialup service available so you can access the ISP from just about anywhere. I haven't tried it, though.

-- (what@i.think), December 17, 2001.

So tell me more about cable modem. Does this mean that one has NO ISP? How much does it cost? Is it a one-time cost PLUS a monthly cost? Is internet service uninterrupted?

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), December 17, 2001.

I'm leery of cable modems because of the financial problems that the providers are having. It's not panning out to be the big pot of gold that they thought it would be. A couple are bailing out of the business entirely. It'd be a shame to have the equipment installed and start paying the access fees, only have your provider go belly up. It happens (it just happened *HERE* a few days ago; people are scrambling to find another ISP).

I've been with Bellsouth since I moved here and I like them just fine. I may go with DSL through Bellsouth.

-- Stephen M. Poole (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), December 17, 2001.

So it looks like I'm back at the starting point. Does anyone have an ISP with unlimited access for a reasonable monthly rate? Sorry, Z. I reject AOL out of hand. When I first got the PC they gave me a number of ISP's to check out. I tried AOL and the number was ALWAYS busy.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), December 17, 2001.

Cable modem service is dependent on the area in which you live. Yes, you do have an ISP. It is usually your local cable provider. Our cable is provided by Time-Warner, so the cable modem service is Time- Warner's Roadrunner service.

There was no fee for installation or the equipment. However, the monthly fee is larger than it is in areas in which you are forced to purchase the cable modem. In our area, purchasing the modem isn't even an option. One advantage about the service in our area is that it's a month-to-month service. This not only gives me the peace of mind that I'm not locked into a service contract, but is also an incentive for the provider to continue to provide decent service.

We've had it for about 2 months and haven't had any outages. Steve makes a good point about the providers, though. Excite's @Home service declared bankruptcy a few months ago, virtually stranding millions of customers until many of the local companies could move people to different networks. I think this was simply bad management on the part of Excite @Home. AOL's even offering broadband service, presumably through RoadRunner since it's Time Warner. I think cable modem is still a sound technology and many people find it very reliable. DSL is also good, and offers a guaranteed rate of speed which cable cannot offer (overall speeds may be faster with cable, but they're not guaranteed). In our area, though, DSL installation is more complex because it involves dealing with your ISP as well as the phone company, and sometimes they don't always communicate effectively with each other. Also, your house can only be a certain maximum distance from the local phone company switch in order to get DSL. For people in more rural areas, this isn't possible.

-- (what@i.think), December 17, 2001.

The ISP around these parts has a regional office in Lewiston. The headquarters is in Boise. That would be the Idaho State Police!

-- Boswell (fundown@thefarm.net), December 17, 2001.

Anita - one word: earthlink. Solid company. Excellent service.

-- Happy (Customer@ISP.com), December 17, 2001.

My local ISP charges $19.95/mo. for unlimited access. Pretty decent service really.

Now you just have to move to corn country and sign up.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), December 17, 2001.

I had @Home, it was $40.00 per month. It's also my cable company, which just happens to be my phone company too. Cable, phone and ISP-no monopolies around these parts.

I had to rent the converter, they sell them to you now. I had to drop it months ago, but as soon as I can afford it I will get it again.

There are a lots of positive attributes to having it, you never get kicked off, it is REALLY fast, (at least mine was because they replaced the lines with fiber optics 6-7 years ago.) Downloads are incredibly fast, video inputs are smooth, your phone line isn't tied up or a second phone line isn't necessary. But being connected all the time allows for your computer to be vulnerable to hackers, some cable ISP's sell your computers spare computing power to other companies who end up using your computer without your permission or knowledge. It is more expensive and like others have said, the businesses are dropping like flies and you can be left with no connection. You really do have to put up a firewall and other protective measures because they gather information about what you do, where you go, when you are on...all of your habits and sell it. They know end up knowing more about you than you know yourself. There are a lot of repositories where you information is stored and you have no ability to remove it.

I purposely gave different information every time I was forced to provide it for access somewhere, just to mess up all the little bios that were being kept.

You might want to do some research to find out the downfalls.

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), December 17, 2001.

Anita, I have Starpower, $19.95 a month, unlimited usage. I've only had it for four months, but so far so good. (My previous ISP, Metricom, went bankrupt owing creditors 1.1 billion dollars.)

-- Peter Errington (petere@starpower.net), December 17, 2001.

Anita, you're in Texas aren't you? Check for 'Everyone's Internet'. It's $9.95 a month (unlimited service) if billed directly to a credit card... a little more for other billing arrangements.

-- Pammy (pamela_sue57@hotmail.com), December 17, 2001.

Pammy: Yes, I'm in Texas. $9.95 sounds a helluva lot better to me than $39.90. I did a search for my credit card today. Maybe I'll find it tomorrow. I DO have the bill, so I COULD just provide the number, eh? Good thought. Thanks.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), December 17, 2001.

Anita:

I wasn't recommending it. I was pointing out the reason that I keep it.

I generally go to areas with a smaller population and access has never been a problem. I remember when there was all of the press on the busy signals. I know why. The town that I live next to was about 65,000 at that time. I had a business trip to the twin cities in Feb [which is another story, who would schedule meetings there in Feb]. I checked AOL in the area. It turned out that they had 1/2 the number of access numbers as my home. That was the problem.

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), December 17, 2001.

Don't consider Prodigy.net if you were. Too many bad connections in our experience.

-- Debbie (dbspence@pobox.com), December 17, 2001.

I hate getting older. #2 reminded me that I'd already found my credit card hiding in the drawer of my desk because the rug cleaners were coming a while back. How COULD I have forgotten that? I dunno, but I think it's time to log off and "chill" with her. [meaning that MTV is no longer playing]

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), December 17, 2001.