Your Internet Service Provider is going to be your permanent road-buddy
for the entire length of your Internet journey, so it's kind of important
that the company you choose is going to be a help to you and not a hindrance.
Cost
Most ISPs charge an hourly rate of between 60 cents and $10. A few simply
charge a monthly fee with no time charge. There are also on- and
off-peak rates and discounts for high usage. Some also have per megabyte
charges. This refers to how much data you access. This can get quite
expensive if you are downloading large files and accessing multitudes
of Web pages. Other charges will be registration and setup fees and there
may be a charge for any extra storage space if you create a Web page.
Some ISPs also charge for technical support.
If you mainly wish to use e-mail and newsgroups, you can do most of this
off-line and you may find an hourly rate quite acceptable. If you think
you are likely to have midnight till dawn games fests, gab on about the
X-Files for hours or spend ten hours researching the mating habits of
clams, which require you to stay on-line, a flat rate may be preferable.
![Modem pic](/file/12768/netcd38.iso/MENU/IMAGES/ISP.JPG)
![](/file/12768/netcd38.iso/MENU/IMAGES/CAPTN.GIF)
Performance
Some computers on the Internet have bigger pipes (faster connections)
than others (isn't it always the way?). The faster the transfer rate the
better, and the closer to the 'core' or 'backbone' of the network the
better. For example, an ISP with a direct route to America is going to
achieve better transfer rates with American sites. When a large number
of people are all trying to access and download information at once this
also slows the transfer rate down. For example, 100 people accessing a
64Kbps line is going to work better than 500 people accessing a 128Kbps line.
Next page: ISPs part 2 >>>