A Beginner's Guide to the Internet/INTERNET.ISO/text/faqs/provider/provider.txt

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Date: Wed, 31 Aug 1994 10:12:32 -0400
From: Francetta Lewis <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: How to select an internet provider
Status: R


Mr. Sherman:

Here is the information on How To Select an Internet Service Provider



Rick Adams
Chairman & Founder
UUNET Technologies, Inc.
Providers of AlterNet Internet Services
3110 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 570
Falls Church, VA 22042 USA

[e-mail]
+1 800 4UUNET4
[phone]


Buying an Internet Connection is a lot like buying a computer. As with
buying a computer, your choice of Internet providers should be driven
by your intended use. If you are looking for a minimum cost, bare bones
computer for your kids, you might seek out the lowest priced system in
the back of a magazine or even assemble something yourself from parts
bought at a flea market. However, if you are buying something for your
company that your business will depend on, you would probably choose
differently.

For your business, you might consider buying the most expensive
solution exercising the theory that you get what you pay for. However,
once you've really studied the question, the right choice might well
turn out to be a mid-range system from a stable, nationally recognized
provider.

There are some low cost IP service suppliers who claim to be just as
good as the others,  but may not be in business next year to prove it.
Conversely, there are other suppliers who will attempt to justify
providing the same level of services as their competitors, at many
times the price.

This guide suggests a set of questions to pose and evaluation criteria
against which you can compare and contrast the different Internet
service companies you have to choose from. In this exciting but still
maturing market, the lure of Internet connectivity and Enterprise Wide
Area Network outsourcing will require many companies to evaluate
service providers within the next couple of years. The intent of this
guide is to stimulate your thinking on the subject while challenging
you to challenge your provider!


Selection Criteria for Choosing Internet Service Providers


 Network Topology

Network topology is one of the most important criteria to consider when
choosing a provider. Looking at the network topology can help you
understand how vulnerable the network is to outages, how much capacity
is available when the network is loaded more heavily than usual and
most importantly, how well the provider understands network
engineering.

Any competent provider should be happy to show you their network
topology. It's a good way for them to demonstrate how well they
understand their business.

Look closely at what they show you. Some providers will give you a
virtual   backbone map. Virtual networks are meaningless. Your data
does not travel on a virtual network -- it travels on a physical
network. A virtual network map is merely a representation of all the
theoretical paths that could be implemented by the supplier's virtual
circuit switching equipment and is an attempt to side step the issue of
physical capability. Your supplier needs to understand the physical
network to understand what is important for serving their customers. If
they tell you that the physical topology is unimportant, they either
don't understand how to engineer a network or they are trying to
disguise something. Remember, there is nothing inherently wrong with
using frame relay, ATM, or other technologies that use virtual circuits
as part of the backbone. However, your provider must understand the
physical topology on top of which their virtual (logical) network is
running.


 Network Link Speeds

Now that we're evaluating the physical topology, let's look closely at
the speeds of the backbone links. If they won't show you the speeds,
then they're really hiding something. The first thing to understand is
that your network connection can only be as fast as the slowest link in
the path.

It doesn't matter if you are connected to a T-3 node if there is a 56
Kbps link between you and your destination. This is like hooking a
half-inch garden hose to a fire hydrant. The limit is the garden hose,
not how much water the hydrant can put out!

Next, ask if the topology you are being shown is operational now. Some
providers like to show links that are not operational as part of their
backbone infrastructure. Some even go as far as to label the planned
links with solid lines and the operational links with dashed lines!
You're in for a big surprise if you don't notice this switch!
Similarly, don't confuse the press release about a new high speed
network link with that link actually being operational.


 External Network Links

Now look at the external links of your candidate's backbone. Do they
have a single connection to the rest of the world, e.g., via NSFNET?
This is a potential single point of failure. Look for multiple, direct
connections to other network providers. The more of these connections
the better. This shows that the provider is concerned about external
connectivity and does not want to be dependent on some third party for
interconnection. If they have a single connection to the outside world,
ask them how often it fails and how long they usually are isolated. If
they can't give you these statistics, are they managing their network
well enough to manage yours?

Check to see if they have their own national backbone or if they rely
on NSFNET for national connectivity. If they rely on NSFNET for
connectivity, ask them what their plans are for national connectivity
when the free NSFNET backbone goes away in April 1994. Now ask yourself
if you have enough confidence in their plan to risk your connectivity
to the rest of the world.


 High Speed Backbone

If they claim to have a high speed backbone, check to see if it is that
speed now or if it is just "planned." Some providers claim to have a
T-3 (45 Mbps) backbone, but if pushed, will admit that what they really
mean is "T-3 capable." A 2400 bps dial-up modem is also T-3 capable
because tomorrow it is capable of being replaced with T-3.  If they are
misleading you about something as fundamental as their network
capacity, what else are they trying to sneak past you?

The next thing to ask yourself about high speed backbones is if you can
actually connect to it for a reasonable cost. All service providers
require you to buy the local loop segment from your facility to their
closest Point Of (service) Presence or POP.  You will have to buy this
directly or indirectly from one of the telephone companies serving your
local area. Some providers offer their service in such a way that the
local loop cost is greater than their fee to provide you with the
service in the first place. Think of the hose analogy again. If you're
limited by the local loop speed because the price of a high speed loop
is not cost effective, then how useful is a high speed backbone?

Many providers will claim some impressive number of POPs. Find out what
constitutes a POP by their definition. Some providers claim a POP
anywhere they deliver service. Find out if many of their "POPs" are
single customers at the tail end of low speed lines or if those POPs
house high end routers linked by physically redundant high speed
connections. Network POPs should be designed to scale with additional
customers who, themselves, have growing requirements.


 Technology

The technology being used to operate the network is also critically
important. Today, there is plenty of commercial quality router, switch,
and modem technology available from companies whose business is to make
that equipment. Any provider still relying on their own internally
developed equipment is doing you a disservice. You deserve the benefits
of leading edge, production technology, not aging hardware that has
been contorted into a use never intended by its designers.

Sometimes a provider can have a bad case of "Not Invented Here"
syndrome. This is a sure sign of long term problems. Remember, you are
buying a service. The provider of this service should be using the best
available technology to deliver this service. They should not use the
service as an excuse to use surplus equipment and technology. The
recent popularity of Internet connectivity has some strange bedfellows
offering connectivity services. Again, ask yourself who you think has
the better incentive to make a network connection work and keep
working: the researcher who gets paid regardless of whether it actually
works or  the commercial supplier who only gets paid if it's working?


 Build or Buy?

Another worrisome syndrome to watch out for is the "Control Freak."
Some providers claim that they need to run even the lowest layers of
their network to deliver quality service. This is simply not true. The
truth of the matter is all Internet service providers rely on one or
more telephone companies to assemble "their" network. The only way for
any company to build "their own network" is to physically dig their own
trenches and lay their own fiber into the ground.

The only real question is at which physical link or transport level
your potential service provider buys from the much larger phone
companies. If the lower level infrastructure and service (such as T-1,
T-3, Frame Relay or ATM) needed to support an Internet service
provider's value added service is offered by a phone company, it's not
cost effective or in the best interest of the provider's customers for
the provider to even think about building and operating it. The
provider simply can not match the economy of scale that comes with
being a phone company. If your provider has chosen to build something
when they could have bought a more reliable service more cheaply, why
should you have to pay for their misplaced priorities? (If they can do
it better and cheaper than the phone companies, why aren't the phone
companies buying it from them?) The job of an Internet service provider
is to manage and maintain your IP/OSI level connectivity. Look for
strong relationships and partnerships between your Internet service
provider and the nation's host of Alternative (Bypass), Local (RBOC),
and Long Distance (IXC) carriers.


 Technical Staff

Probably the most important aspect to consider when choosing a provider
is the quality of their technical staff. The technical staff are the
ones who will get your connection running to begin with and then keep
it and the network running in the future.

Check the experience of their staff in TCP/IP data networking. They
should have several people who have been running TCP/IP data networks
for close to 10 years. The average experience is also relevant, as it's
likely that you won't usually deal with their most senior people.
However, it's reassuring to know that the very senior people are
available if you need them. Make sure that their "technical" staff
consists of people who are experienced with TCP/IP and not of people
whose previous assignment was "networking related" and have now been
assigned to this new project.

Make sure the provider has adequate staffing to cover the usual
situations. If they send people to Interop for a week, how many people
are back at the office running things and how skilled are they? If they
only have a few technical people and they all go to shows, then what
happens if your network connection breaks while they are gone for a
week? (Be suspicious if they say they can handle it by dialing back
in...)

Find out what their technical staff turnover is. If people are leaving,
find out why and who is left to keep your connection operational. Many
suppliers of service have single points of failure in their staff
capacity as well.


 Network Operations Center

Check out their network operations center ("NOC"). It should be staffed
by at least one person always.  This includes nights, weekends,
holidays, and during important sporting events. If they are quick to
claim "7x24" operations, you might ask them what they provide the other
358 days of the year. An amazing number of providers claiming 7x24
operations really mean that someone will answer the phone all the time,
not that they will have someone capable of dealing with your problem.
An answering service or beeper number is no substitute for a trained
network engineer. Insist on one being always available and not just on
call, as you can never tell when your connection will fail and what
critical project it will have an impact on.

Ask how the NOC is staffed. While it is normal to have only junior
people on duty at odd hours of the night, it is critical that senior
personnel be on site at least 8 AM-8 PM Eastern time, Monday through
Friday. If your connection fails during normal business hours, you
deserve to have very senior people immediately available to work on
it.


 Organization

Find out how long the company has been in the IP business. Determine if
they are going to be in business for the long run. Maybe that deal is a
bit too good to be true for a good reason. Quality networks are not
built on a shoestring budget. The pricing may look attractive now, but
the passage of time often reveals hidden costs and price increases, the
greatest of which can be having to switch providers.

Ask about their financial stability. While you don't need to see copies
of their audited financial statements, you should at least be
comfortable that they have a positive cash flow and are going to be in
business next month to provide your connectivity. Determine if they
have one or two major accounts that provide a disproportionate amount
of revenue and what impact losing those accounts would have on their
ability to maintain your quality of service.

Are they an independent operating unit with its own staff and
facilities or are they run out of the back door of a larger
organization that doesn't know they exist? How critical do you think
having the support of the parent organization is to their long term
viability?


 "Non-Profit"

At this stage of the market's development, some providers are operating
from behind questionable non-profit cloaks. Some may be subjecting
their sponsoring organizations to questionable legal and/or tax risks
by selling commercial services in competition with for-profit
corporations. The IRS requires that non-profits keep track of all
revenue that is unrelated to their non-profit charter and pay the tax
on it just like a for-profit corporation. Why should you care about
your provider's tax troubles? It's all about selecting a provider that
can supply you with the highest quality, best price performing,
reliable Internet and Enterprise WAN network services. Legal or tax
problems can provide a major "distraction" to the provider. As these
services become more and more an integral component of your successful
business, your choice is more critical and all dimensions of your
supplier are integral to your decision. There will be a shake out in
the Internet service business and only the strong will survive.

Is the company rapidly growing and expanding or is it a stagnant
anachronism and merely resting on its laurels and remembering the good
old days when they were the only provider in the area? How long do you
think they will survive in competition with healthy, growing
companies?

Is the group you're dealing with actually providing the network service
or are they fronting, merely acting as a local aggregator for some
larger entity? If so, what is the health of the larger provider and why
should the larger provider give your connection the same attention that
they are giving their directly connected customers?

Does the provider have a straightforward internal business model or do
they have a series of sub-contracts of sub-contracts and shell games
with wholly owned subsidiaries? Why are they adding unnecessary levels
of complication and expense, and why should you pay for it?


 Commercial Activity

Is the provider a member of the Commercial Internet Exchange
Association ("CIX")? This is a necessity if you are considering making
commercial use of the Internet. If they are a member, see if they are
really connected to the other members or have they just joined the
association without interconnecting. Some groups advertise membership
in the Association but have never interconnected. Some go as far as
implying that they are connected to CIX members when they merely serve
as a transit network for providers who are really members and are
really interconnected. Don't let them confuse you. Insist on a straight
answer.

Does the provider require you to abide by an Appropriate Use Policy? Do
you understand it? Is it ever enforced? Do you need to worry about it
suddenly being enforced capriciously?


 Full Range of Services

Does your provider have a full range of services, from low end to high
end, or is it just filling a niche? If you need to increase or decrease
your service level, will you need to switch providers?

Does your provider offer true one stop shopping? Can they supply
equipment, manuals, training, consulting, etc., as well as basic
service? Can they provide connectivity throughout the country (and the
rest of the world) or do they just serve a small region? Can they
provide service in other countries through established partnerships
with international suppliers and bill you on the same invoice as your
domestic service?


 Customer Base

Find out how many customers the provider has. Don't be mislead by the
total number of customers the provider may brag about having. Some like
to claim all of the individuals they have connected, while most others
only count the organizations they have connected. The number of
organizations willing to pay $1,000 per month for connectivity is a lot
better indicator of the service quality than the number of individuals
willing to pay $10.


 Comparison Shopping

Do a price/benefit analysis. Some providers may appear to be priced
less than others.  Make sure you do an "apples to apples" comparison.
Don't compare one provider's no frills service with another's full
service offering. Don't be confused by the names of the products. What
one provider thinks is Basic may be minimal or useless to you.

Don't be afraid to ask for customer references and talk to them. See
what issues current customers have. They will likely be similar to
yours. If you get a reference, make sure there is no insider
relationship with the provider such as an investor or a member of the
board of directors.

Find out where their new customers come from. The most interesting
statistic is how many of their customers have switched from other
providers!


 Conclusion

The astonishing, worldwide growth of the Internet as a public access
computer network has all kinds of new users, large and small,
investigating the virtues of "getting on the Internet." Today, more and
more companies are using the Internet to conduct their business,
communicate with and support their customers, exchange electronic mail
with hundreds of thousands of users, and seek and find valuable
information leading to competitive advantage. This resource is
indispensable once turned on. The choice of the service provider to be
responsible for ensuring this vital business tool is the most important
decision you will make when embarking on the Internet.

Hopefully this white paper has provided assistance in examining some of
the issues and raising some of the questions that will lead to a long
and trusted relationship with your full service, professional Internet
service provider.