The Best (and Worst) ISPs

Get Your Money's Worth

Whether you want to switch ISPs or get a better deal from the one you have, shop around a bit and do your homework before calling a provider, to maximize your service and minimize your costs.

Research options in your area: Check sites such as BroadbandReports.com and FindAnISP.com to determine which providers serve your location. Often you'll discover that you have more choices now than you did last year.

Ask about promotions: Call your ISP's competitors to ask about promotions and upgrade specials. If you're a broadband subscriber dissatisfied with your download and upload speeds, you may find a higher-bandwidth service you can afford.

Richard Wise, an SBC Yahoo DSL subscriber from North Little Rock, Arkansas, offers some astute advice. "I get my TV from one provider (Dish Network), and my phone and Internet access from the local telephone company (SBC)," Wise says. "I could get all three on one bill, but then I'd lose my leverage. Now when I see SBC advertising a special for new Internet service subscribers, I call them up and tell them to rerate me. When they tell me I'm ineligible because I'm a long-term subscriber, I tell them to reward me as a valued customer or else I'll switch," he says. Wise applies this technique liberally. "When I see my [satellite TV] rates start to creep up, I simply tell them I'll switch to cable unless they keep my rates down."

Do the math before bundling: Cable ISPs and telephone companies almost always offer a discount when you order multiple services, such as both television and phone (see Consumer Watch for more). For example, Cox customers who already subscribe to the company's cable TV service save $10 a month on Internet access. Over half of our survey respondents told us they took advantage of such deals. But remember, the savings probably won't be more than $5 to $15 per month. Providers love bundles because the practice brings in more revenue per user over the same lines, while simultaneously making customers less likely to switch, notes Yankee Group's Mahoney.

Many ISPs now offer Voice-over-IP telephone service, which sends voice traffic over the Internet rather than on the traditional telephone network, as part of a bundle or as an extra service. Despite potential savings for heavy out-of-area callers, none of the survey respondents we interviewed expressed much interest in signing up for VoIP service. Instead they generally preferred to remain with their existing local and long-distance carriers.

Read the fine print: Before you sign up for one of those low-introductory-cost specials, make sure you know exactly what you're getting into. Many DSL and cable providers entice new subscribers with a low initial monthly charge, but they lock you into a long-term agreement with penalties up to $250 for breaking the contract before the term expires. That isn't to say these are bad deals. Just be sure you identify all the gotchas before you sign up, including fees for activation, equipment, and installation, as well as term commitments and early-cancellation penalties.

For example, as we went to press, EarthLink offered DSL download speeds of 1.5 megabits per second and upload speeds of 384 kilobits per second for $20 per month for the first six months and $40 per month thereafter, but only if you signed up for at least one year, agreed to an "early termination fee" of $150, and performed the modem installation yourself. SBC Yahoo had a similar package: $20 per month with the same download/upload speeds for a minimum of 12 months. There was no activation fee, and installation was free as long as you installed the service yourself. However, canceling early would set you back $200.

Cable Internet providers typically charge a higher monthly fee from the get-go, but their transmission speeds are almost always faster than DSL--and you rarely have to sign a long-term contract. Cox Cable, for example, charges new customers a monthly fee of $50 for download speeds up to 5 mbps and uploads as fast as 768 kbps, with no cost for the installation, as long as you handle it yourself. Depending on your bundle, RCN charges $26 to $43 per month for download speeds up to 10 mbps and upload speeds of up to 800 kbps. Installation charges of $50 to $150 are frequently waived as part of new-customer promotions; you can rent the cable modem for $5 per month, or you can supply your own. Cox is one of several cable ISPs that provide the cable modem for free. But keep in mind that with any broadband ISP you have to pay for a network interface card for your computer if it doesn't already have one (a NIC is also a requirement for DSL).

And one other thing to keep in mind: If you install the service yourself, be prepared to deal with Windows' Network Properties dialog boxes as you enter new settings for your broadband connection.

Get ready for a new e-mail address: Whether you're trading dial-up for broadband or moving from, say, one DSL provider to another, changing your Internet service can be a real hassle. For example, if you've been using the same e-mail address for years, you'll have to notify all your contacts about the change (though most ISPs now offer free e-mail forwarding services for the first several months after you sign up, and for a slight charge for subsequent months).

One option is to create a permanent address through a Web mail service such as MSN Hotmail or Yahoo Mail. Both offer basic service for free, as well as a premium service with more storage and other add-ons for a nominal fee. Keep in mind, though, that users of such free e-mail accounts often gets lots of spam.

Yankee Group's Mahoney says his surveys show that the difficulties related to changing e-mail addresses are the primary reason people are reluctant to switch ISPs. And Forrester Research analyst Ted Schadler notes a demographic reason users retain their service: older people are less likely than youngsters to switch Internet providers, primarily because they want to avoid the hassle of an e-mail change.