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PC World's ISP Service Rankings, as of June 2005
Ant writes "Broadband Reports reports a PC World article on the best and worst Internet Service Providers (ISPs). More than 6,000 PC World readers rated major providers for its speed, technical support, and more. The article also reveals which broadband and dial-up services make the grade and which fall flat."
I rate them a 9, only because I think the cost is a bit high. But, service is exceptional and reliable.
Why I like them:
- 6 megabit/sec downstream (effective rates peaks out at about 4.5 M/sec)
- 768K upstream (effective rate about 650K/sec)
- Techie-friendly TOS: I'm allowed to run servers: game, email, web, etc.
- Static IP (extra ones are inexpensive)
- Speakeasy will configure their DNS to return the FQDN of your choice when doing a reverse lookup on your IP.
- Unix shell account, if you want it.
- Share your connection with your neighbor, if you don't charge your neighbor anything.
- If you DO want to charge for sharing, Speakeasy will collect the amount that you specifiy from your neighbor, and credit part of it to your bill.
One thing I wish they would reconsider: they now offer VoIP service that uses their network. But, they will only assign a phone number from my area code. I'd switch from Vonage, if they would match Vonage's ability to assign me a number in my employer's city, rather than mine.I'd say Charter isn't too good.
They messed up our cable, so in the winter, whenever the sun would go down, it would get cold and we would get no signal.
They finally cranked up the signal, but then in the early summer/late spring, the moment the sun would get up in the sky and it would get warm, the signal would cut out because it was too hot.
Also, every time we call in, they ask if we have a router. Of course we do, so we say we do. They tell us that it's the router's fault, before we even explain what's going on. This may be standard ISP practice, but it's still ridiculous.
If we need someone to come out for a service call, and call on a Monday, they'll tell us they'll have someone out here by Thursday. Only problem with that is, no one is home, with both parents working and both kids at school. They won't fix anything without talking to the people who called in, so they always show up when we're gone, and then tell us they'll come back again sometime, but don't tell us when.
I'd say they get around a 7. When it works, it works well, but when it doesn't work, it's a really ridiculous process to get it fixed.
Yeah, they're a bit more expensive, but truthfully, I have no problem paying a bit more for the superior tech support I've received from them.
Don't forget excellent customer service.
I've never had anything but top-notch customer service from them. It's their number one selling point as far as I'm concerned.
Go to ADSLguide.
Wanted : A Signature.
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada... over the past 5 years I have tried all 3 broadband ISP's available.
Videon (now Shaw) is a cable ISP: Speeds of 600KB/sec (kilobytes) are common on their ~5mbit (megabit) connection for roughly $40 a month. Reliability remains poor. At best you'll have 90% uptime each month. At worst 2 weeks no internet 1 week with internet. (At which point I canceled my account and never looked back). Shaw offers a free static IP based on current MAC address, however they limit monthly transfers to 50GB, anything downloaded over 50GB you may be subject to fees. Their TOS is very anti sharing.
Skyweb is a Satellite internet ISP. Uptime is poor, speeds are marginal. I stuck with them roughly one month, due to a rain storm causing massive downtime.
Finally, MTS is a DSL based ISP. Their speeds are competitive. Price is fair, roughly $45 a month. Uptime is 100% every month, unless they are doing maintenance which will lower uptime to 99.9% reliability. Speeds currently are 3mbit down. They are friendly with server hosting, however IP's are dynamic.
Because reliability is the only thing that matters to me:
Shaw receives 0/10
Skyweb 1/10
MTS 10/10
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