I have used a local ISP for several years and have had faster service with them than the big name companies as I can just call the local office and usually they will fix the problem within a few minutes.
Just this week I changed to a cable modem and the faster speed is unreal. I just love it and it frees up my phone line at a cost of less than a second line for my phone.
However since it is hooked to cable if cable tv goes out in a power storm I still can’t get online. Of course I wouldn’t in a storm but when the storm is over I have known cable service to be out for over 12 hours. Since I am a computer addict this would never do so I am adding a free ISP.
Even had I of not got the cable modem I was going to use a free ISP and save the twenty dollars a month fee.
I have tried several of the free ones and have not had any problems with net zero when I have used that. There are many other free ones out there such as Juno. You can run a search and come up with over a hundred of them. You will get advertising on most. There is one available from My Points that is free and they give you points to add to your account for using it on top of it and since I do My Points program anyway this helps add up the points to get free gift certificates with.
All the free ones I have tried the dial up has been fast and the time unlimited. I would never use an ISP that you pay by the hour or I would have been broke a long time ago as I use my computer at least 10 hours a day.
If you are choosing a paid ISP you will want one that has unlimited time on it, more than one access number and that runs fairly smooth.
I have used AOL in the past and never would again as there are too many disconnects and other bad features about it.
But why pay for Internet service if you don’t have to? I am not sure which ones are available outside of the US but as I said if you look in a search engine you will find many to pick from.
To me staying connected is the most important feature because who wants to get disconnected in the middle of writing a review or having a chat or worse yet downloading a program?
More than one access number is important so if one is too busy you can connect through another and price is important. So if paying for Internet connection ask questions first and make sure you are getting what you want. Many have a free trial that you can cancel in 30 days if you don’t like it.
Some have promotions and give away things such as video cams, one I know is Earthlink. These are great in seeing the person you are chatting with.
Choose you ISP carefully and I am sure you will be glad you took the extra time to check them out first.