Where do I go now?

Price:
ISP's can vary wildly in this area... and many offer different pricing for different services. If you are a light Internet user then often enough you can get away with a plan for $5 that gives you something like 15 hours online per month. If you use the Internet quite a bit like I do, then expect to pay anywhere from $15 on up to $30 for unlimited access with all the bells and whistles. As a side note, there are now many companies offering FREE Internet access. However, these are usually featureless and offer only basic Internet access. Further, they support themselves via direct marketing, so you end up with an ad window while you are online. IMHO they are good as a backup service, but not as your sole ISP.

Access Type:
There are two types of access that I am aware of, SLIP which is shell access (i.e.: text only) and PPP which is what most people are accustomed to. Generally speaking you will only find PPP access, so this usually isn't a big issue unless you are specifically looking for both.

E-mail Type:
Most ISP's offer POP3 access, but some only offer web based access, fewer still offer IMAP servers (I've only seen one). POP accounts are by far the most common, they are the type of server that basically just holds your mail in a little box unsorted and waits for you to pick it up, therefore most if not all of your mail sorting is done on the client's machine (your home PC). Web based e-mail is exactly what it sounds like... web based. For an example of this you may want to check out Yahoo or Hotmail. IMHO they are great as secondary accounts, but are quite limited and offer you no choice in mail programs. If you have a choice I strongly suggest you go with the company offering POP accounts.

# of E-mail addresses included:
If you have kids or other family members that will be sharing the account with you then this could be important. Most of the time ISP's only offer you one, others offer more for a fee, and still others just include several with your account. My thoughts have always been the more the merrier.

Billing Cycle:
Many ISP's go by monthly billing... some go with quarterly billing... others biannual... and still others offer yearly packages. Generally I shy away from anything over quarterly billing. ISPs sometimes start out great and then take a nose-dive... and if this happens, do you really want to be in a one year contract that you paid upfront for? So although you may save a few bucks, in the long run it is worth it to know that you can bail out at any time.

Trial Period:
Some ISPs offer a no fee trial period... or a trial period where they will refund your money with no questions asked. Personally I love this, it gives me a chance to test things out before committing my funds to their service.

Reliability:
Read reports that can be found throughout the Internet One example would be FindAnISP.com. I can't tell you how invaluable it is to know what other people think about a company. Another suggestion would be to seek out someone who uses the ISP in question and *politely* ask them what their opinion is.

Webspace Included:
A simple yes or no question... sometimes you get it, other times you don't. If you have a website or plan on building one then this is an important question, but I personally would not let it make my decision. Now there are sooooo many free webservers out there that this is almost a non-issue IMHO... but if you absolutely can't deal with ads on your website, then this will be an important question to ask.

Local or National:
It's a David vs. Goliath question. David often has better, more personalized service... sometimes they will even come to your house or work and help you set things up and give you lessons. Goliath usually is able to offer more with their account, has 24/7 tech support... so generally speaking it comes down to personal preference.

Finally... I've taken some time and made up a little Excel worksheet that you are free to use to help you organize all of the information you are going to find. It all fits on standard letter (8 1/2 x 11) paper if you print it out as landscape. You are free to use it, change it, trash it, repost it, or whatever else you can think of to do with it.

Click here to download the file in M$ Excel format.