At first I thought I should jump in and give her my thoughts on whom to sign up with. Instead I held my tongue, realizing that it's hard to recommend a provider for a person you don't know. There are so many trade-offs between the likes of cost, speed, bandwidth, growth and future needs. For that woman in the computer store, who didn't even know what the Web or the Internet were, there was no chance to consider these options or trade-offs because she simply would not have known what to do with the information.

So! Here's my take on this issue. As a beginning user (newbie), you may want to get acquainted with the Internet by visiting one of those coffee shops with Web access, or attending one of the free seminars for users—while you're there, you may want to take a look at the Dictionary of Computer Terms available online. You can always check with providers in your area to find out who might give you some free time online or a demonstration. Don't forget to ask friends to help you get started; most the people I know online would be willing to spend a considerable amount of time helping someone new to the Web.

But what exactly are your needs? Do you know what you want to do on the Internet? Do you even know what you can do on the Internet? Do you want to have your own home page? Do you even know what a home page is? Don't be embarrassed if you have no idea how to respond; just be ready to ask questions. Here are a few to get you started:

1.) How many hours will you be online? (This number may not be what you might actually end up using, but it will give you a way to compare one provider with the next.)

2.) Will those hours be at home or at the office?

3.) How much email will you use per month?

4.) Do you travel out of state?

5.) Will you be online while out of state or out of town?

6.) What is your time worth? (For instance, if you weren't able to get online for a few hours, would that be a big problem, or would you be able to adjust your schedule to fit the availability of the provider?

7.) What extra services would you use if they were available?

Price

If you don't know the answer to any of the above questions then almost any provider will do. Of course, for a lot of people, price is the number-one consideration. After you have written down your estimated needs you can ask providers for pricing based on this list. Try to find someone who offers cheap access and a small sign-on fee in case the provider doesn't meet your needs after you decide what you want from the Internet; you want to be able to bail out easily if necessary.

Something to watch out for: extra charges. Big commercial database services such as America Online, Prodigy and CompuServe provide much more than a Web connection; they provide things like news, sports, encyclopedias, and airline tickets, to name a few. Many of these are available on the Web, but they can be difficult to find, and you generally will have to pay a lot more for dedicated services. The price per month for your connection can be low but if you want to cruise the Web on the weekend the price can run as high as $50 to $100 for time that would be free on other services. Most of these systems are becoming Web-centric and their prices will, in time, fall more in line with the local providers. What we are all hoping is that advertising will continue to pay the bill for most of the Web.

Cost seems easy—I always want the least expensive. The problem is, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Find out what sort of pricing each provider uses, and, based on your usage model above, if it will it work to your advantage. Do not be afraid to ask questions of a provider. Ask what your total monthly cost will be with a given service. What services do you get and is it long distance to the POP (Point of Presence)? Ask what percent of the time you should expect the server to be down. Ask what happens when you get a busy signal and how often that occurs. (The answer to the last two should be never.) The provider should be able to answer all of these questions for you; if not, consider another provider. If price is most important to you and you don't mind a busy signal or slow connection (or sometimes no connection) then use price as the determining factor. Remember: you can change providers later. But also remember that if you change, your email changes and, just as when you move to another house, you can lose some of your connections. So think about whether or not your needs will ever expand.

Will you travel out of town? You may just be on a ski trip, but you still might need to check your email. What provision does your provider have to handle this event? If it offers an 800 number, then your calling cost from a hotel will be greatly reduced or, better yet, your provider may have so many local POPs that you can dial a local number and be online at almost no cost. A recent trip cost me $200 in phone bills after I had convinced the hotel management to accept one third of what they normally charge. National service providers are represented by companies such as Netcom, UUNET, Earthlink, and Psi, who offer local links in cities all over the country. If you travel a lot these companies can provide an advantage. Check to see if your favorite travel destination is on their list.

Even if you don't travel, you should keep in mind that your regular phone bill can be a large part of the cost of being online if you are not next door to your provider or one of their POPs. Your office might be long distance and your home local so be sure to check.

Services

Do you need more than one service? If you use CompuServe or AOL for their information systems such as Commerce Business Daily (a system available on AOL, through which all government contracts are announced for bid), then that service may be valuable enough to you to warrant your having two providers. After all, you don't want to browse the Web at $3.00 per hour when you can do it for a flat rate of $15-50 per month. I have several providers myself. For example, I use AOL for a few hours a month and a direct PPP connection through Network Intensive for 50 to 80 hours per month.

Technical Support

You should call the provider and ask for technical support, and find out exactly how long it takes to get connected to someone who can actually help you if you have a technical problem. For example, our tests indicated that in one to three minutes you can be connected to a technician at Earthlink, whereas Netcom may take 30 minutes or longer. Some companies such as CERFnet have 24-hour service technicians on staff. I had a problem with my server at 5:30 on a Sunday morning, so I called Network Intensive and used their beeper option to summon help. I explained what my problem was, and a technician got to the server and repaired it within 30 minutes. That's local friendly service.

Your Own Web Page

Most providers will allow you to have a home page if you want one, but you should ask a few questions about that issue also. For instance, how big can the home page be (as in how much disk space on their server)? How much help will they give you in setting up the page? What kind of access you will have if you want to change it? Ask, ask, ask!

When in Doubt, Check the List

I have listed below a few places on the Web where you can find the details about local, national and international providers. It may sound like a paradox that you should look on the Web for the right provider so that you can get on the Web to look up providers, but it isn't that complex. You can visit any of several local places that will allow you Web access for free or at low cost. For example, try Cyber Java in Venice, computer stores, or friends who are on the Web.

The Big List, which shows providers from all over the world, also allows you to rank them and to leave comments for others to read. I checked a few that I am familiar with and the comments were not far off, but I think you will find that people are more likely to comment if they love the service, or if they are completely pissed. Another consideration is that one provider might have 10,000 customers and another, 50. If a very small percent of the former group complain, then it is a big- sounding but unreliable number. If 10% of the latter hate the service, that is a huge percent but a small number. Don't rely on the comments or ratings on the list. Ask questions, check with friends and know what you want when you come in the proverbial door.

Cybertoday lists California providers only, and shows just the names and a little information. It is useful for finding that little out-of-the- way provider in your neighborhood that will give you the extra service. You may also want to look at the list of California and Nevada Internet Service Providers Organized by Service Area.

When you find a provider that interests you on one of these lists, you can check out their home page. Every provider has a home page. The home page will list some of their customers, plus lots of other information about them that you might find useful in selecting your provider.

Some of the providers we like:

• America Online: Easy-to-find information plus integrated Web access, and free start-up disks falling out of the sky everywhere.
• CERFnet: Big, fast, a ton of bandwidth, and 24-hour free service; T3 POPs all over the place.
• Earthlink: Excellent service, less then 3 min. on average to service.Easy sign-on with disk, with Netscape the browser of choice for 80% of the Internet. National.
• Loop: An extremely good value and, as far as we can tell, most of their customers like them.
• Network Intensive: Easy to work with; solid, friendly, local feel but with wide coverage and plenty of bandwidth.
• Speedgate: 50 hrs.; $25; 24-hr. support; home pages. Local and personal.

Providers know exactly what to ask a provider before signing up because they have seen it all. We questioned a few of the providers for their perspective.

Gene Yokota, Administrator of Speedgate, says if you're not familiar with the provider, find out what kind of connection they have to the Internet. What sort of machine do they use to connect? What kind of software can you use with the provider? He recommends that you try to pay less setup in case your provider is always busy or slow, so look for a small setup fee to minimize your costs in case things don't work out.

Klaus Etzel, Director of Business Development for CERFnet, says when they hosted the America's Cup they had 500,000 hits in one day. (If you never saw the America's Cup 1995 site you should check it out.) Luckily, CERFnet is the granddaddy of local providers. It is attached to the SuperComputer (in San Diego) that links the Internet to the world. General Atomics, the same company that runs the SuperComputer, owns CERFnet. You can't get much closer or faster if you need big bandwidth and speed.

Klaus advises that you should find a turnkey provider—someone who will take care of everything for you. He also thinks you should ask how many levels away from the Internet you are, because many of the providers buy service from one another and that can leave you with a slower system due to routing and bandwidth problems upstream from your provider. All of this will affect how much room you have to grow.

Ed Milstein, President of Network Intensive, says, "We do not attempt to generate huge numbers of hits like a lot of providers because it isn't good for our customers. Some companies will allow a sex site to operate on their server just to get the hits up." Ed believes that big bandwidth hogs like sex sites are not good for the real customers on their servers.

William Widmaier, Earthlink Marketing Director, says even their hard-core addicts don't spend the 450 hours they provide each month with their basic service. With 50 hours of prime time, plus just over 400 hours of non-prime time, you almost can't run out of time. He also says, "We offer an easy-to-install and easy-to-get-on Internet package, and if you do have a problem, we have an 800 number and we will walk you through it." According to William, "The national average time spent on the Internet is about nine to ten hours per month." Keep in mind, though, that if nine to ten hours is average, then half of the people spend more time online. So think about it carefully.

Signing Up

Good luck on getting signed up for the first time—the same goes for those of you who are changing providers. Once you start looking, it may seem as if there are zillions of providers to choose from, but don't worry—with enough shopping around, you will be able to find the one that's right for your needs. Just remember to ask questions.

---