You've Gone Inside!

The 2000 GO INSIDE
ISP Report for December

by David Boles

December 1, 2000

Welcome to the final Go Inside Magazine Internet Service Provider (ISP) Report for the year 2000!  The winner this month is the mighty and never-say-die Microsoft Network!  Microsoft Network is also the GO INSIDE Magazine ISP of the Year because they scored more number one positions over the year than any other ISP!  The late surge to the top by Microsoft Network must be related to their big advertising campaign for their new MSN Explorer experience.  MSN Explorer is quite beautiful and easy to use.  Each month there are thousands of data pinpoints that must be scored, processed and presented to you here in a readable form so we can present the yearly and monthly ISP winners.  We congratulate Microsoft Network for making such a strong and steady showing over the years.

We here at Go Inside use the internet daily and daylong in order to bring you, one of our beloved 2.5 million readers a month, the web of the world.  Beware that these rankings are subjective and, perhaps, even a little whimsical, but what "Best of" list isn't?  These ISPs are ranked on day in and day out reliability and performance in our Jederman end user experience.  Don't forget that each month there are thousands of data pinpoints that must be scored, processed and presented to you here in a readable form so we can present the yearly and monthly ISP winners. 

We take everything into account in these rankings... network connectivity, call drops, throughput, newsgroup robustness, ISP friendliness, willingness to help, intelligent tech support, avenues of support, network status online, problem reports online, speed of experience, extras, honoring end user privacy, ease of use and we give them all equal weight because only everything bound together builds the complete "internet experience" for you in the end.  Your mileage may vary from our rankings.  If so, be sure to let us know.

Here's how it works:  We have rotating pools of Go Inside Premier Members who track and report their experiences with various ISPs around the world each month.  They then fill out a form and send the results back to us for tabulation.  We then add those experiences with my experience and the experiences of the Go Inside masthead Editors.  We then total the results to come up with our monthly ISP Report.  

Here are some of the methods we use to regularly test our ISPs each month.  We can't get too specific, because we've discovered some ISPs shading their service to meet a certain set of criteria we used to publicly list here in order to bolster their Go Inside rank.  We do realize, however, that you need a bit of a blueprint as to how we're ranking our ISPs and this short task list should do that for you:

Be aware that some ISPs are regional and not national.  You can click on their hotlinked names to discover precisely where they are and what they offer.  We've taken into account the method and motivation, regionalization and service span of each ISP to make these rankings fair across the board in direct comparison with each other. 

We regret that, due to overwhelming interest from local, national and international Internet Service providers, we are unable to accept any new ISPs into the monthly Go Inside rankings at this time.  However, if you're an excellent ISP and would like to be on our waiting list for inclusion when another ISP dies or gets gobbled up, please touch this to find out how to participate. 

We assure you these rankings are a wonderful, monthly, snapshot of the warp and woof of the amazing "Web Experience" broadcloth.

Now?

Onward with the update!

The December 2000 Rankings

  1.  Microsoft Network
  2.  Concentric
  3.  Peta.Net
  4.  Bluelight
  5.  Prodigy Internet
  6.  Earthlink
  7.  TIAC
  8.  US West
  9.  SkyNet
10.  Road Runner 
11.  Juno   
12.  FlashNet
13.  @Home
14.  Pacific Bell
15.  Coastal Net
16.  Southwestern Bell
17.  WebTV  
18.  RCN
19.  CRL
20.  Navix
21.  CWIX
22.  AT&T Worldnet
23.  ioNet
24.  America Online
25.  CompuServe

GO INSIDE ISP of the Month! (4326 bytes)Microsoft Network wins it big this month. Microsoft Network is a robust and strong backbone of the world wide web experience.  We've presented them with this exclusive award you can see at the left.

If you want an ISP that is lovely, fast and beautiful to experience, we invite you to give Microsoft Network a try and tell 'em Go Inside sent you!  

As per usual, if you have any thoughts or feedback on these (or any other) ISPs, please touch my hotlinked name at the head of this article and share your experiences!

GO INSIDE ISP of the YEAR! (4584 bytes)All year long we tallied the ISP winners for each month so we can award The Go Inside  ISP of the Year.  The big winner for 2000 is Microsoft Network!  We have also provided Microsoft Network with the lovely award you see displayed at the right! 

Here's the final monthly win count for 2000 in alphabetical order:


The FINAL 2000 Tally for
GO INSIDE Magazine ISP of the Year!!!

(in alphabetical order)

America Online = 2
AT&T Worldnet = 1
Concentric = 2
Earthlink = 1
Microsoft Network = 3
Peta.Net = 1
Prodigy Internet = 1
Road Runner = 1

And that's it for now.  Be sure to join us again next month as we bang wide 2001 with the first GO INSIDE Magazine ISP report of the new year!

Be Well,

David Boles
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
Go Inside Magazine

 

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