by David Boles
June 1, 2001
The GO INSIDE Magazine Internet Service Provider report brings you the insider scoop as to who is performing well as and ISP and who is not. Road Runner, with its superfast cable modem access across most of the country, pins the tip top spot this month, making all of us less fortunate sons long for the high speed world of cable access to the Web.
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:
- ADSL Capability
- Technical Support Wait Time
- Connect on First Try
- Newsgroup Technical Support
- Opt-In SPAM blocking for Email
- Sustained 12 hour connections
- Download speed
- IRC Technical Support
- Dynamically Updated Web Page for Network Status
- Free Personal Homepage Space with at least 5 MB of server space
- Number of local, national and international POPs
- Fast Email Delivery and Receipt
- Newsgroup Robustness
- V.90 Support
- Multiple POP3 Email Addresses with one account
- ISDN Support
- *Truly* Unlimited Online Usage
- Multi-Session support
- Non-proprietary software connection
- Elapsed time between trouble report and acknowledgement
- Elapsed time between acknowledgement and final resolution
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!
1. Road Runner
2. Microsoft Network
3. XO
4. RCN
5. Peta.Net
6. WebTV
7. Prodigy Internet
8. ioNet
9 . CRL
10. Pacific Bell
11. SkyNet
12. US West
13. LocalNet
14. AT&T Worldnet
15. Juno
16. @Home
17. TIAC
18. Coastal Net
19. Southwestern Bell
20. Earthlink
21. Navix
22. FlashNet
23. CWIX
24. CompuServe
25. America Online
Road Runner
are doggone fast! You want streaming video that plays like TV
then get yourself into a Road Runner
neighborhood and start singing with the speed! We've
presented the good folk at Road Runner
with this exclusive award you can see at the left.
If you want an ISP who will treat you well and provide you 24 hour access to the web, then slam on over to Road Runner 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!
All year long we will tally the ISP winners for each month so we can
award The Go Inside ISP of the Year in December,
2001. We will present the winner with the lovely award you see displayed at the right!
Here's the final monthly win count for 2001 in alphabetical order:
Microsoft Network = 1
Peta.Net = 2
Prodigy Internet = 1
Road Runner = 1
XO = 1
And that's it for now. Be sure to join us again next month for more of the 2001 GO INSIDE Magazine ISP report!
Best Wishes,
David Boles
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
Go Inside Magazine
Copyright ©
2001