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10 Things to Consider Before Selecting a High Speed Internet Service Provider

1. Are you looking for a business or a residential connection? If it's a home connection, you should be willing to give up some things (like high reliability) in exchange for low cost. The price difference can be hundreds of dollars.

2. Determine your requirements before you look for an Internet provider.

  • How many computers do you have at your facility that you want to Internet enable? How many of those computers will be accessing the Internet at the same time?
  • Will you need to run a web server or file server from inside your facility?
  • How quickly do you need to get connected?

3. Check an Internet Service Provider directory to find the local ISP's in your neck of the woods. You might be surprised to find out how many there actually are! Try: www.thelist.com or www.isps.com or go to www.yahoo.com and type in "ISP". eCommandos keeps a listing of dedicated line and DSL providers in the Milwaukee area on our website at www.ecommandos.com

4. Check out the latest technologies. You might still install a DSL connection, but it may help you choose the length of contract if you see that better connections are coming to your area (for example, business cable, satellite or fixed wireless).

5. Try to determine if your ISP is in good financial shape. There is consolidation going on in the ISP business and it's not always in the customers' best interest. Make sure that the company with whom you do business isn't on the verge of bankruptcy. Ask how long have they been in business and approximately how many customers they have. Sure, startup companies can survive if they're operated correctly, but businesses with a track record and a customer base might be a better bet. Check out www.motleyfool.com or http://finance.yahoo.com to see if there's any information about the company.

6. Is the ISP that you are considering a reseller for another company? Ask them point blank who they resell and then check out their reseller to make sure that THEY'RE not having financial problems. For example, several of the national DSL providers have either gone out of business or are on the verge of doing so. Do you want to sign up with a company only to do it again in a couple of months?

7. A dedicated line (like a T1) is inherently more reliable than a DSL connection. It can also be significantly more money per month.

  • How important is it that your connection stays active?
  • Will orders be lost if you have downtime?
  • Do you have mission critical data that absolutely needs to go through or can you get by with a modem connection for a day if your lines go down?

8. What is your budget?

  • If you must spend less than a couple of hundred dollars a month, you're probably looking at a DSL or a cable modem connection. These connections can be quite fast and quite reliable but not as reliable as a true dedicated connection.
  • Does the ISP require you to purchase some equipment to start the service or can you provide your own? You may be able to pick up the necessary hardware or software on the used equipment market (like at ebay.com). Don't forget to consider a firewall when figuring out what you'll need!

9. What type of customer service does the company provide? Do they have 24hour/7day support or are they just available during normal business hours? If it's the latter and the connection goes out on a weekend, what will you do? Is it local support or, at least, a free phone number?

10. Log into some of the broadband portal websites to see if they have anything to say about your prospective provider. www.Dslreports.com, www.broadband.com and www.infoworld.com all have information about broadband providers, glossaries, modems, firewalls and more.

Still unsure of what to do?

Call eCommandos at 414-271-9668 for help!