Having a successful and satisfying Internet experience begins with the level of service you receive from your chosen gateway to the Internet. Most major and midsize cities around the country offer a large number of ISP options for you to choose from. There are many important details you should now before agreeing to sign up to any of these. Providers can be broken down first into National and Local Providers.Here are important details you should know about each one.

National Provider

The large national providers are more likely to have around-the-clock support available, and easy-to-configure software. Many can be counted on to have access numbers in all major US and Canadian cities and many international cities. This can be very handy for maintaining Internet and email access while you travel. Examples of "National Providers" are Sprint.ca,Bell Sympatico,etc. Some criteria you should consider is:

1. Do they have software that will run on your computer? (some, such as MCI, don't have Macintosh software)
2. (if you decide to go with the cable dial-up modem)Do they have a connection point close enough to be a local call?
3. Do they support my fast modem? (if you have one of the new 56k modems, you need to be particularly careful, since the two "standards" haven't merged yet -- you have to have the same flavor of 56k modem as your provider)
4. Do they have the right price structure for my needs? (some only have a single structure, say $20 for 20 hours each month -- if you only plan to be online 5 hours each month you end up wasting money)
5. Do they have the special services I want? (multiple email addresses for my various family members, free Web space to put up my own "Home page," etc.)

If you are adventuresome, you might want to try a local provider. Because they often have lower prices (no TV advertising expense), they can be less expensive, and sometimes offer better service. Also, if you're in a small town, having a small local provider may be the only way to avoid a long-distance call to get online. There are thousands of "Local Providers" such as Connections.com,look, etc. On the other hand:

1. Sometimes they lack professional management, and their service is sloppy.
2. It's hard to get good information about their quality of service, since the national magazines don't review.
3. Sometimes they don't offer easy-to-install software, or even helpful assistance in manually configuring software you already have.

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