Not directly related to bikes, beer, hiking, camping, boating, or other
activities--just on one of the tools we use to communicate about such things....
My ISP subscription comes up for renewal soon, I'm deciding whether to switch this
time, and I'd welcome any suggestions from your experiences.
---
To give you an idea of what I want...
Although my email address has continued as execpc.com, it's been a number of years
since its actually been the local southeastern/southern Wisconsin company that started
as a BBS. It has since been merged into two other out-of-state companies and the rate
has risen dramatically, from $99/year to $175/year if I renew with corecomm.
(Actually the big rate increase was last year, but they offered some free months last
time as a concession to get me to stay on at what amounted to the same net cost for
the year.)
Although the service is still "okay," certain things have eroded over the years,
primarily the loss of a shell account to which I could dial up directly (rather than
logging on to PPP account and telnet-ing to the shell account) and other changes that
make using it more trouble than it's worth. What was once a nice convenience has now
been made enough of a hassle that I don't bother anymore. On the positive side, it
does have a nice (and fairly effective) spam filter that allows me to use a web
interface where I can quickly glance at the index and delete them all at once without
having to download them first, and I've found very few false positives.
I am looking for dialup service (obviously with local access) and it doesn't have to
be "unlimited" usage. When it was execpc and then voyager, I had 15 hours per week
PPP account, which proved to be more than enough for what I needed to use. (Use of
direct-dial shell account for email initially had a separate limit, but then became
unlimited.) It has since been scaled back slightly to 60 hours per month--slightly
less overall time (60 hours in 30/31 days rather than 28 days), but that allows unused
time to "rollover" to accommodate the possibility of an unusually heavy week. The big
difference now is that I have to initiate a PPP session (previously rarely used) even
just to get email, so if I am replying to a message while still connected, I am
burning time. Still, it's extremely rare that I run out for the month.
My point is that I don't really need an "unlimited" service that I could justify
paying extra ($225/year v. $175/year with current ISP) for it. If something happened
to be unlimited for a price lower than $175, that would be fine, but only if all else
were at least equal to what I have now.
There are a couple of local companies that advertise about $120/year ($9.95/month with
annual contract). I called Merrimac Communications (merr.com) and when I asked about
shell accounts they didn't inspire a lot of confidence when they said, not just that
they didn't offer them, but that they didn't understand what I meant. There's also
one in Janesville that advertises a similar rate, but with an additional "setup" fee,
which may not make a lot of difference in the long run if I were to end up staying
with them, but I'd prefer to avoid semi-hidden charges.
I'd prefer to go with a local/in-state company, but wouldn't rule out something
national or regional. I don't want something like netzero that tacks on ads, requires
proprietary software to use, or sells user data for marketing purposes. I also have
no real interest in broadband. Dialup may be "slow" by some standards, but for my
amount of usage, it's just not worth the extra cost.
Any suggestions from out there? What do you like/dislike about your ISP?
Thanks!
Now go have a beer,
Bob Paolino
>From the Department of Military Intelligence and Jumbo Shrimp:
Sign seen on a recently poisoned lawn on Johnson:
TruGreen/ChemLawn
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