Consumer Reports surveyed 1,640 dial-up users and rated various ISPs on consumer satisfaction. To read the report, you'll have to buy the magazine's September issue or subscribe to the Web site ($3.95/month), but CNet summarizes the results. Consumer Reports: http://www.consumerreports.org/main/home.jsp CNet: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6833144.html [extracts from CNet] ------ Based on a possible 100 points for perfection in all aspects of service, the rankings of the eight providers examined by the magazine were as follows: AT&T WorldNet, with 78 points; BellSouth, 76; EarthLink, 76; Prodigy, 73; Qwest Communications' Qwest.net, 70; AOL, 68; CompuServe, 67; and MSN, 67. The survey guidelines state that differences of five points or more are considered significant. MSN got the survey's lowest overall rating, due to dissatisfaction with e-mail, technical support and reliability of its dial-up connections... "If you're paying $20 for a busy signal it's not going to make you a happy camper." "What seemed to matter most was being able to get online in a hurry and stay online without being kicked off." - Sixty percent of AOL users answering the survey reported an interruption in their connection during the previous month, the worst rating among all ISPs examined, Heim said. - Users of AOL-owned CompuServe rated it next-worst for dropped connections, Heim said. - Conversely, just 33 percent of AT&T WorldNet and EarthLink services reported similar disconnections, he said AT&T WorldNet was the top choice for connection speed and reliability and offered the best array of low-cost plans. Users also gave AT&T's e-mail service highest ratings. Technical-support assessments also favored the higher-rated providers and panned AOL, CompuServe and MSN ------ my comments: [1] if you can stomach the spyware, ATT WorldNet [aren't they the folks with the $5 150 hour service?]seems to be a low price winner of this survey... [2] your results may vary, depending on location, etc. thepccat ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. To unsubscribe, send a message to listar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe juno_accmail" in the body or subject. OR visit http://freelists.dhs.org ~*~