JH->I used to be with a large national ISP, but I traded them in for a local
  ->company.  The reasons?  Tech support or general inquiries are handled by 
em
  ->within two or three hours during the day, with telephone followthroughs 
f
  ->necessary.  My new provider *always* gives me connects the first time I 
try
  ->and I've yet to see a connection at less than 50k.  Finally, they aren't 
on
Connect rates can be misleading. If I have an ISDN line connected to the
Internet I can accept many calls at 56k... but the users transfer rate
is what's important.
JH->My old provider (IDT) responded to tech questions with email a couple 
ays
  ->later; the information given was often incorrect;  I got busy signals on
  ->numerous occasions when I tried to connect, and they had no plans to
  ->incorporate the newer 56K standard.  So I told them adios.
JH->I've not had occasion to regret my change to a local provider, though 
our
  ->mileage may vary.
A majority of local providers are having a tough go of it. I use
Mindspring, usually connect at 48.8 and have transfer rates from
4.7k/sec to 5.0k/sec. Mindspring is very open about their network
status. It's posted on their web pages and they have several of their
own Newsgroups that their support personel are active in. An answer is a
call, e-mail, or Newsgroup message away. They even were willing to help
me with OS/2... anyone who does this gets an A+ in my book .
 * OLX 2.1 * Todd Copeland  -  TEAM OS/2
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