How to choose an ISP?

[Alpharat]

Hi everybody!

Can sombody please tell me what factors to take into account when choosing an ISP for ADSL? Is price the only consideration? Is location of their equipment a factor?

 

[VQuest]

IMO: Price, reliability, support.

 

[arf9999]

Mostly (for the standard 2GB, 3GB and 4GB accounts), the price is all that differentiates them. All the ISPs are merely re-selling Telkom connections.

There are some value-added features that are offered tho' such as email addresses, web hosting or exclusive web content. Best to make a list of what you require, and find the cheapest ISP offering you those features. Visit www.hellkom.co.za for a list of low price ISPs.

If you need more than 3 or 4GB per month, then there are slightly different options, as equipment and local backbone are not the same. Currently some ISPs sell bw on SAIX, others on UUNet and (I think) some on IS, and then there are some proxy/VPN solutions. If you search the forums, there is quite a lot of info on these. Try keywords like UUNet, AYCE, Axess, nukeCap, freeDSL to search.