Bitzenbytes.com

I was just reading 'Watchdog' section in the April01, 2001 issue of Maximum PC magazine. They state that, "While the Dog does hear some complaints about cable and satellite provider, the majority of complaints stem from DSL service".

They spoke to Justin Beech, editor of the consumer site DSLreports.com, who offered these tips on how to avoid getting burned:

• Never pay an ISP in advance for DSL service, even if discounts are offered. Be cautious about paying a deposit for broadband service. Many orders do not lead to complete service and your deposit may not be refunded. Check whether the price is all-inclusive and covers charges such as the Universal Service Fund (USF) tax. Read the contract carefully.
• Ask for the tech support number and call it at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning and 1 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. In the former case, someone should answer the phone. In the latter case, hold times should not be extraordinary.
• Verify exactly where the ISP's point of presence is for customers in your town.  Be concerned if this information is not clear or unavailable.
• Check to see what kind of dial-up access is available from the provider in case of an outage, or how much dial-up costs if the service is not automatically included.
• Check whether the ISP is listed at www.dslreports.com/gbu and read the customer reviews.
• Investigate whether two-way cable is available in your area; note its price and whether wireless Internet such as Sprint's Broadband Direct is available. Compare this to your DSL options.
• Be realistic about your new connection. Do not expect your new broadband connection to vastly improve free streaming videos. Most sites with Windows Media Player and Real streams are overloaded and aren't able to deliver enough streams at high speed to meet demand. Remember, the Internet has 'weather' and it's not always clear.
• Finally, compare notes on public forums (like this one ) such as www.dslreports.com/forum before concluding it's your ISP's fault.