The Internet service provider industry is still quite young and undeveloped, and some misleading business practices exist. For example, an ISP can market "T1 service" when in reality it provides companies with only a shared T1 line. With hundreds of ISPs in North America alone, it's necessary to shop around carefully and understand exactly what you are getting for your money. Here are some of the factors to consider when choosing an ISP:
Points of Presence (POP) and price
Product range and value-added capabilities
Specific questions to ask an ISP
A full service provider provides a variety of services for individuals and business including an Internet connection and education, training, customer support, and so forth. Some business-oriented service providers provide services for business including installation of a dedicated (leased) line.
You can obtain a list of service providers in your area through InterNIC. The address is:
Network Solutions
Attn: InterNIC Registration Services
505 Huntmar Park Drive
Herdon, VA 22070
Phone: 1-703-742-4777
To get you started, here's a partial list of Internet Service Providers in the US. For specific information on international service providers, contact your Silicon Graphics sales representative.
You may be able to find service providers in your area by consulting:
your local telephone company
advertisements in local computer magazines
a local computer store or computer user group
a local university that's connected to the Internet
Even if you are not yet connected directly to the Internet, you may have some form of Internet access through a friend or some other method. If so, you can obtain a list of providers from InterNIC by using anonymous ftp or electronic mail.
If you want to establish and configure your own Internet connection, you can find detailed information about planning and setting up a network in the IRIX(TM) Advanced Site and Server System Administration Guide.
Among the groups offering Internet connections are not-for-profit companies, universities, cooperatives, corporations, and telephone companies, and even individuals running operations out of their garages. Many ISPs target their services toward consumers and individual users rather than commercial traffic and operations. Be sure to seek out a provider focused on your needs, whether you need a business connection or a personal one.
Experience and stability are two good indicators of whether or not a network provider can provide a reliable connection. Look for a provider with redundant equipment at all major switching hubs, and redundant backbone links so that no single failure will isolate part of the network.
Even the best networks fail occasionally and all providers will have outages. The critical factor is how quickly the ISP fixes problems. At a minimum, the ISP should have some kind of network monitoring system using SNMP to collect performance statistics on various computers throughout the network allowing providers to recognize problems within minutes of occurrence. This can mean that problems may get fixed before you even notice them.
If problems cannot be resolved immediately, good providers have a trouble ticket system in place to track a problem until it is resolved. Ask about the ISP's escalation procedures for trouble tickets. This should describe what happens when a problem goes unsolved for a period of time.
Furthermore, in case anything goes wrong, a technical staff should be available to respond to calls. For critical connections, there should be a Network Operation Center (NOC) which offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week support. Finally, be sure to ask for references and use them to ask about the provider's reliability and support.
In general, the closer an ISP's POP is to the customer's site, the less expensive it will be to connect to the network from that site. It is also important to look at how a given ISP is connected to other components of the Internet. Look for a provider with many direct connections to other national and international components of the Internet and make sure they do not have restrictions on the type of traffic. Note that price isn't necessarily a good measure of the quality of service (in particular, don't assume that a more expensive service is better).
Depending on your needs, it may be important to choose a provider with a broad range of products and services. A provider should offer a full range of direct connection services ranging from 56 kbps to a T3 line. In addition, for remote offices or mobile users, the ISP should offer dial-up services for modem connection or ISDN service.
In addition to a full range of connection types, you may want some services that make the Internet more friendly, useful, and secure. For example, a full-service provider will sell or lease all of the networking equipment required (such as a router and a CSU/DSU). Many providers even manage the router, server, and security for you. Some ISPs also provide other services, such as registering a domain name or handling all the logistics of obtaining a connection through the local phone company.
Some questions to consider when you contact a service provider: