One of the first services that any business will require to access the Internet is that of the Internet Service Provider or ISP. Demon, Global, Netcom, Uunet, Virgin, Compuserve you name them!

There are over four hundred providers in the UK alone at the last count and the services provided range from diabolical to excellent.

Many issues need to be considered before making this important selection and Hippotek will be happy to discuss the issues and make recommendations.

For those too shy to call, please consider the following before entering your credit card number into that signup form.

In no particular order :

• Modem Speeds - do they have the access speed to support the latest modem technology, whilst this has been over-hyped, by both ISPÕs and modem manufacturers, if you are intent on going as fast as possible it will be important.
  
  
• Support - one of the most important issues, what hours are they open and are they helpful when contacted? Another important issue is, do they support both browsers, Netscape and Microsoft, this can be important, for instance UUNET Pipex Dial are partially owned by Microsoft and will not support Netscape!!
  
  
• Free Web Space - Not the appropriate place to host a business site as it can give the wrong impression, but if you do intend to use it, look for how much is available and also check on permitted usage. Some ISPÕs dis-allow business use of free space for obvious reasons.
  
  
• Backbone Provider - The lager companies with their own backbone of communication networks are better placed to provide a faster and more reliable service with strategically planned and co-ordinated upgrading of their system.
  
  
• ISDN - As sure as eggs is eggs business of any size will wish to utilize the benefits of ISDN in the next couple of years - quiz your proposed provider about upgrade paths as well as costs.
  
  
• Software - Some providers supply the most appallingly unreliable bloatware that causes regular system crashes - we know this to be true because we have used at least three! Also remember that Win95 includes dial up networking, ftp and email programs are available f.o.c from the net and they all seem to work much better if not constrained inside a single interface.
  
  
• Email Accounts - You may need dozens, are they available and at what cost?
  
  
• Cancellation - If you do need to change provider for whatever reason, can you quickly and easily cancel the account or do they require three months written notice?
  
  
• Cost - Finally "cost" - for a business, this should not really be the issue, the difference between £10pm and £15pm over one year is £60. The failure to secure support, or to connect reliably at a critical time on one occasion, could cost a business substantially more than £60. I know!