Everyday a new ISP’s ad entices you to buy an Internet account from them. It’s great that you now have a choice, but the choice is oh-so-tough. So let’s come up with a checklist that you can use to zero in on an ISP.

Ask and you shall know

Find out from your friends who have Internet accounts on their ISP experience. Do they find it easy to connect and stay connected? Is it worth all that money? Nothing like some real experience to show you the virtual way.

Quick dialup access

How easy is to dial? Do you have a huge list of numbers that you have to keep trying to connect to? Or does a single number do? And if you move around a lot of cities, will the same number work? It won’t in most cases but in some cases they do. That’s definitely a convenient thing if you travel around a lot. And do you get to connect quickly, or does the phone just keep ringing or give you a busy signal? After paying a hefty amount, and getting many freebies, you definitely don’t want to spend a big chunk of your time just trying to get online.

Stable connects

Once you connect to the Net, is the connect sustained? Or do you lose connect every two minutes? Many ISPs jump into the Net fray but fail to maintain good connects as the number of their subscribers goes up. International standards prescribe a 2 Mbps connection for every 6000 subscribers. Even if your ISP is able to convince you that he has his statistics correct, remember that in India more than one person share a Net connection. So the number of people actually online could be much more than what records may show. And before you decide to dump an ISP for its bad connectivity, do check out your phone line—that also could be the problem.

Just browsing

There are some ISPs that close off FTP access—which means you can’t download files. They do this so that your browsing experience doesn’t get affected. But then you’re likely to download something or the other sometime, so be sure to ask if they are any taboos on FTP.

Roaming

Do you travel a lot? If yes, you need a roaming account. Not all ISPs support this. There are some ISPs too that have operations in different cities, but you can’t use the same account everywhere—you have to get a separate one for each of the zones!

VSNL offers international roaming but be sure to check out the charges before you decide to take it on.

What do you get?

A specific number of hours, of course. How many e-mail ids? If you need only one, then this isn’t such a crucial thing. But if you would like to share the account with your husband or kids, you will want more e-mail ids. How much of mail space do you get on the ISP’s server? But again this isn’t crucial if you download all your mail to your computer frequently? What about Web space? Can you put up your own Web pages on their server? How much space do you get? These are not the deciding factors when you choose an ISP. But these are definitely advantages that you can make use of. Otherwise free Web space is available on the Web at every second Website and free e-mail ids are no eyebrow-raisers either.

Try before you buy

Most ISPs have trial accounts. But then there’re some others who don’t have any. Or some others who don’t make their trial offers very visible—probably in the hope that their hefty accounts get purchased. But don’t fall for them, not just yet. So it’s better to take a small account and test it out.

Easy to buy

Just a little more than a year ago, you had to fill up forms to get an Internet account. Now you could pick one up at roadside petrol stations too. Picking up most accounts is easy these days. All it needs, is call the ISP’s helpdesk who’ll direct you to a shop or a dealer closest to you. Some may even come and deliver it at your doorstep—though don’t expect that for the low-end accounts. And similarly, once your account is finished, and you decide to continue with the same ISP, is it easy to renew? It isn’t such a big deal anymore, with most ISPs.

Easy to register

How would you know how easy is it to register? Ask around and look for ISP reviews. Before you buy, be sure to ask what the registration process is like. And be on the lookout for registration charges. A year ago, most accounts had registration charges. This is not true anymore. Some of the higher-end accounts do though. And another thing you’ve to watch out for are the installation charges. You ask for an account and the dealer sends someone to give it to you. And you probably get him to install it for you. And then comes a bill for Rs 250. Installation or registration is really a simple process and you shouldn’t be shelling out that much money for it. So ask the ISP whether its dealers will charge you for the installation.

Helpdesk

Another deciding factor. It’s also the differentiating factor. A caring and helpful customer desk can make all the difference to your Net experience. An ISP’s helpdesk has to be able to answer all sort of queries related to the account. A knowledgeable, unassuming and polite helpdesk—that’s what you should be looking for. There are rude ones around and ones that don’t know too much of what they are talking about.