Todd's quick survey of low-cost, personal ADSL accounts-Seattle area Jun99

  Setup Monthly Megs Addl Megs StaticIP PopAccts
/Aliases		 Web
Megs		 DNS Fire
wall		 Dialup
access		 Peer
-ing		 CIR Feed1 Feed2 Notes

Email
2Alpha $60 $40 1000 $15 per 1000 yes 3 5 yes yes none 6 . . . SOHO o.k. 2Alpha
AlternateAccess $25 $20 unlim unlim no 1 10 no no 20 hours 6 . . . no commercial. AlternateAccess
Concentric $- $- - - - - - $ - hours 6 ask       Concentric
Connect NW
O O O 		 $50 $25 2000 $10 per 1000 $5/mo 1 10 $10 no 30 hours 6 ask savvis frntr SOHO o.k. Connect NW
Emerald Net none $20 5000 $10 per 1000 yes 3 10 yes yes ? 6 . . . Web email Emerald Net
Flashcom .* $49* . . . . ? ? ? ? . . . . no servers Flashcom
GTE * $? * $25 unlim unlim no 1 ? ? ? ? . . . . No details available GTE *
ISOMedia none $23 unlim unlim no 1 5 no no no . . . . no servers. ISOMedia
LightRealm $20 $20 unlim unlim no 3 no no no no 6 . . . one computer. LightRealm
NetAmerica $25 $20 1000 $12 per 1000 no 1 5 no no no . . . . no commercial. NetAmerica
NW Link none $25 1000 $10 per 1000 two! 1 10 no no yes . . . . . NW Link
NWNexus $50 $20 500 $10 per 500 yes 1/3 none yes no none 6+N . . . DNS $75 setup NWNexus
OlyWA Net $25 $25 unlim unlim yes 1/5 5 yes no 10 hours . . . . SOHO o.k. OlyWA Net
Oz none $20 1500 $10 per 1000* yes 1 10 no* no yes 6 . . . Covad plan Oz
Pioneer Net free $25 unlim unlim yes 2 10 no no 20 hours . Y p2pT3
UUnet		 T1 SOHO o.k. Pioneer Net
SeaNet $? $22 500 $20 per 1000 no 1 5 no no 20 hours . . . . . SeaNet
Speakeasy $? * $? * $? * $? * $? * $? * $? * $? * $? * $? * . . . . . Speakeasy
US West * $? * $18 unlim unlim no 2 2 no no 10 hours . . . . . US West *
Virtual net svcs none $20 1000 $10 per 1000 Yes 4 5 no no yes . . . . no commercial. Virtual net svcs
VirtualCafe ? $40 unlim unlim yes 1 20 no no none . . . . . VirtualCafe
Worldlink $25 $20 1000 $15 per 1000 yes 2 10 no no none . . . . . Worldlink
zzz Setup Monthly Megs Addl Megs StaticIP PopAccts
/Aliases		 Web
Megs		 DNS Fire
wall		 Dialup
access		 Peer
-ing		 CIR Feed1 Feed2 Notes  

Peering agreements with SIX or NIX give your ISP faster access to other Seattle ISPs.

Many ISPs in the Seattle region also provide internet connectivity via Covad ADSL. This is more reliable than the USWest network because Covad maintains their own DSLAMs in the telco C/Os and routes the data entirely outside USWest. Be sure to check this new development. For example Oz Net offers complete, turnkey 384/384 Covad connections only $65/month. Since GTE and USWest charge around $40/ month including taxes for 256/64 connection, and ISPs charge at least $20, it is time for me to change providers!

Editorial observations:

Some ISPs do not post sufficient detail on their DSL page to enable an informed decision by the public. This is no different than any other segment of the American economy, I suppose.

It turns out that ISPs have stark, glaring differences in Terms of Service.

Some ISPs have *no contract terms* on their web page, and some lack details. But some ISPs have stated policies that accommodate the real-world ADSL customer (SOHO O.K.) For example

"...intended as a high speed replacement for dialup accounts (single user home and small business Internet access), and should not be used for large business activities like the running of high volume Web, FTP or Email servers."

Notice that 10 ISPs offer Static IPs but 6 ISPs offer DHCP. If you are hardwired to the ISP's server, you are going to consume one of his IP addresses 24 hours a day and there is little technical or economic reason to give you a dynamic IP, except to block you from running a web server (or quake, mpeg, spam server). All of this is fine with me, no aspersions intended. I'm just mentioning it. For example, nobody will be able to call you with Net Meeting, just a few minor problems like that.

Notice that 7 ISPs offer unlimited capacity and 8 have metered limits of 500Megs/1500Megs a month. Hmmmmm. And some of the unlimited providers are OK for SOHO users. I jumped to Isomedia ISDN last year when it was half the price of other ISDN providers--and I bet right because the performance was just as good. Maybe that is the right thing to do with ADSL, too.

I went with NWNexus for their stability. Its not the cheapest but I quit looking for a free lunch, and decided to pay for my bandwidth, in exchange for the right to use my goddamned connection any way I want.

-Todd     

This information is posted for the user group as a public service. No warranties of accuracy are expressed/implied.
I contacted every ISP above. All ISPs have various additional offerings. ISP's often modifiy their ADSL account terms. I will be happy to update this, add more ISPs, or correct any mistakes. Please email me with the following information:

  1. Setup Cost (Not including Telco, COVAD, Carrier, etc.)
  2. Monthly Cost
  3. MByte limit per month if any
  4. Cost of Addl Megs
  5. Is Static IP available at same price?
  6. PopAccts/Aliases included at that price?
  7. Web Megs included at that price?
  8. DNS to user's domain included at that price?
  9. Firewall " " "
  10. Dialup access " " "
  11. Peering -member of________
  12. CIR if any
  13. Feed1 provider ________ Feed2 provider _________
  14. Notes
  15. Email address to contact

Todd F. Boyle CPA www.gldialtone.com last Updated on 2/24/99

 

Here are the ISPs supported as destinations by GTE/Verizon in Seattle area as of 11/15/2000