ISP Review gives some tips on choosing an ISP

3) Caution Over Newspaper / Magazine Reviews & Reports:
There are several problems with basing your views of an ISP from reviews in a magazine or word from a newspaper. Firstly, and as we'll soon discuss, ISPs change all the time and publications are time shifted. In other words items you see in newspapers can often be anything from two weeks to two months old since they were first written.

ISP related magazines are better, although so many 'found' their reviews and information through indirect experience or poorly placed testing. You can't review the quality of an ISP by using a modem and you can't rate its practical network performance through net testing systems, it's simply not realistic. Both methods are more susceptible to the world around them than that of their direct link to the provider.

4) Beware of Terms & Conditions (T&Cs):
Experienced Internet users know to check the T&Cs of an ISP first, yet most don't do it because we've somehow learned to avoid reading long portions of small print, yet you MUST!

ISPs often include 'catch' clauses such as system usage restrictions, blocked ports, refunds and bandwidth limits that aren't declared on the package advertisement itself. While most ISP T&Cs are the same, avoid giving them a detailed look at your peril.

5) Variable Stability:
ISPs change much like the yearly seasons; there are summers and winters in every provider's history. The key to choosing the best is to understand why stability and service problems occur; it's usually one of three things:

• A) General Problems with the Telco supplier.
  B) General Problems with the ISPs Hardware or Software.
  C) Problems with the ISPs Economics and or Business plan.
  

A and B are common place with all ISPs, no matter how good you think things are, one or the other will eventually crop up unannounced. Normally such issues will be fixed within two or three days at most, if not then it's more likely to be C.

Sadly it's all to often C, with an ISPs poor business plan meaning lack of profits and thus a cut down level of staff and investment in the network. This invariably leads to the following indicators, which could mean a service is headed for the scrap heap:

• A) Regular problems with a high level of engage tones upon trying to establish a connection (most ISPs rarely ever see a single one).

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