Choosing an Internet Service Provider

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Choosing an Internet Service Provider

Internet Service Providers, local or national, provide a connection or path into the backbone network for all the linked Local Area Networks now scattered across the Earth - which we all refer to lovingly as the Internet. The connections provided by an ISP get shared by all the businesses and individuals purchasing that service. There are over 4000 Internet Service Providers to choose from - and the List grows longer every day! Take a look - but before you choose, please read the guidelines below to aid your choice.

The bandwidth (or the total volume of data traffic per second that can be sent or received into the Internet) is fixed and gets divided up among all those who clamour for it!

Redundancy, as measured by the number of alternate connections into the Internet backbone provided by the ISP, is needed to tolerate hardware or software faults so people don't lose their rented conenctions for long periods of time.

You want an ISP who can:

Meet your needs as defined by your rent or buy Web Server decision
Provide Internet Backbone access on the order of a T3 line ( 45 Million Bits per second) or higher or a combination of T1 ( 1.544 Million Bits per second) and T3 lines into the Internet backbone.
Provide redundant Internet backbone access. No single failure of the ISP's connection should take your Web Server off-line for hours.

Ask the Internet Service Provider how long they've been in business. Ask for references. Compare prices across local and national ISPs. The ISP is the single most important element in the long-term performance success of your Web Presence!