isp's and business

Is your ISP pro-business?

I've been with more than a dozen ISPs in the last few years. Why so many? Let's just say some of them do NOT deliver on the services they advertise. Although I cannot review all of the ISPs that offer services today, I can steer you away from some of the companies that probably will not suit your needs. I can also tell you what to ask your next ISP...

The Facts

OK, let's face it. I'm not an ordinary email user. I literally send THOUSANDS of email messages every week. What does this mean? Well unfortunately, it means I am NOT a desirable customer in the eyes of most ISPs.

How do I know? Well, recently I got a call from my ISP telling me that my large quantities of email were tying up their servers. I was told that this activity was not allowed on their servers.

"But you advertise "unlimited access" for $18.95 per month." I replied. Next came an unexpected reply.

"We've had abuse reports on your account." My answer to this "All my subscribers are voluntary. Please email any complaints you have right away so I can investigate." Well, after numerous requests, I still did not receive those alleged abuse complaints. Why?

Because there were none.

In the meantime I was left without access to my account. Although they would not tell me my account was cancelled, my password no longer worked. Further calls to their support team brought zero response. This confirmed my suspicions. They simply did not want me as a customer any longer.

Perhaps many of you are thinking, "But I thought it was the spammers they were cracking down on?" True, ISPs ARE cracking down on spammers. Unfortunately, many ISPs assume that all high volume email users are practicing unsolicited email. This is simply not true.

The ironic part is this When I signed up with this ISP last year I made it very clear that I had a large subscriber list that I emailed to once per week. They said, "As long as it's not spam, it's fine." What they should have said is, "As long as your subscriber list doesn't get too big, it's fine."

So when you're shopping for a new ISP, be sure to ask them if it's OK to grow your business with them. Tell them you may want to deliver an email newsletter to your subscriber list and ask them if that will be a problem. If they say "no problem," make sure you hold them to it!

ISPs I've used for business (the good and the bad).

Here are a few ISPs I have experience with. Perhaps I can save you many hours of aggravation and lost time by steering you clear of the wrong ones!

AOL - The slow email interface and constant problems I've experienced in the past are enough to scare away any serious business. What's worse is you can't use a third party email client through AOL. If you have not tried the combination of a true ISP and a good email program like Eudora, you are limiting your cybermarketing potential. While there's nothing wrong with having an AOL account, trying to do business with ONLY an AOL account is making things tougher than they have to be!

Netcom (Now Earthlink) - This is a great ISP but check on their policy to allow a maximum of 100 email recipients per outgoing message. I now hold a $29.95 a month account, which allows unlimited messages (no spam) and logins from multiple computers at once. A great deal if you have helpers who need to be online.

MacConnect - A super ISP for Mac users who want an easy way to get set up. MacConnect is the first and largest national Internet Service Provider exclusively for users of the Mac OS. (While I primarily use a PC, our design services are housed on a Mac and it's connected to the net with MacConnect.)