Why Internet Service Providers?

In many homes, a computer with an Internet connection has become as common as a telephone or television—in fact, many would give up their telephone or TV before they would give up their Internet connection.

The World Wide Web is a source of unlimited information and possibilities: students use the Internet for their studies, practically anything can be purchased online (it's particularly good for specialty items), the Internet is a great source for news, entertainment, and people all over the world can communicate instantly online.

There are various types of Internet connections, including dial-up, cable, wireless, DSL and satellite, and hundreds of Internet providers. Each provider has a service area, offers certain types of connections and provides customers with other benefits, such as email, security against viruses and other harmful programs, webpage space and more—finding the ISP that fits your needs and is available in your area can be a daunting task

In this site, you'll find articles about ISPs and comprehensive reviews on Internet service providers that will help you make an informed decision on which ISP fits your needs. At TopTenREVIEWS, we do the research so you don't have to.™

What to Look for in Internet Service Providers

Ideal Internet providers offer a number of different connections, including dial-up, DSL, cable and satellite, and they offer these services to a large number of people. The ISP should provide ample protection to customers using firewalls, parental controls and virus and spyware protection. Convenient, helpful customer service is a must.

Below are the criteria TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate Internet service providers.

• Feature Set – Internet service providers (ISPs) should include certain elements as a basic part of their service, including virus and spyware protection, firewalls, parental controls, email accounts, webpage space and more.
• Service Area – Internet service providers that offer service to a large region ranked higher in our reviews, since larger ISPs can usually offer more for less. The ISP website should supply tools that show if their service is available in your area.
• Connection Speeds – Internet providers that offer a choice of bandwidths, or data transfer space (the greater the bandwidth, the greater the speed of your connection) allow you more flexibility when choosing an Internet service plan.
• Customer Service/Support – The ISP should have excellent customer service, including a FAQs page, phone support, a customer support email address and live chat. The ISP should respond to customer questions promptly.

For the best provider we could find, see Earthlink.