ISP.com provides over 3,000 dial-up access number across the U.S and Canada. They also provide affordable DSL contracts in limited areas. This internet service has access numbers offered in nearly 90 percent of the test areas that we targeted, and they provide DSL in over 20 metropolitan areas. ISP.com has been providing residential and business internet services since 1999.

One thing you may find confusing about IPS.com is that they utilize a few of Google's free services with theirs. For example, if you click on the MyISP.com tab on the ISP.com homepage, it takes you to iGoogle, which is Google's personal homepage product. In addition, on their main landing page and their email page they advertise Gmail. From what we can tell, their intention is for you to use Gmail as your webmail service. For email protection, they offer a tool called Mailrover, which is an email spam-filtering product we assume works with Gmail. In terms of their internet services, they offer two dial-up and seven DSL plans. Their dial-up plans includes their standard and accelerated plans. Each plan comes with 10 email addresses, spam and virus protection and free customer service. As with all dial-up services, you should make sure that they provide toll-free access numbers in your area before subscribing. Their DSL plans range from Basic, which provides reported download speeds of 768kbps to their Extreme DSL plan that reports download speeds of 15Mbps with a static IP address. Their three DSL plans with the highest speeds also require an activation fee, but the benefit is that you also get a static IP address, which is good for business accounts. A few of the plans offer static IP or DHCP options.

Though they report that they provide spam and virus protection, they do not relate what internet security software they provide, so we cannot easily assess how strong the software is at combating internet threats. Another benefit they provide is free customer service by telephone, email or through online documentation.

When we searched for access numbers and services in our test areas, we noticed that most areas only have a few access numbers, with the most available in Seattle and none in the New Mexico rural test area code. However, they do offer access numbers in parts of Canada, which is a good option for those that occupy the northernmost part of North America. As with all dial-up services though, make sure to verify that the access numbers available are toll-free from your phone line or you may receive hefty telephone charges.