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Old Oct 26, 1999, 6:45 pm
  #6  
KenHamer
Original Member
 
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 6,222
As a long time user of the ISP formerly known as IBM Global Network, I'd strongly advise against using it. At one time their service was superb, and their coverage was unmatched. However, since the takeover by AT&T (and before) the service has declined markedly.

It began with an increasing number of countries disappearing from their phone list, and finished with reduced features and hefty user fee increases. For example, if you are outside of you "home zone" you may be charged up to $24/hour extra. (Canada and the US are in the same zone.) Additional e-mail addresses, personal web space, etc, all used to be free, but now incur additional charges.

Finally, their actual technical performance has declined as well, although it may actually be due to increased subscriptions. Busy signals, dead lines and disconnects were unheard of when I signed up, but now I get them several times a week. A telling indicator, in my view, is that IBM used to prominently and proudly display it's standing in ISP ratings every month. But the last time they did that was in February of this year, which is about when the service began to decline.

I don't know if there is a better service, but I'd find it difficult to believe that there isn't.

Regards,

Ken Hamer
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