I'll chime in here too, and say that IBM/ATT has declined dramatically in service of late, although I started to notice it about a year ago, several months before the ATT takeover. As well, I found the "roaming" fees to be a real annoyance, given that I was originally solicited on free world wide coverage. Last year I ended up paying $24/hr extra, from Hamburg.

But my biggest complaint is the lack of access numbers. I've had problems in major centres such as Bangkok and Mumbai (although there may be local "government" problems in those places.) But mostly, it's the small towns that I end up in that have no coverage whatsoever. If you are always in large urbans centers, you're probably OK. But if your in Marinette WI, Atlantic Beach NC, or here with me now in Rockland ME, your just plain out of luck.

I've taken to researching local ISPs in advance of my trip, and signing up for a short term when I arrive. So far so good. Rates have ranged from 1$/day in Atlantic Beach, to $40 for 60 hours (minimum I could get, though I only need it for a week) here in Rockland.

Might be trickier overseas, but I pulled it off in Hamburg. 'Course, now every time I use Microsoft Fax, I get a dialogue box in German. No idea what it means. I just click on [OK] and carry on.:

I signed up for a service plan with UUNet a couple of weeks ago. I have made several tests from San Francisco and found the connections to be lightning quick, much faster than with my former ISP. UUDial Solo is a little pricey - $19.95/month for 50 hours, and $24.95/month for 150 hours, but as I only use it when I'm away, I can get by with the 50 hour plan. (I have a DSL line at home.)

I also appreciate that they have local nodes in places where my former ISP does not. It will be nice not to pay long distance charges from the Boston suburbs, Wausau, Wisconsin, and Canada when making my connections.

Only down side - limited nodes worldwide. They don't have any service in Colombia, for instance. (Fortunately, my client there had a T1.)

Thanks very much for the recommendations posted here earlier this year. I'll let you know how the connection speeds are from Australia later this week.

I am probably on my 10th and final international ISP over the past 3-4 years. No question ATTGlobalnet (formerly IBM) wins hands down. Haven't noticed any decline in service...only increase in prices. Have connected from some VERY strange places.

Dorian

I've tried CS, AOL, earthlink, worldnet (good in Japan and US, no roaming charge either place) and attglobalnet. I've found attglobal to be the best overall, esp. if you get the "premium/short hold time" support plan. Earthlink usually had faster datarates from the same calling points, but the surcharges were too high in Europe, but not as high as AOL (for US subscribers).

Celestar340, do you need mailing addresses in all the regions you have accounts?

AT&T Business Internet Services/AT&T Global Network (formerly IBM Global Network) has served adequately for me.

I selected AT&T following a similar search - country-local dialups (to minimize international long-distance calls to dial into a US server), competitive rates, and reasonably fast connections.

I would give AT&T a grade of B+. With the US/North America Business Premium Plan, $24.95/month brings the international roaming rate (i.e., dialing into a non-North American country server) to $0.10/minute, which to me is much more reasonable than the dollars charged for IDD.

Quality of 24x7 customer service? I have only used it once while abraod, in Germany. Excellent availability, and they solved my problem very quickly and efficiently.

The only qualm I have is that often the Hong Kong dialup (of which there is currently only one) affords unreliable connections. Usually, this means, for whatever strange reason, I connect after the 2nd consecutive dialup attempt, as if the first dialup is a "Hello, get ready, connect me on the second try." Sometimes, I connect to the server, but the login attempts fail consistently. I am using a TDK Global 5660 PCMCIA modem, configured for use with the telephone systems of whichever country I'm in.

So while not perfect, AT&T Business Internet has proven satisfactory and cost-effective.

I would recommend it.

[This message has been edited by FQTV (edited 04-10-2000).]

FYI, UUNet doesn't charge anything for international roaming.

Haven't tried connecting through UUNet here in Australia yet; I found an Internet cafe for $2 (about $1.20 US) Australia per half hour and am writing this from there.

Either UUNet changed its global roaming charges just after I signed up for service or I misread the service agreement. I just got a bill from them for $6/hour for roaming + $2/hour connect charges from Australia.

In the US, I use my company's 800-number, and I'm all set.

Overseas, I use ATT Global Net and AOL as a back up. I hate AOL, but there are some locations where ATT Global Net doesn't have a service.

With ATT Global Net, I can use my Outlook and IE to check my e-mail and surf the net. With AOL, I still use IE to surf the net, but I have to log onto my company's intranet to download e-mail, as I can't get AOL to work with my Outlook.

I just checked AOL.com and they list a few access numbers in Thailand.

Bringing this forward, here is my summation.

1. AOL is not really an ISP
2. UUnet doesn't offer individual accounts anymore
3. IBM/AT&T Global has poor and indifferent service with a reduced set of countries.
4. Dialing back to the USA works in some countries, but not in others. Portugal and Argentina are two examples that compress the international trunks so that modems don't work.

Has anyone tried GRIC? Any other options?

AOL may list access numbers in Thailand, but they won't work. They were all cut off a couple of years ago.

For those of you that AOL (liek me) but like the breadth of access numbers, remember Compuserve? It's now owned by AOL and uses all of its access numbers but you can still use your browser and mail program--but not in Thailand!

I can confirm AOL's Thai access numbers do work. It at least did as recently as 22 October 2000.

But if you stay a bit long in Thailand, it's better to just buy an Internet access package, which typically gives you several hours of access with a few U.S. dollars.

stimpy: UUNet is still advertising UUDial Solo packages on their web site. I still have this package. In light of that, I'm not sure why you say they don't offer individual accounts.

GRIC: I tried Earthlink last year and they had a free add on called GRIC. Is that what you're referring to? If so, it didn't work at all from the Netherlands, their e-mail technical support was inadequately capable to get me up and running, and they kept telling me to call tech support in the US to resolve the problem. A wholly unsatisfying experience.

I have used GRIC through Earthlink/Mindspring at various cities in Southeast Asia (HK, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines) and it worked every time.

Even though I have DSL at home, I have maintained a $6.95/mo account with Earthlink/Mindspring (good for up to 5 hours a month) in order to use GRIC when I'm travelling overseas. I understand that they have since then discontinued the $6.95/5-hour plan.

Basically, you get a "Global Roaming Dialer" application which lists the various countries and cities where you can connect by calling a local number.

In my experience, the connection speed has been usually ~24k. Cost is $0.10/minute (in addition to any local toll charges your hotel may impose).

Bottom line... it's OK for checking email and light web surfing but could be expensive for extended web surfing. I much prefer to stay at a hotel that offers high-speed access.

Dgolds, I called UUnet to ask for global dial-up service and they said they have stopped accepting new individual customers. I figured it was due to what Worldcom is about to announce regarding restructuring.

I have a friend who works for GRIC so I'll give them a try. I can always bug my friend if the service has problems.