When there is no choice, it's not sooo bad.
Written: Jan 25 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Best of the worst (big national providers)
Cons: Worst of the best (local ISPs)
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| ogur's Full Review: Mindspring |
When I moved back in '98 to open a computer store, I had no idea that the budding metropolis I was moving to would have so few local ISPs. I had also been spoiled by the internet service I helped start up in the city I was moving from. Finding no quality alternative (until I got cable modem service, look up @home for my article on them), I ended up going with mindspring.
The most definitive comment I can make on them is... "Ehh.." I mean, I wasn't really BLOWN AWAY, but they weren't all that bad, either. I will say this, it having been about a year since I had their service, some of the anger has worn off, but I DO still remember that for a while there was a terrible case of "oh, we're down" in one way or another. Usually to where you could get anywhere within mindspring, but not out of it. All roads lead to Atlanta, I guess (but none out of it).
The other annoying factor about their service was their tech support. Typically, with most tech support people (those who know what they're doing) you can drop a few "buzz words" and they'll know you know what you're talking about.
When I told the techie I had tracerouted and that the trace stopped inside mindspring, indicating that their routing was likely failing or that their outbound backbone was down, the guy asked me to go to my control panel. After a little more of this I finally said "look, I understand you get a lot of people who say they know what they're doing, but i'm sure very few of them have ever set up an ISP, and I'm sure even fewer know what Linux is, what TCP/IP actually stands for, etc... Finally, if you can tell me what a RADIUS is, i'll politely say goodbye, and hang up, and you can log that I was a bad caller"...
"sir?"
"what's a RADIUS?"
"it has to do with circles, sir."
"yeah. can I speak with your supervisor?"
the supervisor apologized for the lack of knowledge on his tech's part as i explained that it wasn't so bad that the tech didn't know what a RADIUS server was so much as that he felt it necessary to act like that little screen he was reading from knew more than a former Systems administrator and webmaster with years of experience. The supervisor was very nice, and gave me a free month of service, which I told him i wasn't going to argue with, although I'd rather have the service up then. I was supposed to contact my girlfriend, who was in england, and who was sending me hotmail. He emailed me the software for Netzero (quite a wonderful bit of service, although I hope he didn't get caught), which was a decent alternative (only an alternative, though), and I was able to receive his email (inside mindspring), get on Netzero, and get in touch with my woman.
You hear these stories everywhere. I've done internet technical support and seen the guy sitting next to me be guilty of the same arrogance. Tech support sadly must be judged more on the supervisor than the tech, as the techs are normally goofballs off the street who can talk on a phone and read a set of instructions.
The speed of Mindspring was Good Enough. Hardcore gamers can forget it, though...
Basically, it goes like this:
Sitting in a room with AT&T, AOL, Prodigy, and others, Mindspring looks like the knight in shining armor
With the local ISP crowd, it looks like the village idiot.
Oh, one more little story...
When I initially signed up, I knew that mindspring made special arrangements with computer stores. (Like, you give out their cd's and get free service). So I mentioned to the sales goon that I had a computer store, and was looking to provide a good ISP for my customers. He said "well, since you're in the business, how about I give you $10 off of your startup fee?"
I said "well, since I listen to the radio (commercials always always advertising free startup), how about you give me the whole (darned) thing?"
"Oh. Sorry."
"It's ok, I just felt really special there for about a second.. maybe less"
They're a big company, trying to act like the little nice guys.
Ehh... alright, just keep trying or else you won't be a good alternative anymore.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ogur
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Member: Brian Hogan
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Reviews written: 65
Trusted by: 36 members
About Me:
The New Epinions - Why didn't I take the BLUE pill?
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