The Good
I first started using Compuserve. When 2.0 Was new to the world. At the time I had only been using BBS's so Wincim was fantastic to me. Seemingly just like a giant BBS. Now I use Compuserve 4.0 Classic and about the only thing that hasn't changed about the service is the files in the library's.

The few things I did/do enjoy about Compuserve. Are the Forums and the Message System. Compuserve has over 400 Forums on all most any topic Inside the forums are message systems and file library's related to the topic of the forum.

For a new user to computers or even just to the world wide web Compuserve is a good starting place, It is easy to use and navigate.

The Bad

Since AOL, Bought Compuserve things seemed to head straight down hill with the arrival of Compuserve 4 the old way of things was gone the chat system was changed to Java and the entire system is now all most run by HTML.

Compuserve is now nothing more then AOL with a Compuserve Logo. The price for the service has gone down and the service has gone even further down.

For a power user or someone who is more advanced with computers and the internet. Compuserve would not be the best of choice and even for a new user it can be bad. *See Customer Service

Another Disappointing Feature is the lack of local access numbers the nearest one to me is about a hundred miles away and there is only one in the same area code that I live in.

Customer Service

Compuserve Customer service is often under staffed and under trained and at times can be extremely rude. For 'Security Reasons' Customer service is only allowed to talk to the person who's name appears on the bill. So if your Wife pays the Compuserve Bill and you have a problem then you are out of luck Customer Support/Service can only talk to the person who's name is on the bill.

The Other

I still use Compuserve as a secondary ISP on my computer and stick with my main Dial Up account. Compuserve has many advantages over 'free-isps' Such as Connectivety is much higher then that of 'BlueLight' or 'FreePC'. And you don't have to have a banner ad. It also has disadvantages such as no newsgroup access and relies highly on AOL servers.

About the only person I would recommend Compuserve to is someone who is new to Computers and the Internet and wants a fast and easy way to connect to the Internet. More advanced users might want to stick with a local ISP.



Recommended: No