Robbie, I must disagree a lot with what you have said about Internet
Service Providers, and feel I must add my two cents.

>[ Nonetheless, upon hearing of the problems which AOL and many other
>[ ISP's are having with "flat-rate service", I am now willing to return
>[ to "metered service" and pay a fee for each minute that I'm connected.
>[
>[ I believe that an ISP charging by the minute will provide service as
>[ promised in a professional manner, and the children monopolizing the
>[ telephone and Internet circuits with their Web Browser toys will
>[ quickly disappear when the bill comes!

There are _many_ very fine "independent" ISPs out there who provide
excellent service.  I pay a flat $24.95 per month for unlimited time.
There is _rarely_ a time when I have any problems; I've not had a busy
signal for months, and data transfers are always very quick, even during
peak hours.  I even have 100 megs of hard-drive space for my web site.

Yes, there are times when there are minor problems, but many of them can
be blamed on the working of the Internet itself -- problems can occur in
anywhere up or downstream.  There is, not yet, any such thing an ISP who
never has problems.  We need to keep in mind the rapid growth of the
Internet as of late -- along with the fact that it is not so much a
"planned" network, but rather a pieced together system.  Sometimes I
find it amazing that it works a all.

Also, I have a very popular web site, receiving 40-50,000 hits per day.
To maintain it all, I'm on line for several hours per day.  If I had
to pay per hour, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would take down his
web site: we'd see many fine sites coming down if the cost were so
much higher.

My personal recommendation?  Find a "local/independent" service provider.
I guarantee you will find many fewer problems than with most of the
national services.  The independent providers do not have the means to
give out free disks with every modem sold, so many people are unaware
they even exist.

Regards¶
Jon Miller¶
291 Thomas Ave¶
Saint Paul MN  55103

 [ Jon also noted that his ISP turned down requests for service
 [ until enough telephone lines were installed to handle the customer
 [ demand.  Now _that's_ a professional operation!  -- Robbie