Most people don’t give it much thought but in this day and age internet can be your lifeline to the world. We pay bills, get phone service, talk to people and send emails. So if you choose a lousy internet service provider you can hurt yourself a lot. Here are 3 ways you can choose a good ISP:

1. Don’t go by the cheapest. Internet Service Providers (ISP) have popped up like mushrooms everywhere. Most of them have only one way to attract customers ‘offer cheap internet service’. People get suckered by the offer and next thing you know it is very hard to change. You have to change your email address, you have to get used to new ways of accessing the internet. Most don’t have good customer service. The smaller the ISP the worse their customer service because they just can’t afford to have a battery of service representative answering questions. So don’t go for the cheapest.

2. Look for speed: Speed is a very important factor. When you are doing your work if it takes forever for the screen to display, you are going to be very frustrated. Internet works best if you are going at the speed of your thought process. It is true that your computer hardware is a factor in the overall speed. But if the ISP is running at a low speed, there is no way for you to get information fast enough. Bandwidth is like a pipe. The smaller the pipe the less information you are going to get. The bigger the pipe the better your chances of going from websites to website quickly. Most smaller ISP’s have very limited bandwidth. Watch out for mom & pop ISPs because they will generally be unattended websites that just want you to sign up and collect monthly fee. They are selling some one else’s service under their name. This practice is called ‘private branding’. Let me give an example. Amazon sells their books through not only their own website but a lot of private websites that sell Amazon’s products. So it’s like Amazon has several private stores selling their wares. Why does Amazon do this? Because Amazon wants only a sale to make a buck. Why would a private website want to sell Amazon’s products because? Because the website owner gets a commission.

3. What happens when you leave? Ask this question up front. If for some reason you have to part ways with your ISP, what happens then? Most ISPs will lock you into some form of commitment. At sign-up is the time to find out if you are locked in or free to go. Do your research. Compare ISPs at a site like ‘Get an ISP dot com’. Get answers to your questions before you sign up with an ISP.

Are you in the market for a satellite Internet service provider? Want to know which one has the best services and the best prices? Here’s a comparison of the top two providers – HughesNet and WildBlue.

General Information

Of all the satellite Internet service providers, HughesNet is the largest, with more than 400,000 customers in the U.S. alone. They’ve been in business for 31 years and have installed more than 1.5 million satellite systems.

WildBlue is the second-largest provider, with a 100,000 customers. They’ve been in business for 7 years, and have installed more than 100,000 systems.

Coverage

HughesNet service is available to anyone in the U.S. who has a clear view of the southern sky.

WildBlue uses what’s called a spot beam signal so that many areas of the country cannot receive their service.

Equipment

HughesNet uses their own satellites and equipment.

WildBlue uses satellites and equipment from other companies.

Installation

HughesNet installs their satellite systems for free using a professional installer.

WildBlue’s standard installation is free after a $99.95 activation fee and a $24.95 shipping and handling fee.

Internet Speed

HughesNet offers 6 high speed service plans with download speeds from 1Mbps to 5 Mbps (50 times faster than dialup service). Upload speeds vary from 128 Kbps to 300 Kbps.

WildBlue offers 3 high speed service plans with download speeds from 512 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps (15 times faster than dialup service). Upload speeds vary from 128 Kbps to 256 Kbps.

Email Accounts

Both HughesNet and WildBlue will give you 5 to 10 email accounts depending on which plan you choose.

Virus and Spam Protection

HughesNet and WildBlue offer virus and spam filters with their service.

Prices

HughesNet Internet service starts at $59.99 a month for their 1 Mbps service.

WildBlue charges $69.95 for their 1 Mbps service.

Technical Support

Both HughesNet and WildBlue offer access to 24/7 live technical support.

Guarantees

HughesNet offers a 30-day money back guarantee.

WildBlue does not offer a guarantee.

The Bottom Line

With higher speeds, cheaper service, free installation, and a 30-day money-back guarantee, HughesNet is the clear choice when it comes to satellite Internet providers.

Most Internet service providers (ISP) have made it part of their package to change IP. The Internet Protocol address, or the IP address, of a computer is that computer’s unique address in the online network. And in offering online security and privacy to its customers, the Internet service providers have gone on to use dynamic IPs instead of static IPs.

In your quest to choose an Internet service provider for your home computer or your office connection, you should consider the type of IP address that the service is providing. The recommended one of the two would by the dynamic IPs.

Let us first be familiar with the two types of IP addresses. The first is the static IP, which is assigned to the computer by the network. This address does not change whenever we connect to the Internet. The settings of your computer will remain the same and intact, allowing the computer to connect to the Internet and get data faster.

In contrast to the static IP address, the dynamic IP address is allocated by a router, and it uses DHCP, or Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. The DHCP allows for the allocation of an IP address to your computer when you connect to the Internet. It picks up the allocated IP address from a pool of IP addresses available, and every time you connect to the Internet you will have a different IP address. Most Internet service providers use this for their customers. Not all, though, and we have to know what kind of address system the Internet service providers are running on.

As stated above, dynamic IPs are the preferred one of the two. They were made to change and go to another computer user, giving another user that IP address. Your IP will also will be a different one the next time you log onto the Internet. It’s a change “wheel” going on with dynamic IPs, and it is an advantage for us. The change in IP leads to a hack-proof system, as it will give a hacker or any malicious attacker a hard time to get to your data when your address is always changing.

But, of course, static address is also commonly used. Many businesses prefer to run a static IP because of the data that they want to give to the customers they have visiting their website. There’s also the issue of the business employees working in various locations but needing to connect to the company’s data. This would require static IP. Among businesses and companies, the static IP running system is much more in demand.

When we are browsing the Internet on our personal time and our personal computer, though, changing or hiding our IP address is important. Our personal files and accounts may be at risk if we have a real and static IP as our online address. This is not the right precaution if we want to protect our online privacy. For us personal users, it is better to choose an Internet service provider with a system to change IP.