Accessing the Internet - DSL, Cable Modem or dialup

One of your more important decisions is "how do you get to the internet?" This decision will help determine how happy you are with your internet experience. A basic rule of thumb is "the quicker the better", but there are other variables to consider as well.
If you are unlucky, you may only have one choice - dialup. If you are really, really unlucky it may be even worse - you may not have a local ISP (internet service provider - the people who provide access to the internet). That's the worst condition (because it's a long distance call) and it's getting pretty rare.
If you are very fortunate, you will have many choices: dialup, ISDN (a special 128kb line), cable modem, or DSL (a new, fast technology available in many larger cities). Technologies like T1 (1.5 megabits/second) or T3 (45 megabits per second) are normally for corporate users and are beyond the scope of this article.
There are things to consider beyond just plain access.

1. AN ISP should give you a minimum of 5mb of free web space. This is great for a home page or small internet business. Look for web space with no "bandwidth" limits (i.e., 500mb a month) if you can. Don't let the lack of free web space keep you from an ISP, but it is nice to have.
2. Get a technical support number. You will need it. This is critical.
3. An email newsletter is good so the ISP can keep in contact with you. Not critical but nice to get.
4. Some kind of community is desirable as it gives you a group of people to share with on the internet. Also, if you start an internet business, it's a market. Again, not critical but very nice to have.
5. The ISP should have expansion capabilities. If you want more web space, more speed or additional anything you should be able to get it for a price.
6. You should get at least one POP email account (more is better).
7. Make sure your ISP offers access to a newsgroup server. Newsgroups are great ways to communicate with groups of people.

Before you sign on the dotted line with an ISP, do some homework.

1. Check with your friends and see what they are using.
2. Get on the web and check them out. Put their name into the search engines and see what comes up. Ask the newsgroups.
3. Ask around at work and find out what your co-workers have.
4. If your company has an IS department (information services - the guys and gals who run the computers), ask them. They will have some good feedback.
5. This is important: don't be swayed by the commercials on television, in magazines or on the internet.

Here is a quick overview of some of the technologies that are available.

DSL [Review of PacBell ADSL]

If it's available in your area, consider DSL. It's worth it. I use the package from Pacbell, which is awesome. It includes always-on internet service, the DSL service, a voice phone line, a 5mb web site (limited to 500mb a month, a minor inconvenience), an email account, newsgroup access and other features as well. It's been great. (Oh yes, this is important, if you get DSL or cable modem service, then purchase TweakDUN and use it to increase your buffer sizes.)

Cable modem

A worthy competitor to DSL and definitely worth looking into. Faster than DSL (usually) and very reliable. One of the disadvantages of cable modem is that you share the line with many other users, so if you get some heavy users on your leg of the network you may have performance issues.

Dial-Up

If you don't have DSL or cable modem, then you probably need to go with dial-up access. My recommendation is to go with a company like Earthlink. I don't use it myself, but my friends give Earthlink high ratings. 

ISDN

With all of the options available to most users, ISDN is really the last thing you should consider. If you only have dialup or ISDN as your choices, then you may want to consider ISDN. Otherwise, it's more expensive and less reliable than just about any other option.

AOL (America Online)

My advice is to not even consider America Online as your primary iSP if you are doing anything of any significance on the internet. If you just read emails and chat, then AOL is great. If you want to do anything more, don't bother with America Online. If you MUST get AOL (your teenager insists, just like mine did), then get the "bring your own service" option and use another ISP.