Specifications

broadband connection, or to re-
place an existing one, we pro-
vide an in-depth study of
today’s market, wherein we test
9 leading broadband services
and roll out our recent reader survey results on the service and
reliability of 19 popular broadband Internet service providers.
(You’ll also find results for the 9 most popular dial-up ISPs and
a look at cheap ISPs that can save you money while you ponder
going for speed.)
American broadband uptake is growing steadily. The number
of broadband users increased 0.83 percentage points in June
alone, the largest jump since Nielsen//NetRatings first started
tracking the market in October 1999. “By this time next year,”
says King, “50 percent of all American Internet users will have
broadband.”
Of the competing forms of broadband access, cable services
have achieved the broadest penetration. According to Ipsos-In-
sight, nearly 61 percent of American broadband users have cable
connections; 36 percent use DSL, and the rest use satellite, fixed-
point wireless, ISDN, T1, or other forms of access. Among PC
Magazine readers, as of June, 67 percent of broadband sub-
scribers say they used cable and 30 percent say they used DSL.
PC Magazine readers with cable are slightly more satisfied than
those with DSL, and this year, three of the five Readers’ Choice
broadband ISPs are cable providers. A fourth, EarthLink, offers
both cable and DSL. Generally, cable users perceive their con-
nections as being faster, with fewer service interruptions. Inter-
estingly, however, among surveyed users still stuck dialing up,
DSL seems to have more name recognition. When asked what
sort of broadband service they’d choose, 33 percent say DSL, ver-
sus just 16 percent for cable. But another third tell us they’d take
whatever is available.
Our survey should help you
choose a service provider. We
received nearly 10,000 respons-
es from current broadband
users, touching on satellite and fixed wireless links as well as
cable and DSL. Nineteen broadband ISPs have received at least
50 responses each, the minimum needed for statistically reliable
results. The survey’s questions extend well beyond how satis-
fied readers are with their connection types and ISPs; they also
include setup time, installation costs, and monthly fees.
We wanted to add a personal perspective to this aggregate
data, which is why we’ve done some hands-on testing of nine big-
name broadband ISPs. In eight houses across the country, we or-
dered, installed, and used four DSL services (including AOL for
Broadband and Verizon) and four cable services (including Com-
cast, EarthLink, and Optimum Online). For Cox, which does best
overall on our survey, we were unable to find a household will-
ing to install the service within our time constraints.
In each of our test households, we ran speed tests, examined
bundled software, and ran the ruler over each company’s tech-
support operation. We completed a tech-support script that in-
volved disabling certain parts of a service and calling the com-
pany for solutions to the fabricated problems. Such experiences
aren’t necessarily indicative of the average user’s experiences with
these services, but they do give some added insight into what it’s
like to set up and go online with a broadband connection.
There’s only one area where we can’t be much help: Accord-
ing to our June survey, 7 percent of our readers live in areas
where broadband services are still not available. But if you’re
relatively close to civilization, we can tell you what you need to
know about the American broadband market.
PC MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 16, 2003 www.pcmag.com
104
Although the broadband offering im-
proves on AOL dial-up’s dismal Readers’
Report Card grade of E, readers give AOL
for Broadband only a C-, with a worse-
than-average likelihood to recommend it.
This may be driven by AOL’s worse-than-
average score for connection reliability—
a fatal flaw in the “always on” world of
broadband—shared by only 2 out of 9
dial-up services and 2 of
the 18 other broadband
services on our survey.
AOL for Broadband of-
fers DSL, cable, and satel-
lite service. We tested
with DSL. (You can also
add AOL for Broadband
to an existing broadband
account for $9.95 per
month.) Although AOL
offers paid, in-home in-
stallation, it costs $130; we
chose AOL’s Free Quick
Setup Kit (with a 5- to 7-
day delivery). You can connect the DSL
modem via USB or Ethernet, and it took
us just 5 painless minutes to set up the
hardware and 10 to install the software,
thanks to straightforward and helpful
documentation.
Signing up for an account was simple,
and within 15 minutes of starting we had
our first e-mail.
AOL for Broadband
With AOL for Broadband DSL, $54.95 per month.
America Online Inc., www.aol.com.
The secret of America Online’s
success seems to be loyalty, or
maybe inertia; AOL for Broadband users
have been with the ISP for an average of
4.8 years—mostly on dial-up. It may be
that subscribers are used to AOL’s pro-
prietary interface, or they’re hooked on
the community features, or perhaps they
don’t want to change e-mail addresses.
AOL for Broadband has exclusive high-
bandwidth content, including streaming
music and video. It also adds enhanced
parental controls, server-side pop-up and
spam blocking, an available firewall utility,
and seven e-mail accounts per customer,
with storage space for each limited to
1,000 new messages, 550 old, and 550 sent.
Note, however, that the accounts use pro-
prietary (non-SMTP, non-POP) protocols,
incompatible with third-party clients.
AOL’s New Mail box holds 1,000 messages—and 1 ad.
C-
ONLINE MORE ON THE WEB
To keep up with our ongoing coverage of high-speed
Internet connections, visit www.pcmag. com/br oadband.