More Information on Internet Access in New Mexico

Last Modified: 29 March 1999

More Information on Internet Access in New Mexico

To keep the ISP/IAP list page size to a minimum, most background material and discussions have been moved here.

Table of Contents for this page:

Internet Access Costs in NM
Access, Service, Presence
ISP/IAP Comparision Checklist
Other Selection Suggestions
Other References, Local and Net
Disclaimers, Credits, and Thanks
other New Mexico ISP/IAP information sources

Internet Access Costs in NM

How much does it cost to get access to the Internet in NM?

The short answer is around $10 to $25 a month for personal use,
if the provider offers access within your local calling area.

The long answer is that it depends on the provider,
the service level, and the type and amount of usage.

Most providers offer several levels of service,
usually with a setup charge to start service,
often with various online time pricing or allocations.

Access with a dialup IP method, usually PPP or SLIP,
is needed to run a graphical Web browser, and pricing
for IP access often includes "shell" access as well.

(One can emulate IP access by using TIA or SLIRP with a shell account,
but the small savings in cost may not be worth the setup hassle.)

With IP access, you can run IP client software on your PC
to browse the Web, read and send e-mail, read and post Usenet news articles,
and telnet from your PC to a shell account on any accessible host.

With shell access, you can run any software on the shell host that the
provider makes available, usually including text-based Web browsers,
e-mail user agents, Usenet news reader agents, and you can usually
telnet from the shell host to a shell account on any accessible host.

Here is a table of price ranges for NM ISPs (Jan. 96)


        #ISPs  PPP/shell        #ISPs  shell only

        2       12/month
        2       15/month        3       10/month
        6       20/month        2       15/month
        7       25/month        1       16/month
        3       29/month        2       20/month
        3       30/month        2       30/month
        1       35/month
        1       36/month

       25                      10                       total

Many ISPs charge 1 price for PPP and/or shell, for about what some other providers charge for shell access. Competition is driving the prices down, but watch for busy signals and heavy server loading.

To comparison shop get current prices and/or more information directly from the provider, usually most readily from their URL or an auto-reply email address. If the information listed here and that provided directly by the ISP are different, use what came directly from the ISP.

Access, Service, Presence

The companies listed offer a range of services, with some specializing in providing access to the Internet to individuals or companies, and others specializing in providing a Internet/Web presence for other businesses.

At this point in the Internet boom, many companies that started in the area of access now offer services and products across that entire range, but newer companies are beginning to emerge that focus on hosting a Web presence.


The current range of services looks like this:

    Area	Services

    access	serial dialup, telnet
		PPP, SLIP, CSLIP

    space	shell account
		Web pages, CGI, forms
		FTP space

    presence	domain aliasing
		Web/HTML design, authoring
		Web site maintenance
		secure transaction support

The companies listed include small local bulletin board systems (BBSs), local companies with hundreds of subscribers, companies with state-wide access, regional and national providers, and national on-line services.

Terminology has not yet settled down, and the terms Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Internet Access Provider (IAP) are used fairly interchangeably at this point.

I have included all varieties here, without differentiation for now.

However, a provider must provide IP connectivity to be listed - at least telnet or FTP. Most of the ISPs have several of the usual suite of IP services: WWW, Telnet, FTP, Gopher, Archie, IRC, MUDs. Systems which provide only asynchronous store-and-forward message services (e-mail, Usenet news) and no interactive IP services are not listed.

Internet Access Comparision Checklist

When comparing services and costs, the customer should consider all the following questions and topics that apply. Some of the questions are intended to see if the ISP has really thought their business through, or if they are just jumping into it without making serious plans. You may find this checklist most useful in evaluating word-of-mouth recommendations by users of various ISPs.

Charges by ISP:

setup of account
monthly charges, hours included per month.
cost of additional hours - are there limits?
any difference in prime versus non-prime charges and times?
any difference between personal and business accounts/rates?

Other Costs:

Is it a local call to the closest PoP (Point of Presence)?
If not, what will 800 or long-distance charges amount to?
will you want a separate phone line for modem use,
or a voice messaging service on your voice/modem line?

Access:

access via PPP/SLIP, shell, or both PPP & shell for the same price?
access via 800 number from rural areas or when traveling?
is 800 number usable in NM only, or in all states?
is any client software is provided with an account?
is the software site licensed, or are there shareware fees?

Support:

How does ISP announce upcoming downtime or their system status? (advance email, news postings, phone line, or URL?)
What is the ISP's approach to providing technical support? (live phone, voice mail, email, faxback?)
What are tech support response time goals, normal hours?
How many techs, what is their background, what areas do they cover -
DOS, Win 3.1, Win 95, Mac, Unix, modem configuration?
Are classes offered? Is technical consulting available (for a fee)?

File Access:

How much storage comes with shell account?
How much storage space for personal Web pages and/or FTP files?
Charges for access to your Web pages (hits) or FTP space (downloads)?

News:

How many newsgroups/news hierarchies are available? (Usenet 8, alt.*, nm.*, local.*, ISP.*)
Can ISP customers request (and get) access to other newsgroups?
What are ISP policies about news - read access, posting, cancelling?
What is the expiration period for various news hierarchies?
Does ISP provide Clarinet or other subscription newsgroups?

Bandwidth/Throughput:

Does ISP have a policy to match modem lines with user demand?
Do they know how much of the time all their modem lines are in use?
What ratio of busy signals to dial-in attempts do you, the customer, find acceptable?
For each PoP, ratio of local accounts to local modem lines?
Who provides connectivity between ISP's and Internet backbone?
number of hops (connections) between PoP and Internet backbone?
bandwidth between PoP and ISP access server?
bandwidth between ISP server and ISP's provider?
bandwidth between ISP's provider and Internet backbone
When ISP upgrades circuit(s), what are the expansion plans?
Number of connections to ISP: dial up, ISDN, direct connects (56K - T-1)?

Contingency Planning:

Does the ISP have a reasonable data backup plan?
How often do they make backups?
What is the maximum data loss window?
Does ISP have a reasonable disaster recovery plan? (for earthquake, tornado, fire, theft, etc.)
Does ISP offer e-mail forwarding or Web re-direction? (for customers who move to another ISP)

Other Selection Suggestions

Here are some other people's opinions on these topics:

Choosing a Provider - General:

http://www.graphcomp.com/info/compare.html: MS Windows: Internet vs BBS vs Information Service Provider
http://www.macworld.com/q/@301133rpbmyl/netsmart/isp.html: MacWorld: Choosing an Internet Service Provider
http://tlg.org/how-to-select-ISP.html: Rick Adams: How To Select an Internet Service Provider
http://www.herbison.com/herbison/iap_meta_list.html#look: Herbison: What to Look for in an Internet Access Provider

Choosing a Provider for a Business:

http://www.dnai.com/~sharrow/isp-info.html: Marketing: How to Select an Internet Service Provider and Set Up Your Internet Web Site
http://www.aescon.com/aescon/steps/steps.htm: Business: AES Consulting

Becoming a Provider:

http://www.bsdi.com/white-papers/becoming-an-isp-kolstad.html: Rob Kolstad: BSDI: Becoming an Internet Service Provider
http://www.on-the-net.com/otn/2bep-pre.htm: OnTheNet Provider GuideBook

Other references, local and net

For ISP display ads and BBS listings see Computer Scene magazine, available free at many ABQ computer stores, book stores, and newsstands, or by mail subscription $12/12 issues at 3507 Wyoming Blvd, ABQ, NM 87111.

I have no financial interest in Computer Scene, or any of these services, other than as a customer.

To see what the Alta Vista search engine knows about ISPs and IAPs in New Mexico, use this link: http://altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/query?what=web&fmt=&q=%20%2B%22New%20Mexico%22%20%2BISP%20%2BIAP%20&pg=q
Alta Vista: +"New Mexico" +ISP +IAP

Potential ISP customers should look at the following URLs for listings of available access all over the world and other useful information.

http://thelist.com/
Colossus Inc.
http://www.celestin.com/pocia/
Providers of Commercial Internet Access
http://www.primus.net/providers
U.S. Internet Service Providers List
http://www.herbison.com/herbison/iap_meta_list.html
IAP Meta-List - A list of lists of Internet Access Providers
http://www.vni.net/thedirectory/505.htm
Rocklin Associates - 505/NM ISP/IAP & BBS directory

Representatives of ISP companies are encouraged to review their entries in the global ISP listings given above, and to send additions, changes, or updates for those lists directly to their maintainers (not to me).

Suggestions, especially about format and presentation, are welcome. If you suggest a lot of work, be prepared to volunteer. Improvements depend on suggestions, spare time, and my current interests.

Otherwise, I welcome comments, suggestions, complaints, feedback, and especially information about new ISPs in NM, by e-mail to dmckeon@swcp.com

As more ISPs are reaching out to smaller communities, I am considering maintaining a list of Points of Presence (PoPs) showing PoP location, phone prefix, modem speed, number of lines, access methods, ISP; bandwidth and hop-count to an Internet backbone. Example:

Location ACd-pfx / speed / lines / bandwidth / hops / access methods  / ISP

ABQ      505-555 / 28.8  / 16    / 56Kb      / 2    / PPP SLIP serial / name

Comments on that format are welcome.

Disclaimers, Credits, and Thanks

The information about each ISP in this list was collected from responses to messages posted to Usenet newsgroups, from ISP URLs, and from ISP auto-email responses.

While I've made a reasonable effort to get the information correct, there may be mistakes, out-of-date phone numbers, etc. On the other hand, each of the http URLs should be working.

So, no warranty is expressed nor should be implied, use at your own risk, close cover before striking, do not hold in hand, etc., etc.

My thanks to all who contributed information, but especially to

Marianne Granoff <GRANOFF@technet.nm.org>
Farid Hamjavar <hamjavar@unm.edu>
Jane Hill <jhill@roadrunner.com>

other New Mexico ISP/IAP information sources

Here are some additional Web pages that may point to more information about NM ISP/IAPs. I came across these while doing Web searches and research for this list.

http://gank.atext.com/Subject/Computing/Access_Providers/US_West/New_Mexico/s-index.l.html: excite NetDirectory: General/Computing/Access_Providers/US_West/New_Mexico/
http://gank.atext.com/Subject/Computing/Access_Providers/US_West/e-index.l.html: NetReviews: General/Computing/Access_Providers/US_West/
http://lanshark.lanminds.com/cybertoday/ISPs/ispinfo.html: Cyberspace Today ISP Index
http://nic.merit.edu/nsfnet/transition/plans/regional.plans.html: Status of Regional/Midlevel Service Providers
http://rgfn.epcc.edu/: Rio Grande Free-Net
http://thelist.com/imap4.html: TheList Graphic Map
http://ultralist.upx.net/: UltraList: The ISP List of Lists
http://www.abq-ros.com/acap.htm: Account Classes and Pricing
http://www.ape.com/machttp_talk/newmexico.html: New Mexico
http://www.bigbend.com/: Big Bend Internet: Welcome!
http://www.cybertoday.com/cybertoday/isps/AC.html#505: 505
http://www.eece.unm.edu/eece/business/internet_providers.html: Business List -- Internet Providers
http://www.excite.com/Subject/Computing/Access_Providers/US_West/e-index.t.html: NetReviews: General/Computing/Access_Providers/US_West/
http://www.fie.com/www/virginia.htm: List of Servers (USA - Virginia)
http://www.gtlug.org/isp/na505.html: ISP index by area code
http://www.idt.net/: IDT Home Page
http://www.infocom.net/~linuxisp/lispweb.html: http://www.infocom.net/~linuxisp/lispweb.html
http://www.intel.com/iaweb/director/category/routers/namerica/usmount.html: Intel Internet Resource Directory: ISP -- Mountain Region
http://www.mcp.com/hayden/iskm/iskw2/pt4/apxc/apxc.htm: Appendix C
http://www.netcom.com/bin/popinfo?state=NewMexico: PopInfo - NETCOM Network Status
http://www.netusa.net/ISP/: Network-USA's ISP Catalog
http://www.netusa.net/ISP/1.index.html: North America
http://www.property.com/yp.html: The BBS Yellow Page Directory
http://www.scescape.com/worldlibrary/business/companies/iaccess.html: Companies:Internet Access Providers
http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Access_Providers/Regional/U_S__States/New_Mexico/: Yahoo Internet Access Providers:New_Mexico
http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Presence_Providers/White_Pages/wp_83.html: Yahoo - Business and Economy:Companies:Internet Presence
http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Presence_Providers/all.html: Yahoo - Business and Economy:Companies:Internet Presence
http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Service_Providers/Internet_Access_Providers/Regional/U_S__States/New_Mexico/: Yahoo Internet Service Providers:Internet Access
http://www.webfeats.com/dfwisp/index.html: WebFeats: D/FW ISP's
http://www.gospelcom.net/ifc/hookup.html: How do I Hookup??
http://state.nm.us/gsd/pr951213.html: MCI Connects NM with Statewide
http://www.campus.mci.net/tsoftware.html: campusMCI Software
http://www.campus.mci.net/tindex.html: Welcome to campusMCI
http://www.mci.com/fornet/access/indexacc.shtml: internetMCI Access Index
http://www.mci.com/virtual/news-news/headline-818921901.html
http://www.sisna.com/ Sisna Internet Services Homepage