On Tue, 27 Jun 1995 06:00:57 -0500 Natalie Maynor <[log in to unmask]> said: >From what I've heard of commercial service providers, Netcom is by far >the best. Not perfect but still best. It was offering full net access at >reasonable costs back when the biggies like Compuserve and AOL didn't >even know what telnet and ftp were. I can't really comment on Netcom's shell account service since I've never used it, but I'd like to point out that this is an apple and orange comparison. AOL and CompuServe never claimed to provide full Internet access, although they do provide access to certain Internet services and in particular e-mail. The philosophy is just not the same. AOL is starting up its own Internet service now but they don't expect anywhere near as many users as for their main online service. It's just not the same market. Things like FTP or telnet are of little or no interest to people like, say, my grandmother, which is the public the biggies are targeting. Eric