🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4ivmh7$dtp@juliana.sprynet.com>, gg@sprynet.com (David E. Brown) wrote:
>
>I'm wondering how the users of Mindspring justify paying $35 a month
>plus a $35 startup fee when there are plenty of services around for
>$20 a month.  

Premium price for premium services.

>How's the newsfeed, the speed, the mail?
Two redundant newsfeeds, Sprint and someone else. I believe Mindspring carries 
all the groups that Sprint carries, including all the binary groups that many 
providers say they can't carry because of the vast storage they require. I 
think Mindspring is up to eight or nine newsservers now. I never get a busy 
signal (at least not in the past year), and they are in the process of 
upgrading the modems to V.34+. There have been some problems w/connect speeds, 
however. I average 24.0 with my cheap 28.8 modem (occasionally 26.4, never 
28.8), but folks with better modems get better connects. The mail's fine. It 
doesn't get lost, seems to arrive on time.

>What exactly is their software?  Is it some kind of
>dialer?  How well does it work under win 95?

They have a software package that comes with the sign up fee, wich includes a 
dialer and Netscape, Free Agent, which I believe works with win95 (but it's 
16bit). They do have a 32bit one on the way, but many folks (like myself) 
prefer the win95 dialer anyways.

>It's my conclusion you don't get good access for $20 a month.  I've
>had a half dozen providers since I graduated from college and none of
>them has yet to measure up to the account I had in college.  Sprynet
>is the latest disappointment.  The thing is every provider will tell
>you "newsfeed is great, system is fast," and then you pay and find it
>ain't so.  

I spend most of my online time on the newgroups, and I would be out the door 
if the newsfeed was poor. There was a time when it seemed that many parts of 
binaries were not arriving through the Sprint newsfeed, and Mindspring within 
a day or two of being notified got another seperate newsfeed to fill in the 
blanks. I'm pretty sure they have since kept both newsfeeds, and the problem 
has not happened again. 

I should mention that I am not (and never have been) an employee of 
Mindspring, nor do I feel any particular loyalty to them. I'd leave in a 
second if someone else had the same quality at a lower price, but I have 
not found any other provider who can. If you want a full and fast newsfeed, no 
busy signals, and a provider who really seems sincere in trying to give their 
customers the best product at the best price they can, give it a try.

Good luck (and if you choose some other provider, write back your 
experiences).

dave