PSINet
PSI was one of the most versatile providers we looked at--glancing at its portfolio of services, you might confuse it with a VAR or systems integrator. With its array of offerings, ranging from firewall services to advanced commerce options to faxing from the desktop over IP, organizations will be hard-pressed to find a more diverse provider. However, like GTE, PSI has a similar history of sporadic customer service.

PSI's backbone is a DS-3-based private frame relay network. Several clients we spoke with reported occasional network latency issues, but more serious were the complaints about support. Oddly enough, the praises garnered were about support as well. It appears that support levels from PSI vary. Some customers were frustrated by lack of follow-up calls and slow problem resolution, while others where impressed by the pockets of in-depth knowledge they had discovered. For example, one customer reported that a PSI engineer helped him get Microsoft Exchange to function as a secondary mail server. Using PSI's dial-in network, the customer's remote office Exchange server was configured to dial-up several times a day and pick up queued mail. Trying to get a carrier-based ISP like Sprint or MCI to even understand this scenario, much less aid in its configuration, would be an exercise in futility.

PSI lacks the polish of ANS. But its recent agreement with a long-distance carrier to move to a OC-48-based backbone, combined with some support refinements, could propel PSI into a powerful position.

Netcom On-line Communication Services
One of the larger providers in the dial-in market, Netcom On-line Communication Services offers a limited, but competitively priced range of services for Internet connectivity. Although Netcom is at a nationwide level, it's suffering heavily from many of the same problems that plague local and regional ISPs: explosive growth, lack of adequate planning and painful learning experiences.

Netcom's infrastructure appears to be under siege. Its backbone consists of a series of clear-channel DS-3s, many of which are highly saturated. Private-peering plans are in the works, but none are deployed. This leaves connectivity within Netcom's backbone usable, but overall throughput to the public Internet frequently occurs at a snail's pace. Many of Netcom's customers report frequent and very noticeable network lags. Some customers using VPNs report that speeds are tolerable between their sites, providing all involved locations reside on the Netcom backbone.

Although Netcom does score points for detailed outages, it appears that only a portion of its customers get those notices. The ones that do, however, are extremely grateful--Netcom is quite informative not only about the scheduled maintenance, but also location and range of influence, to name a few issues. On the flip side, some customers reported receiving no notification, and NOC hold times vary.

Netcom announced in March that it plans to invest $30 million to "substantially strengthen its nationwide network." If Netcom wants to operate in the enterprise arena, it better spend that $30 million quickly and wisely.

Greg Shipley is a freelance consultant working in the Chicago area. He can be reached at gshipley@wiretrip.net.