ISP's

[sms@sonic.net]

> Do people have any recommendations (either for or against) internet
> providers available in the Bay Area (I'm in SF)?
>
> I'm probably going to go with a cheap dial-up, but I'm also
> considering SBC/Yahoo DSL.  Does the latter work with Linux?
>
> I'm using earthlink now, but am fed up with their poor service.

I'll add my vote for Sonic (www.sonic.net).  The geeks still run
the place (it was started by *nix-geeks, but apparently with sound
business sense, as they've grown it from a tiny local to a decent-
sized regional (with deals for nationwide access via 3rd-party POP
providers)).  A lot of Sonic customers (and more than a few employees,
I believe) are on the NBLUG mailing-list.

I get some nice "extras" -- for example, when I relocated a few miles,
I crossed (unknown to me) some telco-defined boundary & my dialup had
become a toll call.  After a few days of this, some bit of Sonic
automation noticed that I was consistently dialing-in via a toll
connection, and sent me the ph# for my local (non-toll) POPs.

As others have noted, Sonic often comes up with special deals, specially
with various high-speed options; it may be worth waiting a bit to see
what they come up with.  Dunno if they can advise you of any upcoming
specials... a call to their sales office should tell that, though.

Good luck.


- Steve S.