Evaluating High-Speed Internet Services

Determining which Internet Service Provider most closely fits your needs can be both confusing and frustrating. Mesa Networks understands this and would like to help make the decision process easier for you. We have provided this brief evaluation of several key factors to consider before making your decision.

What Types Of High-Speed Internet Are Available?

There are currently 5 primary methods that High-Speed or Broadband Internet service can be delivered to your home or business:  Fiber Optics, Coaxial Cable (from the local cable TV provider), Phone lines (DSL), Satellite, and Fixed Wireless.  Fiber Optics has the highest speed capacity, but is by far the most expensive, especially if the streets need to be trenched and fiber buried.  Satellite is not well suited to interactive data applications such as Internet due to the excessive delay it takes for the data to travel to space and back.  Fixed Wireless, or Broadband Wireless as it's sometimes called, differs significantly from Satellite in that the data only has to travel from the home or business to a tower that is within a few miles.  Therefore the delay is similar to that of any "wired" technology.  Cable, DSL, and Fixed Wireless all have very similar capabilities for speed and reliability when it comes to providing High-Speed Internet services.  The real differences come from the companies and people that operate and support the customers on their network.

What’s The Real Price?

Comparing prices between Internet providers can be misleading. When making the comparison keep in mind that most prices advertised for Internet service do not include all the charges for the service. Many add charges for equipment rental, franchise fees, taxes, etc. Another common tactic is to advertise the discounted price that requires subscription to another service such as phone service or long distance. Also, some companies advertise a price that is only available with a long-term contract. A long-term contract may be advantageous for the customer for something like office space where the general price trend is up. The general trend for Internet services is definitely coming down, therefore a long term contract is not in the best interest of the customer. More than likely, any cost savings given for signing a long-term contract are not worth the lost flexibility to make a change based on your requirements. In addition, the service provider has little incentive to make sure you're satisfied with their service if they have you locked into a multi-year contract.

Mesa Networks does not add any additional charges, and no long-term contract is required with any of its standard service offerings. Our advertised price is a flat rate and is based on a month-to-month contract, therefore we do have an incentive to continue providing the customer with the best possible service to ensure customer satisfaction. We also offer a 30 day money back guarantee, translating into a risk free decision.

Equipment Purchase/Rental

In general, Internet Service Providers require the customer to either purchase or rent the equipment (cable or dsl modem, or radio transceiver) required to deliver their service. This obviously adds additional cost to the consumer. What’s not obvious about this practice is that it places responsibility for that device on the customer. Thus, if the device goes bad it is the customer’s responsibility to get it replaced. Also, if there are any software updates from the manufacturer, it is the customer’s responsibility to obtain those updates and apply them. This can cost the customer additional hassles, time, and money.

With Mesa Network’s service, the equipment used to provide the service is maintained by Mesa, therefore is not the customers responsibility. If there is a problem with the equipment we will come out to your home or business and fix or replace it. Also, as the manufacturer comes out with new software to improve the equipment, we upgrade the customer’s equipment transparently to the customer.

How Important Is Speed?

The speed of a Broadband Internet service is a very important aspect of the service, however, it can be over-emphasized in choosing an Internet provider. A car that has a top speed of 200 MPH is probably not better than a car that tops out at 100 MPH if you need it to drive around town. More important aspects might be comfort, safety, reliability, etc. Typical web pages average around 100KB to 150KB, which take about 20 seconds to load over a dialup Internet connection. Using a Broadband Internet service running at 1Mbps would cut the time to download the average page to just over 1 second. That’s a dramatic difference and changes the Internet experience from barely bearable to something useful. However, changing the speed of the Internet connection from 1Mbps to 3Mbps only cuts the download time to a little under a half a second, a change that’s hardly noticeable. In addition, just as we have speed limits on our roads, Internet servers limit the speed any single user can get from their server/site. So even though you may have an internet connection that can go 3Mbps, the sites you use on the internet only allow 1Mbps.

What about guaranteed speed? You should question any Broadband sales representative who says “our speeds are guaranteed".  Just as the streets and highways we use are shared, the Internet is a shared network and as such the speed you experience at any time can vary due to numerous factors.  Although it would be nice, it wouldn't make economic sense for you to have your own, private highway between your house and workplace. Also, that private highway wouldn’t make any difference if your car broke down.  For the same reason, it is difficult for an Internet service provider to offer an in-expensive Internet service with a bulletproof speed guarantee. However, some providers will make guarantees, although somewhat meaningless, in an effort to differentiate themselves.  An example is they will guarantee the speed between your house and the local phone company central office.  This doesn't mean much when sending an email file to a friend across the country.  Be sure to ask what exactly the guarantee entails, how is it measured, what are the remedies if the guarantee is not met, and request the guarantee be put in writing.

Mesa Networks’ standard service offerings have speeds up to 1.5Mbps, the equivalent of a T-1 line from the phone company. This is 30 times faster than dialup, and more than enough speed for all but the most extreme applications.

Customer Support

Our statistics show that over 90% of the problems users experience while using the Internet are not problems with the Internet provider, but are actually caused by something in the customer’s control such as their PC, Local Network, or firewall. When these issues occur it is important to be able to call a courteous and knowledgeable support person who can quickly help you troubleshoot the problem and get it resolved.

Mesa Networks provides accessible, knowledgeable customer support. Our support team consists of all local people focused on supporting Internet applications. We begin with a more complete install, followed by a Quality Assurance Program. This program consists of various aspects including assisting the customer with setting up email accounts, acquainting them with the helpdesk and knowledge base, and explaining basic connection troubleshooting. Mesa also provides a wide range of tutorials on how to use many of the common Internet applications.

Is The Provider Reliable?

Generally speaking any Internet service is not going to be as reliable as your local phone service. The current phone network has been around for over 100 years and has not changed much in the last 50 years. Federal and local taxes have funded much of the cost to make the public phone network more reliable. The Internet on the other hand, has only been around for about 20 years, and continues to undergo rapid growth and change. It is also being built by for profit businesses without government subsidization.

The reliability of the network of any Internet Service Provider that has been in business for at least a few years is usually going to be very good. The equipment within their network is designed for reliability, not lowest cost. Well over 90% of the problems with an Internet connection will occur at the customer location. For this reason, the most important factors affecting reliability are how quickly can the Internet Provider diagnose where the problem exists and how quickly can they get someone to the customer location to make the repair if required.

Basically, customer support is a key component of reliability. Mesa Networks wants customer support to be a differentiating element between themselves and other High Speed Internet providers. We appreciate every customer!! To express our gratitude we provide a referral program giving the customer a $50 credit for each person they refer to Mesa. If a customer is not completely satisfied with the first 30 days of service we will refund all of their money.

Financial Stability

Changing Internet service providers is something you want to have to do because your provider has gone out of business or is providing poor service due to its financial struggles. Obviously, you should be concerned about the financial stability of any company that is very new and small. Recent times have also shown that the biggest companies are not necessarily the most financially stable, especially in the telecommunications industry. Many providers over-leveraged themselves to get large quickly.

By focusing on only offering a few services in a confined geographic area Mesa has managed to reach profitability without over extending itself.

Are There E-mail Limitations

Most Internet Service Providers put tight limitations on the size of the email attachment you can send or receive. They also provide relatively small mailboxes, typically 10MB or less. E-mail is the most widely used Internet application and probably the most important. You don’t want to hassle with emails that didn’t go through because your mailbox is full or an attachment was too big.

Mesa allows email attachments as large as 20MB and our mailbox size is 40MB – at least double most other providers.

What Are The Security Issues?

There has been much press recently about the security issues of Wireless LAN technology known as 802.11b or Wi-fi. It is true that if the user uses the default settings with most Wi-Fi products it is very easy for an outsider to get onto the network. However, simply changing a few settings can make the network very secure.  Most Broadband wireless systems, including Mesa's, encrypt the data that is traveling through the air.  They also utilize a system that blocks unauthorized access to their network.  It is probably easier to tap into your phone line outside your home or business than hack through the wireless encryption.

Many discussions of Internet security are like other security discussions, only much worse.  They focus on all the technology and systems involved and not the people involved.  Talk focuses on how long it would take a hacker to crack the encryption or the weaknesses in a firewall.  For 99% of the public, the more important aspect is that of the actions and habits of the user.  A sophisticated burglar alarm system isn’t much good if an employee forgets to set it before leaving at night. 

Our experience in supporting thousands of customers over the past few years has been that 99.99% of the security related issues occur due to basic precautions not being taken by the customer. Following are the top security issues we see and simple steps to prevent them:

1. Email viruses:  Our email server removes over 1,000 viruses from customer emails each day.  This equates to 1 every 3 days per email address. 

Precaution: Using a virus scan software on your PC and keeping it current is important.  However, virus software cannot catch all potential viruses.  More important, do NOT open any email attachment unless you are exactly sure what it is.  If you're not sure, reply to the sender to confirm that they meant to send it to you.  It is very easy to hide the source of an email and make it look like it came from someone else.

2. Other Viruses:  Some viruses spread via the infected PC scanning the Internet for other PCs that are available to infect. 

Precaution: Any firewall will block most all of these viruses before they can reach your PC.  All of the consumer broadband routers act as a firewall and will protect your PC from most all of these viruses. We encounter far fewer problems with hardware firewalls than software versions and thus typically recommend the hardware versions.  However, if you have a laptop PC that accesses the Internet from various locations, a software firewall may be advisable.

3. Adware/Spyware:  Spyware or adware is software that gets onto a PC and modifies the behavior of your web browser.  At a minimum, this software will re-direct your browser or create pop-ups when you enter certain key words.  In some cases it is much more insidious, taking control of your browser and getting sensitive info off your PC.  This software typically gets on your PC when you download free software.

Precaution: Avoid downloading free software from companies you are not familiar with, or at least be very cautious when doing so.  You can also run software that can find and remove any adware/spyware that is on your PC and prevent it from getting on there in the future.  Some of the most common are Spybot www.safernetworking.org, Spy Sweeper www.webroot.com, and AdAware www.lavasoftusa.com.

4. Email hoaxes: Various email hoaxes continually go around the Internet.  Recently the most common are emails that look like they are coming from ebay, paypal, citibank, etc. claiming there is a problem with your account and you need to update or confirm your account info.  These emails look very authentic.

Precaution: Never send any sensitive information such as credit card #, password, or SSN in an email, as no legitimate company will ever request this information via email.  Many of the hoaxes will ask that you click on a link that looks like it takes you to the company's website (ebay for example) to update your information.  However, you are actually being taken to their site used to gather your information.  If you are not sure whether the email is legitimate, go directly to the company's website and they will usually will have a bulletin explaining the hoax if that is the case.  You can also send them an email or call them to confirm whether there really is an issue with your account.

5. Wireless LANs: As previously mentioned, the wireless LAN equipment sold at any computer or office supply store is very in-secure if the user just plugs it in without enabling any of the security features. These features are turned off by default, so with the security settings disabled, it is extremely easy for unwanted users to access a wireless network.  In fact, we've had customers accidentally connect to their neighbor's wireless router. 

Precaution: If you use a wireless Local Area Network, take a few minutes to at least enable the encryption feature in the router.  Many of the retailers that sell wireless LAN equipment now offer installation for free or relatively inexpensively.

We appreciate you taking time to learn more about High Speed Internet and hope that this report has answered many of your questions. Again, thank you and please feel free to contact us at 303-774-0166 x2 or 970-484-2017 x2 with any additional questions. Information about our company, services, coverage area, and online signup can be found at www.mesanetworks.com.