Have you switched your broadband Internet Service Provider lately? Most people that I've talked to said that the process is a royal pain, especially if you've been with the same provider for quite a while.

I recently went through the exercise because, I needed dial-up access while on the road. My former Internet service provider (ISP) was very happy to help me get dial-up working on my Windows laptop. Only problem, I'm a die-hard Linux user, don't and won't own a Windows laptop and the response on the help line was always the same.

"Oh, we don't support Linux."

After much research and spinning of wheels I concluded that you could only get connected via their funky Windows dial up script and mysterious dial strings. All I wanted to do was put my user name, password, and phone number in KPPP and dial into the network from a phone line. If I ever could have connected I could have used 10 "free" hours of dial-up per month, after which $0.99 per hour would have been charged for additional time. Such a deal.

Needless to say, I'm a happy broadband/dial-up camper now, since I moved over to Earthlink. Their broadband service runs on the same cable modem as my old broadband provider. My upload and download bandwidth is great. I also have unlimited dial-up access with local numbers all over the country, that simply works, with KPPP on my Linux laptop.

The point is that I don't want to rant about my old ISP or sell you on my new one. Rather, I wanted to walk you through the process of switching ISP's, in case you happen to "find a better deal." With lots of things to overlook, bringing visibility to the process and minimizing the pain of changing providers is what this story is all about.

Next: Eight Points On Planning The Switch »