A "No-Frills" Provider with a few Frills!
Written: Jul 26 '02 (Updated Jul 26 '02)
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Pros: Free Web Space, Reliable Connection, Excellent Tutorials
Cons: No Direct Telephone Support (but none really necessary for most).
The Bottom Line: No Contracts, Good Connections, Easy Cancellations, and Email for a Quarter! Outstanding combination of Service, Reliability and Economy.
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| ben9's Full Review: Acer Access |
Acer Access is a simple, straightforward, somewhat anonymous Internet Service Provider. For about half of what you’d pay to AOL or Earthlink, you get solid, reliable connectivity at 56K.
Some may consider this a “no-frills” ISP, but there are a few frills and they are good ones. For $12.50, you get Unlimited Internet Access, Two Email Accounts, access to over 30,000 newsgroups, and a generous 10 Megabytes of personal web space.
After subscribing, then using Acer Access for nearly a year, here’s what I learned:
Unlimited Internet Access – very reliable! I’ve connected consistently at 49-50k, with no system dropouts. Over the ten or eleven months with Acer Access, I did not ever have a “downtime” to deal with; always able to connect, all the time.
Email Accounts – you get two. I like this, because it allows me to give one to my significant other, while using one for myself.
Two email accounts not enough? If you have a quarter lying around, buy another! This, I thought was a very nice little benefit – Extra Email Accounts for a Quarter!
I ordered another email account, which I used for my “spam address” – the one I give to all the online registrations, warranty people, etc. Twenty-five cents, WELL spent!
You may use all your email accounts with any email client software: Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Incredimail. There is also web access to your email, so you can check from the office or on the road.
The detailed, step-by-step instructions will help you configure your email for home or office use.
Web Space – Ten generous megabytes of web space, to host your own website. No advertising and no banners! Consider this a $5 .00 – 7.00 bonus, because that is what you would pay any free host for “banner-be-gone”, or for a good, basic web hosting package.
Newsgroups – I didn’t expect to find access to over 30,000 newsgroups at this price, so I considered this another small bonus. Again, they provide detailed, excellent instructions on how to set these up.
Access Numbers - You have access to four major backbones so there are access numbers in just about every nook and cranny of this country. You will probably never have a “downtime” here, but if you do - use one of the many alternate access numbers or even change the backbone or “access pipe” you are tunneling through.
Dial up – Acer Access provides a little piece of software called “Easy Dialer”. You download it, install it and it goes! Once installed, the Easy Dialer will configure your dialup connection, setup your email account in Outlook Express, setup your email account in Netscape, and create a shortcut on the desktop. This is a very nice little piece of software.
There is a “plus” version of Easy Dialer, which will do all that, and launch your web browser automatically, every time you connect – also free.
You do not need to install or use the Easy Dialer to connect, though – if you prefer, you may simply configure a manual dialup setting of your own. There is a very good, detailed, block-by-block walk through on the site.
Start Page – There is a nice, little rudimentary start page. It’s not exactly Yahoo or MSN portal, but for a “no-frills” ISP, I was surprised to find one at all. Take a look: http://www.acer-access.com/members
The Process - Sign up online, and you will receive a "Welcome Aboard" letter in the email. This comes within a few minutes and has all the instructions you need to connect immediately. I was surprised at how well this worked and how fast they processed my order.
Contracts, Cancellations – There are no contracts required. You sign up for one month, and cancel anytime you like. Ironically, the cancellation policy and system of Acer Access, is one of the things I was most impressed by.
We’ve all had or heard of terrible experiences, when trying to cancel service with an Internet Service Provider – stories from AOL and MSN users are legendary. I remember trying to cancel my Earthlink account a few years ago – and being on hold for 45 minutes when I finally had to hang up and go to work (it took me three tries, by the way).
After this, I always made it a habit to check for cancellation policy of an ISP before checking anything else – to me, it says something about their basic business integrity, and about their own confidence in their products and services.
I have stumbled upon and fallen prey to a few of the budget ISPs over the years – one of them even required written notice, via conventional MAIL!
The long and short of it, is that many ISPs make it tough on you to quit. Acer Access makes it easy and automatic. Visit the web page, click the button that says “Cancel My Account” and that’s it! http://acer-access.com/members/setup.html
If all this is so great, why did I quit? I was a member of Acer-Access for almost a year. I had no problems with the service, whatsoever. I was offered a full year of access with five email accounts, newsgroups and personal web space for $59 – from an independent ISP provider. I don’t think anybody’s ever been offered a better deal.
Summary: I think $12.50 is a very very fair price for Unlimited Internet Access, Two Email Accounts, Newsgroup Access and Personal Web Space. Extra email accounts for a quarter is remarkable. Service and Reliability are good. Put all this together and you have a great combination of Use, Usage, Benefits, Economy … and yes, even a few “frills” to go with it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 12.50
Version Number or Year: 2001 - 2002
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Epinions.com ID:
ben9
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Location: Bellevue, Washington
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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