Totalise is the Top ISP (totalise.net)

Member Name: kca101

Product:	totalise.net
Date:	25/07/00 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Better than free, excellent all-round service

Disadvantages: None yet

I have used Totalise as an ISP since November 1999 and here is my honest assessment of them.

Any ISP has to fulfil several criteria, here’s how Totalise fairs:


1. Consistently good connection – Totalise has connected first time in about 90% of cases. The remaining 10% of sessions have connected second time. This is a better service than any of the other ISPs I have used (AOL, Compuserve, FreeServe, LineOne, Yahoo, etc, etc, etc). 10/10


2. Good speed when connected – My speed of connection is always between 36-42kbps. The only ISP that has provided faster access to me was AOL and then only occasionally (and I had to pay dearly for it!). 9/10


3. Value for Money – Totalise is a 0845 local rate ISP. You pay nothing to Totalise, but you do pay local rate calls. The big difference with Totalise is that you get shares each month. The share price (more about this later) determines how good the payback is, but you will generally get shares that will more than cover the cost of your time online. It's better than free - there is simply no better value-for-money deal than that. 10/10


4. Customer Service – Most ISPs are faceless entities that you only dare contact if you’ve got a big problem and you can spare a few days to hear back from them. Totalise has an informative website, regular email updates and a responsive and intelligent group of customer service people. 9/10


5. Email - Everything you would expect. You can forward email to any POP email client or pick up email online. The online email is among the best I've seen. 9/10


So, ignoring the shares, Totalise is a top-class ISP with quality service and a professional approach. Add in the free shares are you are making money every time you log on.

The share price is around 30p at the time of writing, but has been as high as 142p. They have a cautious management appro
ach and it is clear they are in this for the long-term, not just to set it up and flog it for a few million. When this company floats properly on the stock exchange I expect my (not insignificant) holding to increase in value pretty well.

A wholehearted recommendation from this satisfied customer.

Summary: