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Important Tips on Internet service, Wifi and Email providers.

This past week, I signed up for Time Warner Internet service, and I have several important tips for you.

1. If you want to get your internet service started faster, you can pick up the modem and WiFi unit at one of Time Warner’s offices and hook it up yourself rather than wait for an appointment with a technician.  It’s pretty simple to do. If you should need help you can call their tech support.  I have found their customer service to be excellent.  (Sometimes there is a bit of a wait to get someone on the line, but I just put the phone on speaker and do something else while I wait.)

2. If you will be using Time Warner Internet Service for more than a year, you can save money by buying your own modem and WiFi device rather than paying the monthly fees to use Time Warner’s.

3. Don’t use their email service! (Don’t use Verizon’s or any other internet service provider’s either.)  If you ever change providers, you will lose access to that email address and will have to notify all your contacts of your change of email address.  You should be using an independent service like Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook.com, or Yahoo so you can keep the same email address if you move or have to change internet service providers.  

Here is a link to an excellent in-depth evaluation of free email services, courtesy of Laptop Magazine.

Yahoo Mail vs. Outlook.com vs. Gmail vs. AOL Mail

Note:

1. I do not recommend AOL.  It has not kept upwith the latest advances and too many of my clients have had major trouble with it, especially the desktop application which crashes and ties up the computer.  I recommend that AOL users move to one of the other services as soon as possible.

2. Many of my clients have had their yahoo email accounts hacked.  I’m not sure if it is a problem with Yahoo or that my clients have used weak passwords.  Yahoo got high ratings in the above article, so if you decide to use it, be sure to choose a very secure password.

3. Gmail is my personal favorite, because of it’s many extra features and it’s excellent spam guards.  However, the interface can be confusing and many of my clients do not need all its bells and whistles.  If you want great free productivity tools for your business or personal life, you will love it.