This is the second report in Network World's and Visual Networks quarterly look at the top ISPs in the market. Through statistical analysis of Visual's Internet BenchMark data for dial-up service (see How we did it), we ranked the top ISPs in the business-to-business, national and regional categories as they compare to vendors within the same market.
For March 2000, AT&T WorldNet continued to top the national retail market, performing above average in seven out of nine categories. Ameritech placed first in the regional retail market, and Concentric was tops in the business-to-business market.
Month-to-month comparison
Industry averages for March 2000
How we did it
Quick tips
ISPs tested
| ISP | Score* | Strengths | National retail |
| AT&T WorldNet | 19 | Low CFR % ** (24-hour, business-hour), initial modem connect speed, average time to log on, average DNS lookup time, average download time, low Web fail/timeout % |
| JunoWeb | 15 | Low CFR % (all three categories) |
| AOL | 12 | Average download time, low Web fail/timeout % |
| MindSpring | 12 | Initial modem connect speed, average time to log on |
| Regional retail | ||
| Ameritech | 15 | Low CFR % (24-hour, business-hour), average time to log on |
| Pacific Bell | 14 | Average DNS lookup time, average download time, average Web throughput, low Web fail/timeout % |
| USWest | 12 | Low CFR % (evening-hour) | Business-to-business |
| Concentric | 16 | Average Web throughput, average download time, low Web fail/timeout % |
| GTEInternet | 13 | Low CFR % (24-hour) |
| Splitrock | 13 | Low CFR % (business-hour) |
| UUNET (GridNet) | 13 | Initial modem connect speed, average time to log on, average DNS lookup time |
| ISP | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Jan. | Feb. | March |
| AT&T WorldNet | 13 | 14 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 19 |
| Concentric | 10 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 16 |
| Ameritech | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 15 |
| JunoWeb | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 15 |
| Pacific Bell | 12 | 18 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| GTEInternet | 9 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| Splitrock | 9 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 13 |
| UUNET (GridNet) | 12 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 11 | 13 |
Industry averages for March 2000
| Category | National retail | Reg'l retail |
B2B | Top ISP | 24-hour CFR% | 3.7% | 3% | 4.3% | Ameritech |
| Evening-hour CFR % | 6.1% | 5.3% | 6.7% | Ameritech |
| Business-hour CFR % | 3.8% | 2.7% | 4.6% | Ameritech |
| Initial modem speed (K bit/sec) | 47.17 | 46.22 | 47.1 | UUNET (GridNet) |
| Average time to logon (seconds) | 29.98 | 31.91 | 31.81 | AT&T WorldNet |
| Average DNS lookup time (msec) | 470.95 | 378.23 | 384.37 | Pacific Bell |
| Average Web throughput (Kbps) | 4.41 | 4.63 | 4.68 | Concentric |
| Average download time (seconds) | 20.96 | 21.89 | 22.14 | AOL |
| Average total Web fail/timeout % | 0.9% | 0.85% | 1.1% | Pacific Bell |
How we did it
The data for this report comes from Visual Networks. Through its Internet BenchMark data, Visual rates national, regional and business-to-business ISPs according to several factors, including call failure rate, modem connect speed and Web download performance.
We took the raw data from Visual and applied statistical analysis to rate the relative performance of each ISP. First, we derived the standard deviation of the numbers in each performance category. Standard deviation is a measure of how far the numbers in a series diverge from each other. For each category in which an ISP performed better than one standard deviation from the industry mean, we awarded it one point. If the ISP did better than two standard deviations from the mean, we awarded it two points. Similarly, if an ISP did worse than the industry mean by more than one standard deviation, we took a point away from its score. If it did significantly worse, meaning two or more standard deviations, we took away two points. We started with a baseline of 12 points, so if an ISP scored 0 points it ended up with an adjusted score of 12. After scoring each category, we summed the results to produce a single number that indicates the reliability and performance of each ISP. A rating of 12 means an ISP was about even with its peers, or the industry average. In March 2000, eight ISPs scored higher than 12 and four ISPs were average. The bad news, however, is that 14 ISPs scored less than 12 points.
Service:
IP networks are moving beyond simple transmission technologies,
such as frame relay, T-1 and dial-up, into the Layer 3 realm of network
and application services. Companies are looking to ISPs to offer services
that span end-to-end (from the desktop to a specific destination and back
again) or edge-to-edge (from one demarcated location to another). Customers
are looking to buy complete IP services, rather than acquiring discrete
components to build their own.
Level:
As this transition occurs, a way to measure the levels of service must be provided. That means the ability to measure availability, latency, packet loss, throughput and other metrics, as well as application services.
Management:
This goes beyond measuring the performance of the boxes. As an IP services customer, this means the service provider must give you a real-time view of the network or application infrastructure being used.
Without such tools, you may be the proud user of an IP service, but you've lost any visibility into the network and application performance.
| ISP | Type |
| Ameritech | Regional Retail |
| AOL | National Retail |
| AT&T Worldnet | National Retail |
| AT&T (GNS) | Business-to-Business (B2B) |
| BellAtlantic | Regional Retail |
| BellAtlantic-North | Regional Retail |
| BellSouth | Regional Retail |
| CompuServe | National Retail |
| Concentric | B2B |
| EarthLink | National Retail |
| GTE.net | National Retail |
| GTEInternet | B2B |
| ICG-NetAhead | B2B |
| Juno | National Retail |
| MindSpring | National Retail |
| MSN | National Retail |
| NaviNet | B2B |
| PacBell | Regional Retail |
| Prodigy | National Retail |
| PSI | B2B |
| RCN | Regional Retail |
| SBIS | Regional Retail |
| Splitrock | B2B |
| USWest | Regional Retail |
| UUNET | B2B |
| UUNET (GridNet) | B2B |
Top ISPs
Our December 1999 report
