First check, http://thelist.internet.com/. With this web site, you can check for all providers in your area.   There probably is some value in dealing with a local company. You might also ask other local  organizations and business to see where they are hosting a web site and get their opinions as far as the
 quality of service provided. 

 Here are some questions you might want to ask: 

 Pricing plans

• What is the monthly cost and how many hours can you stay online for the plan(s) they offer? 
• Are there set-up fees to start up your account? 
• Do they offer one month free or any other introductory offer? 
• Is there a discount if you pay several months in advance? 

 Local dial-up 

• Do they offer local phone numbers so that you won't have to pay long distance charges each time you access the internet? 
• Do they offer phone numbers in other areas that you might use while traveling (if this is important to you). 
• How often might you reach a busy signal trying to access their system? 

 Web pages

• How much web space (megabytes) do they offer with their plan(s)? 
• Do they support Front Page extensions (if this is important to you)? 
• Is there unlimited FTP access to your web site to upload changes? 
• Do they offer any built-in scripts you can use on your web site such as web page visitor counters or web page form processing? 
• Can you add other scripts such as for a chapter bulletin board or calendar system (if important to you)? 
• Do they offer any online site maintenance through web pages? (More are offering this; it's not critical but nice.) 

Technical support 

• Is it a local number to reach them with a voice call for help? 
• What are their hours for tech support? 
• What kind of information do they offer online as far as "Frequently Asked Questions" and other help for webmasters? 

Company Reliability & Any Perks 

• Ask them what they can offer you that other local or national providers cannot. 
• Would they waive a domain name set up fee if you wanted your own domain name? If not, what would they charge as a one time fee to do this? Or would they charge an extra monthly fee to host your domain name? (Charging an additional per month fee to host a domain name is probably a good reason to look elsewhere.) 
• What do they claim as an annual percentage of down time for their servers? 
• How long have they been in business? (Less than two years may be point of concern.) 
• Again, how often are you likely to be kept offline by busy signals? 
• Do they guarantee backups of their system? 
• Does the company to which you are subscribing maintain the web servers themselves or are they simply re-sellers for another web host? (If they are re-sellers, it may be better to look elsewhere.) 

 These companies offer the advantage of phone numbers that you can use to reach their service from almost anywhere in the USA. They also offer the advantage of a longer corporate history than most local ISPs. They offer the disadvantages that come with dealing with a larger company: such as less personal service in some cases.   As prices frequently change for these services, please check their websites for details.
 

America Online (AOL)

AOL offers a vast amount of "in-house" content as far as discussion groups, chat rooms, news and reference sources and shopping areas in addition to being a portal to the Internet. 
 

Earthlink

Earthlink is a national ISP with extensive customer service and many types of access plans. 
 

AT&T
 In addition to many other things, AT&T also offers a national ISP. They also have extensive online help for webmasters. 
 

Compuserve
Like AOL, CompuServe also offers a great deal of "in-house" content including news and reference sources, chat areas and forums for discussion around almost every conceivable topic.