MICROSOFT, AT&T RATED TOPS AS ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDERS.Byline: Ben Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. may be biggest, but Microsoft Network See MSN. Microsoft Network - The Microsoft Network is the best national Internet service provider Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. , according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a survey released Wednesday by J.D. Power and Associates. J.D. Power, best-known for its annual ranking of automobiles based on customer satisfaction questionnaires, has turned its sights in recent years on other industries ranging from airlines to telecommunications. Wednesday's study is the company's first examining customer satisfaction with Internet providers. Based on responses from 5,234 households with Internet access See how to access the Internet. , the Agoura Hills market research firm gave the nod to Microsoft Network and AT&T's WorldNet for the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively. Prodigy, Compuserve and America Online See AOL. rounded out the list of national providers. Together the companies represent 52 percent of the online market, J.D. Power reported. Rankings were based on combined scores in five categories including access, integrity of connection, value, additional services and discounts, and technical support. J.D. Power would not release actual scores for each Internet company, but an AOL official said her company scored a 96, compared to Microsoft's 106 points. And, not surprisingly, AOL quibbled with its last-place ranking. ``We do have high customer satisfaction, and all this survey says is that all five companies are pretty close,'' said Ann Brackbill, a spokeswoman for the Dulles, Va.,-based provider. |
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