Signing up for high-speed Internet can be as easy as calling an Internet access provider directly or working through a vendor. If you're able to evaluate the customer service, pricing, and technology of multiple providers and choose the best one yourself, you can call that provider directly. If you want expert help in comparing the various ISP offerings without having to contact each one, a broker can do all the legwork for you.

Internet access brokers
As a middleman, Internet access vendor will consult several ISPs to find the best combination of price and services for your needs. This service is conducted at no charge to you -- instead, the Internet service provider pays the commissions.

Have your broker furnish you with three to five quotes from various providers. Reliable brokers should have no problem doing that for you. When reviewing recommendations, find out how long the broker has worked with each ISP. If they have worked with the provider for a long time, you can be more assured of a reliable setup since the recommendations are driven by firsthand experience.

Definitely ask for a broker's references before doing business with them. A reliable broker will provide you with this information and allow their previous work to speak for itself. Contact at least a couple of references and ask questions such as:

• Were they readily available to answer any questions you had?
• How quickly did they resolve problems?
• Did they clearly detail everything written in the contract?
• Did they try to sell you additional equipment that you didn't need?

You can also gauge the level of service you'll get from an Internet access provider by how much attention they pay you. If they follow up with you and ask good questions rather than simply throwing quotes out, it is a positive sign that they care about your satisfaction above their bottom line.

Brokers continue to work with you after the contract is signed. You should demand - and a broker should offer - an ISP that provides 24/7 live person customer support. Once you're connected, the vendor will continue to monitor your setup remotely. They will install any patches and keep system upgrades configured.

They should also provide e-mail contacts and be proactive when it comes to letting you know when there is a network problem and your Internet access is slow or down altogether. If something isn't working right, the vendor should work with the ISP to get your network up and running.

Service Level Agreements
Reliability is probably the most important factor in choosing an ISP. While it is impossible to maintain 100% availability, most service providers aim for the lofty standard of "four nines" - 99.99% uptime over the course of a year. Service level agreements (SLAs) protect businesses by making access providers pay penalties to the customer for downtime that exceeds a specified total.

Until a few years ago, SLAs were not widely offered by Internet access providers. Now, they have become a standard for quality high-speed Internet access like T1 connections. In fact, SLAs are one of the main reasons T1 lines are the most popular choice for Internet access among businesses.

It is difficult to get an SLA on DSL access. The reason is that DSL's sensitivity to the distance between the company and ISP's central office, coupled with the often-low quality of the wiring, makes it difficult to maintain a sufficient level of guaranteed uptime. Even so, some vendors do provide SLAs for DSL, but it is uncommon.

To ensure your provider is abiding by this 99.99% performance level, request monitoring reports that track downtime. Most providers will make this information available to you upon request.