 
TJ19971
Blues fan with a camera
Premium
join:2003-10-11
Sioux Falls, SD
| Portal....no thanks No thank you. I can find what I want. The ISP I use has a portal but it is very basic. I personally do not use it but if you are going to have a portal it should be a earch bar 9such as google) and maybe simply some good links.
My ISP's portal:
»www.midcocomm.com/midconet.php | |
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 | nguyen27
join:2003-05-14
Quincy, MA | Re: Portal....no thanks No thanks for portal/ or free webspace, or free email, or free whatever, just give me the bandwidth... | |
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| | rapidrick
join:1999-10-28
Bear, DE | Re: Portal....no thanks I'll pass on the flash portal...
I'd prefer to have...
Decent bandwidth
no hidden caps
decent news service
decent mail service
decent web service
that's about it... | |
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neuronbob
Health Care Reform Now
join:2000-03-30
Bedford, OH | Re: Portal....no thanks Exactly, Rick.
Good service beats flash and fluff any day of the week. | |
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| | | medici
join:2001-02-22
Shohola, PA
| What is this Portal thing you speak of? It sounds like some kind of gateway to the Internet. But truly, isn't the Internet an open, world-wide network without boundaries? Then how can someone impose a portal to such a thing?
Perhaps a Portal is more like a guide to what's available on the Internet? But again, how can one person or even organization possibly catalog and present all the varied servers and services across a world-wide Internet, particularly when the large majority of these servers and services are purposefuly difficult to find? And how would a network service provider know what I'm interested in finding on the Internet?
And this Flash thing, I don't understand it either. It seems to have something to do with advertisements, since I used to always get a pop-up asking me to install it when visiting certain sites, and then wind-up with empty plug-in boxes under a title named "ADVERTISEMENT" when I decline. But I've not been bothered by these errors since switching to Firefox and installing the Adblock extension, many months ago.
But seriously: Flash has its benefits, but the vast majority of sites that use Flash use it either for annoying, multimedia ads that distract the workplace, bandwidth-wasting intro pages, or blind-hostile graphical navigation systems.
As for broadband ISP Portals: if they are any indication of what these ISP's believe their customers want, then why have broadband at all, you might as well stick with Cable/Satellite TV. | |
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Elrond
Lore Master
Premium
join:2004-08-10
The Havens
| I played with Comcast's "portal" once....it didn't take.
The content = bad
The Wheel = worse
Free upgrade to 4000/384 = Good
$10 extra/month for 6000/768 = Daddy likes  | |
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click_310
Eat my shorts
join:2002-12-06
Savannah, GA
| Re: Portal....no thanks said by Elrond  :The Wheel = worse The Wheel? I thought they called it the fan in the advertisment  | |
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Elrond
Lore Master
Premium
join:2004-08-10
The Havens | Re: Portal....no thanks So sorry. | |
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NoHome
@68.42.x.x | Portal.... Blah...
Google start page!
Comes up quick without having to wait for all the pics and macromedia flash that most portals have.
I can start searching right away. | |
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| bicho6
join:2004-07-30
home | i don't even know what my ISP's homepage/startup page is.. | |
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innoman
-
Premium
join:2002-05-07
Raleigh, NC
clubs:  | they dont even need a page... I dont even use it as my webpage, I use DSLreports. And I change all of my friends to that or Google.com depending on who it is.
--
Formerly Innobabe79 | |
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Vvian Kalyss
join:2003-10-14
Stage 5.0
clubs:
| Stick to the basics People more or less have their own favourite links or know to use a search engine, and expect their ISP to contain ISP-related stuff.
What good is having the business summary on the first page when I need that abuse@isp.com address now, now, NOW? If they must put up a portal, they should take the time to update it. I've seen too many "(c) 1999" webpages already.
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Mikami Vvian, resident Girlfriend of Steel, care of the Tokyo-3 Middle Daughters Club | |
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| Doubledee32
join:2002-06-20
Charlotte, NC | Re: Stick to the basics I agree-I use bbc.news as my home page and even though I'm a R/R subscriber I really don't wish to use their homepage nor do I even bother to visit their site. | |
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AkumalDave
Life's A Beach
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-20
Minneapolis, MN
| about:blank All of my browsers (IE6 , NS7.1 Compact and Opera) load to a blank page. If I want streaming content, I'll ask / browse for it.
Gone are the days when "on-line services users" need to be spoonfed content (witnessed by AOL's loss of subscribers). Especially if that content is chock full o' ads!
Call me a Luddite, but I want static content on web pages, unless I click on a "show me something flashy" link.
Dave
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"...enjoy every sandwich..." Warren Zevon 1947-2003 | |
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TheMadSwede
Premium
join:2001-01-30
Holland, MI | Re: about:blank LUDDITE! | |
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| LrdVader
Premium
join:2003-12-18
San Diego, CA
| said by AkumalDave :All of my browsers (IE6 , NS7.1 Compact and Opera) load to a blank page. If I want streaming content, I'll ask / browse for it. ...snip... Call me a Luddite, but I want static content on web pages, unless I click on a "show me something flashy" link. I couldn't have said it better myself! If I want a web page, I'll ask for it. And if I want big colorful objects to move around the screen and make noise, I'll ask for them, or I'll just turn on the TV.
Long live about:blank! | |
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| 
Googled
Yay, I have FIOS
join:2001-08-13
Orchard Park, NY | I agree. about:blank is the best portal ever. That combined with some sort of Google search bar makes for a clean and fast start-up. Even about:mozilla is a bit too flashy. | |
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radmish
Hi
join:2000-04-15
Oakland, NJ
1 edit | Ewww @ isp portals. I'm insulted that my isp (optimum online) thinks its customers would actually visit their portal. There is nothing there that I can't get elsewhere and from better websites that theirs. I think its just another way for them to try to profit through advertisting from their internet customers and selling products. They have an optimum online store with various hardware products they try to sell on there. The webpage is nothing more then just another way to make money disquised as a service. | |
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| griff1013
join:2002-01-10
Virginia Beach, VA | Re: Ewww @ isp portals. I have never even see the Cox portal and I have been a customer from the old @Home days. They could save their money by dropping or partnering with Yahoo and work on latency and QoS issues. | |
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rchandra
Stargate S G-1 And Atlantis Fan
Premium
join:2000-11-09
14225-2105
clubs:
| not that ISPs would listen... ...but here's what I want, roughly in order of importance:
•cooperation in mitigation of malicious attacks (DoS, DDoS, etc.)
•a competitive price
•a standards-based connection (plain Ethernet, I'll even settle for PPPoE, plain PPP, plain PAP or CHAP, etc....no USB, no routing in the CPE so I can route and filter with Linux, etc.)
•at least a megabit per second downstream at the TCP level (in other words, don't measure it at the sync rate level) (have about 1.5 now, and is adequate)
•no usage caps
•at least three nines uptime on an annual basis (that's roughly 9 hours or less per year...after all, this is residential and not business service)
•consistency in speed (no dips at peak times...my service seems that way now)
•ability to run my own servers (until proven irresponsible)
•no port blocks--a "(bidirectionally) clean pipe" to the Internet (goes hand-in-hand with the servers comment)
•static IPv4 (and possibly IPV6) address(es) (let's just dispense with this silly notion that my address NEEDS to vary. What percentage of DSL or cable modem users only have their units on part time anymore?)
•decent upstream bandwidth (again, no caps, no port blocks)
•A plain-English ToS/AuP that's no more than 3 printed pages and never includes the phrase "at the ISP's sole discretion" (because that gives the ISP the right to do just about anything at their whim)
•did I mention more upstream bandwidth? 
•no spam (*cough* Verizon *cough*) from my ISP
•clear, concise, non-boilerplate/copy-n-paste responses to my support questions
•separate out the costs of providing ancillary services (email, UseNet, personal Web space, etc.) so that you can give me the absolute lowest price for bandwidth
•are you sure I already mentioned upstream bandwidth?
Notice a "portal" wasn't even on my list. There are plenty of them out there not sponsored by any ISP already; my ISP doesn't need to add yet another close-to-useless Web page.
--
English is a difficult enough language to interpret correctly when its rules are followed, let alone when a writer chooses not to follow those rules. Blog is here
Jeopardy! replies REALLY suck! | |
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CamFortner
join:2000-08-01
Downey, CA | Re: not that ISPs would listen... I agree 100% I hardly even use Comcast's mail service, i use it to forward all my spam to :-P
I could do without all the extras that comcast tries to throw in there, All i Want is more speed.... (upload to be more specific) | |
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AlkalineArmy
Premium
join:2002-03-14
Greenfield, IN
| :-) Notice the "Quiet, I'm hunting rabbits" option has had more votes than "Yes".
Although the BBR members here are not indicative of broadband customers as a whole, I think it's safe to say that most people could care less about their ISP's portal and usually have their homepage set either to a blank page, or something else, such as Google. | |
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Wiacomm_CC
Premium
join:2002-10-25
Fort Worth, TX
clubs: | No portal here We don't have a portal. I recommend Google to our customers as a starting page. --C. Crowley, Wiacomm, Inc. | |
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steve1a
Premium,MVM
join:2001-05-07
Berkeley, CA
 ·Comcast
| Re: No portal here Wascally Wabbits..
Less is more...
Yeah they want to "show off" their bells and whistles...
But I prefer function over form... and some of these sites like Comcast's Portal make it a nuisance to even navigate to pay your account... plus you can't even customize to a localized level... what are they thinking?
I personally have always utilized Yahoo because I can customize it to access local news, movie times, etc. and it stays fairly lean and clean and user friendly with MY preferences.
--
Got a VAIO? Visit the Village:»www.vaiovillage.com | |
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Elrond
Lore Master
Premium
join:2004-08-10
The Havens | Just give me the pipe..... ...and I'll take it from there.
Please Comcast,don't waste money providing crappy content,spend money upgrading your network so your customers can have faster and more reliable connections. | |
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thisismyname1
join:2004-07-26
00000
| Not very useful... Well not really. I kind of like them for the news since I am not a big TV watcher but most of the time my homepage is www.gamefaqs.com or www.broadbandreports.com or something I visit at least 30 mins a day.
I used www.broadbandreports.com for the Internet news which are one of the ones I care for most.
Really it wouldn't matter to me if there was no start up page from my ISP. | |
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cork1958
Cork
join:2000-02-26
Fruitport, MI
 ·Verizon Online DSL
·Charter Pipeline
| Charters site I do have Charters site for W. Michigan, »support.chartermi.net/gh/, in my bookmarks and used to visit it once in awhile. Don't anymore as it hasn't been updated since 7/28/04! When I called support a few weeks ago to see if there was an outage in my area, I mentioned that site to the tech. He said he didn't know Charter even had that site up anymore. But to the point of the pole. No, I have never used my ISP's page as my portal to the web. Most of them are WAY over done with crap! I use my routers configuration page as my start page.
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Spread Opera, fastest browser on earth or Cyberspace! | |
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