Effective use of the Internet in Malta.

 For those of you who have never experienced the net in Malta, there is not much to choose from since all there is no perfect ISP! But I will try to give a guide from what there is available. However, you should check the services and prices offered by the ISP, so visit their web site and see what they offer.
  1. What should I NOT DO when I subscribe?
     Avoid to pay for a long term service, first give it a try. If something starts to go wrong, you would loose money, or a better ISP might appear in the meantime. Another reason might be that major upgrades to the system would be made in just before payment time of the majority of the users.

  2. What should I DO when I subscribe?
     The first thing is to find a free permanent email address, and if you would like to have a web page, a free web page. Obviously, these services are available on foreing servers. You might even get 2Mb web page for free if you are not a business user. Some Maltese ISPs offer a limited amount of web space (if they offer it at all!). In my LINKS page you can find where to get these things. A free permanent email address will be very useful if you change your ISP frequently.

  3. I am student at the Junior College/Higher Secondary/ University with whom should I subscribe?
     For you the poor guys I suggest you to choose an ISP which has a limited access, only in this way you could login at peak time. But it is important to check that the ISP offers some free hours every month, or you will have to pay for every minute.

  4. I am a home user and would like to surf when I have time, any suggestions?
     As for students you should locate an ISP offering limited access.

  5. I work at night and I have some free time, I would like to surf the net, what do you suggest?
    You could use one of the unlimited time service providers. 2:00am is a good time to connect. But if you want to connect before, then find a limited time ISP. However, unlimited service is getting more and more expensive.

  6. I use the Internet mainly for checking the mail for many times daily!
     I suggest you to use the ISP with limited time and which does not offer any free hours during peek time. In this way you could access the net all the day at any time and with fewer costs.

  7. I am a business user, but use the Internet only in the morning, what kind of ISP is more appropriate for me?
     I suggest you to find the most economic, fast and which offers the features that you require. At that time it is difficult to find busy lines, an usually ISP do not charge after 8:00 am.

  8. I already have an account, how can I use it effectively?
     If you are with an unlimited access ISP, the obvious things are either to login early (at 5:00 pm) or very late at (2:00am). You should be able to connect at these times. Then try to use as much efficiently as possible the line, such as by using more than one browser to surf different sites. Try to keep your connection as short as possible, especially in peek time, so other users could login. I suggest you to login at 5pm once a week to keep the phone bill down, but plan what sites to surf before. Then you could login for ten minutes in the other days to check your email before 6pm. For those of you who have a limited account with free hours, and which give for free the night hours (example from 2am onwards), I suggest you surf the net in peek hours, then login at night and do the things which require most time and can be done automatically. For example, downloading a 5Mb shareware files or sending a huge file by email.





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Created on the 15 th December 1996
Last updated on 25 th June 1997