I guess EvilB's right, but I play with a free, ad-laden ISP and I've gotten used to it (www.bluelight.com).
Don't get me wrong; you do get what you pay for, but I'm no tournament-style player anyways. With my crappy system and a 56k winmodem, I consistently get pings of 200-350 (that's on f6, not f1) on at least my top thirty or forty servers. The ad bar pops occasionally on the top of my screen, but I've gotten so used to it, I forget it's there.
It's certainly not prime playing conditions, but it's free, free, free, and I have friends who pay for ISPs around me who dont see noticeably better ping rates (Crappy Mindspring and Earthlink come to mind).
Either way, that's my two cents /~unreal/ubb/html/smile.gif I suppose it all comes down to how much BS you can put up with and how much $$ you're willing to spend; I'd give it a try; what do you have to lose, but a bunch of money?
[This message has been edited by Space Cruz (edited 02-05-2000).]