Techie, I have found PC Quote itself to be quite reliable, especially since they have multiple servers. Their internet access provider seems to be alter.net (which I think is UUNET but I could be wrong about that) and it is one of the major internet backbone providers. A few times that access provider has proven to be the weak link making the servers inaccessible. Quite disturbing when that happens - and it happened today for about 30 minutes. But what is the alternative? Everytime I think of getting quotes via cable, my cable seems to drop out after having been fine for weeks or months! Nothing's perfect.
The PC Quote interface software is actually from a company called Townsend Analytics, who also provides the front end for S&P Comstock. It's a littly quirky to get used to and the documentation could be better but once you figure it out it actually pretty good.
As for speed/delay, I think it is fine except perhaps right at a busy open. Then it can get a bit overwhelmed but so can everything else. Depending on how much you set up to view which depends in part on what level of service you pay for, it can take a minute or two to start up as it downloads all the requisite data. This become important when you have lost net access and have to restart everything. The software tries to reconnect itself after losing connection but that doesn't work out so well. A few times when my phone disconnected and I restart things up, it told me someone was already logged into my account and wouldn't let me override it. It was just the remnant of my previous connection which finally went away after 5 or so minutes. Once I had to call them to get that cleared.
I use the Complete package which they list for $250/month but it requires an additional $50/month for the NASDAQ Level II exchange fee. The $250 covers the basic exchange fees for NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ, OPRA.
If you ask the salesperson and maybe push some if necessary, they might grant you a 2 week free trial. They let me try the Complete Package this way. BTW, Comtex news is an extra $50/month which I used during the trial period but punted later. Included (quite recently it seems) at least in the service I have is headline News Alert.
Good luck and hope this helps. |
