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To: Investor2 who wrote (9568)	11/12/1997 12:15:00 AM
From: Andrew Vance	Respond to of 17305

AV--DLJ was by no means the most cost competitive. The sign up was easy to perform and I have a previous human contact there should things go flakey. The cost to talk to a human is very competitive, if not the best of breed. To me, the user interface was quite friendly or at least in a fashion that makes sense to me. The concise nature in which the trading history and portfolio specifics are documented were far superion. IMO, to the way schwab does theirs (especially order status). Commission schedule for options really stink, though. E*Trade probably is very competitive in the options arena and is slightly more competitive in the high volume share trading. Truthfully I haven't found an online service that does it all for me. However, when push comes to shove, the advantage of talking to a human for almost the same price (if I can get through to them) made the decision for me. My main brokerage account charges me .05/share now for my transactions over 1000 shares and no commission if they make a market in the stock. I can always get through to them and have them "work" a trade for me. When you deal with 1000 shares and can get an extra 1/8 of a point ($125), its well worth having the "major" guy take care of me. However, this comes at a slight cost. The person I deal with is not to fond of day trading or options. My contact is an investment/private client person who has multi million and one or two billionaire clients so these recent trades have been a pain to him. So it is by mutual agreement that, if I could, try to do the "Mickey Mouse" stuff elsewhere if possible. considering they fight to get me into IPOs, and considering there is some savings involved, I decided to get serious about an online system. Also, if I am not mistaken, through another online service, I might be able to "consolidate" all my accounts into one portfolio tracking system for a more global prespective. I guess that's about it. One man's poison is another's nectar. You have my reasons for going with DLJ direct even though it does not fullfill all my needs. In the words of NIKE, "I just did it"<ggg> Andrew