My problems with scottrade are not unique. Last year (2006), I could count on their server going down a couple times a week. I always reported the problems, only to learn that everybody else was having the same problems. Most of the time the outages didn't last long, a few minutes, but sometimes they could last for more than an hour. If you're a serious day trader, that is a real problem.

This year the overall system is much more reliable, though I still see some problems sometimes. The biggest problem is the live news feeds. Sometimes those would go down several times a week, a real problem if you depend on the latest news. I haven't seen that problem however for couple weeks.

I am writing this note tonight because there server is off line again. It is not a huge problem after market hours, but I still can't get at my account information so I am not happy.

I agree with the guy who says "you get what you pay for". Of course this is one of the lowest cost brokerages out there. Most of the time the system does work. Over th e past year I have made many suggestions to the programmers for new features, some of which have been implemented. They do seem to listen to customrs, and I never had a problem dealing with them over the phone. They always try very hard to help, but like the other guy said, there shouldn't be any problems that require help.

From what I can see Etrade has a few more features in their top-line trading program, but overall there doesn't seem to be much difference - though I have no relaiblility statistics - and without those it is hard to judge the overall quality.

From what I can see they hire a lot of young people right out of college, and train them. It's kind of an entry level job, because no trading advice is involed whatsover. This company is strictly for do-it-yourself investors.

I have seen lower cost brokerages, but their trading system is a joke. Scottrade does offer a powerful trading platform (Elite). Another thing to consider is the interest rate they offer on cash balances. It really sucks, but seems typical of the brokerage industry. It is a way they can get extra money without high visibility. If you intend to keep a lot of cash around, you might want to look for another brokerage which pays a better interest rate. If you're a buy and hold type of guy, and you don't anticipate having a lot of cash around, I am sure you can find a cheaper alternative. Scottrade is probably best suited for active investors.

I do like the fact that they have a local office. I've only been in there once to open up my accounts, but I felt comfortable there, and they handled the account opening procedure smoothly. I did have one small problem transferring my account, probably due to my old broker, but it didn't cost me anything. (aside from some aggravation. The guys on the other end of the phone were always happy to do their best to fix the problem)

At this point I would give them a perfect score, if their system was a little more reliable and they gave me a better interest rate.