827.Compare Brokers

I had an adventure is Fidelity Investments. I need not go into the specifics because I always had a work around. But, I wanted to see if any of the other Brokers had the full function I wanted the way I wanted it since old brokers did. So I went off to ETRADE and completed an application for an account so I could look at its interface on the PC AND its "expert" trading tool that runs on the web. I went to it this morning and it was like I went back in time to the caveman days. It had to be the most primitively written application I have seen in over a decade. At one time I was a Scottrade client before they sold out to ETRADE. Well, its nice interface were obviously thrown into the garbage can. Fidelity's PC Advanced Trader tool is light-years ahead of ETRADE! That made my decidion to stay put rather easy when comparing to ETRADE. From what I viewed of the Schwab system though, I won't give up on the thoughts of looking for greener pastures on the other side of the fence. The only reason for this post is to inform you to look elsewhere if you are considering ETRADE (just my opinion, based on over 36 years of experience in trading). The other turn off at ETRADE was that all 5 times I called I received the "overseas" speaking accent. I had to hang up on the first one because I couldn't understand her. The others seemed pretty articulate, but limited as to what they knew without additional help or research. This again is light-years away from Fidelity customer service which also offers a VIP service for eligible investors. My only stick with Fidelity in the last 1.5 years is that implemented an Automated answering service system that now IMPEDES getting to someone quickly that ALWAYS got you the answer, to now only getting the right place 50% of the time requiring multiple transfers. Another "benefit" of more automation!!!