All I know about Schwab is that I've been using them for years...in fact before the internet. When you consider the quality of the trades that I never get when I use Scottrade or what I've heard about the other cheapy internet brokers, Schwab is well worth the commission of $9 on the net or $14 on the phone. I'd pay even more for the quality of their trade completions. For example, when I want to short a stock, the other "discounters" can't be counted on to have stock available. But with Schwab, there's never a problem.