Online brokers better prices, more services.(CR Money)(Product/service evaluation)

Online brokerage firms have had a hard time living down the tech-stock bubble of the late 1990s and the overblown expectations they seemed to encourage. A memorable TV ad of that era featured a fictitious tow-truck driver whose stock gambles bought him his own private island.

But even if you are not a driven stock trader, now might be a good time to consider opening an online brokerage account. Competition among the surviving firms has led many of them to reduce their fees and commissions considerably and add a range of other low-cost financial services.

Eight of the 19 online brokers the Consumer Reports Money Lab recently surveyed offered stock trades for under $10, and another six dropped the commission below $10 if you met their trading-activity or account-size requirements. Several charged a flat $5. More than half of those 19 brokers offered at least 1,000 mutual funds that you could buy or sell without a transaction fee.

Aside from trading, a major appeal of online brokerage accounts is that they give you a way to track your investments, including stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, at a single Web address. You can then make adjustments to your portfolio whenever you want, with just a few clicks and at a minimal trading cost.

The major online brokers are also introducing other services meant to appeal largely to the average investor. The growing menu includes free stock research, no-fee tax-advantaged retirement and education accounts, free checking, ATM access, automatic bill paying, and credit cards with low interest rates.

If you are the kind of investor who makes two or three stock trades a month at most and adds steadily to your core mutual fund holdings, the table below can help you find a worthy online broker. If you need a lot of hand-holding, however, you might be much happier sticking with a traditional full-service broker.

Our table lists the five firms that scored highest in our Ratings, based on the best combination of trading prices, investment offerings, research, and other services. The complete Ratings for all 19 online brokers we evaluated can be found in the May issue of the Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter, or online at www.ConsumerReports.org.