stock.trader

Hello, I am just starting out as a trader, having spent several years watching from the sidelines. Currently, my broker is charging a per-trade commission; I'd like to switch to a reliable broker that charges on a per-share commission. I have searched for a per-share broker and have narrowed it down to two possibilities: Interactive Brokers TradeStation I have heard a lot about IB insofar as its poor charts, lack of time and sales updates, etc. So, I will be using 3rd party chart software and datafeed. I have also heard that customer service is sometimes lacking. From what I have found about TradeStation, they have decent charts and are great for those who want to test a strategy or automate their trading. I only trade stocks, and only trade manually, so the automated features of TradeStation aren't too important for my trading. What I need from a broker is maximum extended hours flexibility (ie pre and after market), reliability, and most importantly a per-share commission structure. Has anyone at Trader's Laboratory had any experiences with either IB or TradeStation that they would be willing to share and thus help me decide between the two. Any thoughts on this would really be appreciated. --Ian