newbie question about servers

[vois]

Finally after some years of waiting, I've decided to bite the WOW bullet.

So I have the original game, the new Burning Crusades expansion, and a 60-day card coming by mail soon.

One thing I wondered about is servers. I've never been much of an online gamer, so I have some questions. In the more thorough reviews of WOW from players, I read alot of comments about server lag. A LOT of server lag. These reviews were mainly from early to mid 2006. Do you know if such lag still exists, or have the problems been fixed now?

Also, am I limited to using Blizzard's servers? Or are there other sets of independent servers out there that I can choose to link up with when playing WOW.

[Gormash]

Yes, you WILL occationally encounter lag. It's seldom so bad it'll affect your ability to play, though. Just stay clear of the servers marked as FULL and you'll be OK.

Yes, there are independen servers, but these are illegal. If you DO play on one of these you risk permanent banning of your WOW account. Besides, from all I've heard about these servers they have major instability errors even when as few as 50 players are online.
Stay away!