I've been using Scottrade for a while now and so far had no problems. And a like Money Direct that allow you to make transfers from your checking account to your Scottrade account very easy. The minimun to open an account is $500 no bad. If you decide to open an account they have a 3 free trades offer. On the Get Started page fill your info and when asked how you heard about Scottrade, select "Referred by a friend, relative, etc." Enter the following Referall code: NBNX0491 to get 3 free online trades.
NOTE: the reviewer indicated that they are a client of Scottrade