There are a bunch of great pool ops out there that are responsive and supportive.  Eleuthria, Kano, DrHaribo, ck, etc.  Slush runs his support from a dedicated site and IRC channel.  BAN uses IRC and email.

It all really depends on what you want.  I'm not a fan of the ant pool... others are.  Everybody's got an opinion on what's the best and chances are good they're all different .