newbie question about photo printing

[The111]

I'm hardly _seriously_ involved in digital photography, but I have a fairly hi-res JPG that I'd like to print on some 11 x 17 glossy photo paper (photo size = 11 x 14).

Problem? I don't have a printer that big. Are there places commercially I can get that done? I live in a fairly large city (Orlando). I called up CVS, Walgreens, Office Max, and many other places with printing services and their limit was 8.5 x 11. I actually found a Kinko's who said they could do it, and I got it done and paid a few bucks for it, but it honestly looks like crap. There's scan lines across the whole print and if you view it from an angle all the different artifacts in the photo reflect light in really weird ways.

I know it's possible to do this because a friend (who I'm no longer in touch with) once made me an 11 x 14 print from his home, where I assume he did not have super-complex equipment, and it looks simply awesome, like a real photo.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[jaypie77]

Do not bother printing at any of those places, you're much better off getting your prints online. I have used Shutterfly and MPix myself, Mpix is very popular, Shutterfly seems to do a better job in putting your pictures onto other products and making albums for you. There are many other services available from other sites, but I can't think of all of them right now - try a search of the forums and you'll get a lot of names of places, but, honestly, you'll be pleased with the results you get from most of them.

[mphoto]

I have used Shutterfly in the past and was satisfied with the results. However, at the time that I used them (Summer, 2003) they would only print 11x14 on matte paper. So be sure to check out the paper options before using them. Ofoto is another popular online photofinishing site.

Good luck