"free" internet?

[LeatherneckPA]

I'm spending $100 a month for cable TV and internet service.

What is all this about "free internet" service?

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by retiredbop What is all this about "free internet" service?

My FIL insists that he's happy with his $4.95/month Wal-Mart Connect dial-up service. Of course he's only had a 56K modem for a couple years, so it might seem pretty peppy compared to 28.8K.

He feels that DSL is a waste of bandwidth for him, and he doesn't hesitate to let us know when he thinks that we're wasting our money on our DSL service. If "free" was really & truly "free" then he'd be rubbing our faces in it have it. So I suspect that there's a catch to whatever "free" you're reading about.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Most of the free services I saw limit you to a small # of hours a month (like 5 or 10) and/or paste you with spyware that produces 'targeted ads' and/or pop-ups while you surf.

Tried some almost-free cheap services (those under $7) with my MIL and BIL. After the third time the el cheapo company was acquired by Earthlink or some other mega provider, who then quietly offered to convert you automatically to their $20-something a month plan that takes a half an hour on the phone to cancel, I gave up and hooked them up with the $12 a month large local hometown ISP. The guy who operates it answers the phone when you call and after the 3rd call remembers who you are. Too small to get eaten by a mega-ISP. No problems besides a few setup issues and an "I forgot my password". Oh yeah, and you can get "my first name.my last name@isp.com" for an email instead of "myname932543_23423@isp.com".

I thought about walmarts $7 a month offer but the reviews said the service was slow, the customer support horrid, and a lot of "took me 3 hours of being transferred back and forth to cancel" stories turned me off.

Netzero's $10 a month service is the only one i've heard of that seems to have decent reviews and not an abundance of horror stories.

[dmpi]

If you live in Western Washington or New England there is www.nocharge.com
It really is a free 56K dial-up with no banners. Everyone logs in as "guest", so they don't even know who you are. It's been around for 6 or 7 years. They do charge for service/help if you need it.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Small heads up on Nocharge. They're operated by a company called 'mirage marketing' who primarily runs porn phone and web sites and they've been implicated in a wide variety of unpleasant little scams and scandals.

All they could likely do is keep tabs on what web sites you've visited and maybe substitute via proxy some ads or link redirections on unsecured pages.

Seems like an odd little business for them to be in with no profit to it...which means there must be some...?

Their use policy says they can share any information they collect with anyone they see fit, and that by using the service you're okay with that. While you log in as a guest they can use a cookie, caller ID or other identifying information to "know its you" when you connect.

Again, maybe too much paranoia...but good stuff to know.

[WM]

My parents had free service through juno for quite a while (www.juno.com), but switched to one of the pay plans when they got tired of all the pop-ups. That was a couple years ago.

[LOL!]

Go wireless and bum off the neighbors.

[RE2Boys]

I had the Juno (www.juno.com) $9.95 per month dial up service for many years and was very happy with it. But when the local telco (Verizon) offered DSL Lite for $14.95 per month, I switched and it has been great, even though after my initial one year commitment, they raised the rate to $17.95 per month.

Cable TV........about $42 per month for extended basic in this area, way more than I'm wiling to spend. I'll live with the 5 over-the-air channels thank you.

RE2Boys

[LOL!]

Re: cable TV

I am now watching the Florida vs OSU game in wonderful high definition digital widescreen broadcast that I receive absolutely FREE through the airwaves. I am more than 40 miles from the broadcasting antenna, but digital makes it even better than cable. There are about 9 HD broadcast channels in my area and they are all free!

[Jeb-NY]

Gmail and the local library would give you free internet. Many even have free WiFi now so you could use your own laptop.

Jeb

[BUM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! Go wireless and bum off the neighbors.

BINGO! My neighbor gleeps my connection and its easy since my router is line-of-site to my picture window. As long as he is not downloading monster files, and slowing me down, I don't care.

It all works out in the end, beacuse when I'm at our NC townhouse I have a choice of almost a dozen open networks to choose from. So what if I have to sit on the top floor, near a south-facing window, in a lifeguard chair! Free is free...most of the time

[LeatherneckPA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! Go wireless and bum off the neighbors.

LOL, I AM the wireless neighbor!

[LeatherneckPA]

Hmmmmm, being an absolutely confirmed Internet addict with a true "NEED for speed" it sounds like I better just stay where I am for now.