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Free Internet Service Providers (Free ISPs) |
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Free internet service was hot early in 2000, but has fallen on hard times as "internet advertising dollars" have declined. Most free ISPs require you to download software which will display banner ads on a portion of your screen. Some people don't like these advertisements, but others don't mind saving the $20/month "regular" ISPs charge. In addition, free ISPs generally are less reliable than regular ISPs and often connect at only 33K (compared to 56K for regular ISPs). (Free ISPs do have 56K capabilities but may not have the capacity to allow everyone to connect at the higher speed). Some internet surfers use these services as a backup in case their main ISP is down.
Another drawback is that many of these services "take over" your pc in order to set themselves up (for the advertisements or browser).
| Free ISP | Rating | Reviews |
| NetZero | 8.8 | NetZero is the leader of the industry. Many other free ISPs have gone out of business, but NetZero's service has improved and is now a viable alternative to paid ISPs! Limited to 40 hours per month. |
| Address.com | 7.0 | Its banner ads window is less intrusive than others and is flexible because it will resize the screen so it doesn't sit on top of other windows. Another benefit is the nice e-mail address associated with your account: yourname@address.com. |