Free Internet Access: The Bottom Line

The number of responses to our Readers Recommend QuickTopic on Free Internet Access was smaller than average, suggesting that perhaps only a small percentage of MacFixIt readers are using free ISPs. Many respondents said that they used a free ISP as a backup to a paid account, especially DSL and cable modem users who need a dial-up connection on the road. Freewwweb was the favorite among the majority of users. One reader wrote "It is very Mac-friendly; most free Internet access providers don't even make provision for Macs at this time. AND the only ads one gets are on Freewwweb's home page." Freewwweb was also praised for being the only free Mac friendly ISP available in Canada, and the only ISP that works with 68K Macs. Freewwweb has several time restrictions, including a maximum of 80 hours per month, or 5 hours in any one session. While most readers reported having no problems whatsoever with the Freewwweb, several noted issues with busy signals, trouble logging on at the beginning of each month, flaky email, and log-on authentication errors. One user suggested a cure for authentication errors was to replace the username with the complete e-mail address, for example: username@freewwweb.com. Freei.net collected a mixed bag of comments. Some users reported they were quite happy with the service, while others complained about buggy client software that frequently crashed. Several users noted that it was possible to connect without using Freei.net's software. Another user also reported a work-around to Freei.net's software problems: "…turn on their Freei Friend list which is like AOL's buddy list. They say the client looks for this and crashes when it doesn't find it." Finally, one user praised Freei.net for not requiring a lode of personal information to register for an account, just provide a state, area code, and zip code. A few users recommended Worldshare.net, however, according to one user, Worldshare now charges a small annual fee in addition to their requirement of filling out monthly surveys. Sam Rohn noted that www.emailaddresses.com "has an (almost) complete, international listing of free email, Internet access, web hosting, etc." He also recommended metconnect.com for users in New York City, and either tiscalinet.it or libero.it in Italy. One user wrote of success with AltaVista's new service, although noted they do not offer POP email yet. And another user pointed out that, according to their terms of service, "1stUp.com may place a message promoting the Service in outgoing email messages transmitted from your account."