The Survivor Of Free Nationwide Dial-up
Written: Jun 13 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's Still Free!
Cons: You Still Have To Deal With The AdBar!
The Bottom Line: Good nation-wide dialup service if you are willing to deal with the ads.
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| gym-378's Full Review: NetZero |
On a recent trip to Vegas, I took my laptop with the intention of using my long distance pre-paid phone card to connect to my server back home. When I set the laptop up, I was looking at the Dial-Up Networking properties when I realized that I still had NetZero installed on the machine.
Just for giggles, I started up NetZero to see if I could get a connection in Vegas and to see if NetZero was still even in existence. Sure enough...after searching the database for a Las Vegas number and setting up the properties, I was connected to the Net FOR FREE!!!
What Is NetZero??
For those of you that have just joined us here on the Interenet, NetZero is a free, nationwide Internet Service Provider who has dialup locations in more than 5,000 cities in the US. They make up for the fact that they don't charge users by selling advertising space on your desktop. Essentially, in order to take advantage of the free dialup, you have to have an adbar open that flashes advertisements at you every once in a while.
How Is The Connection??
Although I was impressed with the fact that I connected at all (since just about every other free ISP has gone out of business), I was unimpressed with the fact that I only connected at 31.2. With the streaming ads, my connection really only seemed like a 28.8 connection. Still...I couldn't complain too much, since it wasn't costing me a dime and it worked well for checking my email.
What If I Don't Want Banners??
You're in luck! For only $9.95 per month (which isn't bad compared to other ISPs), you can get unlimited, banner-free dialup service. Hopefully, these "Platinum" members has access to a different modem pool than the general public which would result in higher connection speeds. Since I'm not going to pay for NetZero, I can't tell you whether the connections are better.
Overall
For short stints on the Internet, NetZero is a good solution. If, however, you are wanting to surf, download files, etc... you might be better off looking for an inexpensive pay ISP. The banners get old after a while and the additional bandwith that is required to stream the banners slows down your actual connection.
Overall, I give NetZero a four. They are still operating and still offering free nationwide dialup. This starts them out at a 5. The mediocre connectivity and banner ads, however, drop them a notch to a 4.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
gym-378
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Kansas City, MO
Reviews written: 198
Trusted by: 257 members
About Me:
Motorcycles, Computers, Gadgets, Cars, Books, Just about everything you could write on.
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