# Are you still using a free ISP? Which ones are still working? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527 "2001-04-10T23:43:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![And\_Salt\_to\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@And\_Salt\_to\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/And_Salt_to_You)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/1 "2001-04-10T23:43:56Z")
According to this site, only a few free ISP’s are left. [http://www.addlebrain.com/freeinternetaccess/services/index.html](http://www.addlebrain.com/freeinternetaccess/services/index.html) They just list **NetZero, Juno, BlueLight,** and **DotNow!** Can that be right? Anyone know of others? BlueLight and DotNow! are both asking for a credit card before you can sign on for “free” service. Somehow I don’t trust that at all. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/2 "2001-04-11T00:15:12Z")
ntlworld works free in the U.K., (although that may not interest you very much, admittedly!) ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/3 "2001-04-11T00:42:29Z")
Yep, that’s right. One of the companies that was providing the access numbers for a good chunk of the former free ISPs went under, so alot of them disappeared. NetZero and Juno both have decided that you’re free online time is limited. I think NetZero’s is 40 hours a month. Juno has started selling your computer power -the way we voluntarily let SETI use it. (There was a fairly recent thread about this but I’m too tired to look it up). They also kick you offline during peak hours in favor of their paying customers once you hit a certain number of usuage hours, or that’s what the notice I recall getting when I was still using it as a back up said. ---
**Author:** ![Azazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Azazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azazel)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/4 "2001-04-11T00:52:10Z")
Here’s one in NYC that still works. [MetConnect](http://www.metconnect.com) is free, untimed, and does not throw ads at you. Unfortunately, you cannot reach them by dialing long-distance. ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/5 "2001-04-11T02:29:16Z")
As Arden Ranger already mentioned, NetZero, which is what I’ve used for a few years, is now limited to forty hours a month. I went to the AT&T plan for five dollars a month. I still have NetZero, which is what I’ve used when AT&T’s phone lines are listed as busy. [HEY, it’s your lines, knock a few people off, who are just gossiping!!] Though, NetZero is still running commericals down here in Georgia saying they are still ‘FREE’, it’s now with an asterik. Pretty soon, it’ll be small print, like car ads. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/6 "2001-04-11T18:13:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anti Pro \* > \*\*As Arden Ranger already mentioned, NetZero, which is what I’ve used for a few years, is now limited to forty hours a month. I went to the AT&T plan for five dollars a month. I still have NetZero, which is what I’ve used when AT&T’s phone lines are listed as busy. [HEY, it’s your lines, knock a few people off, who are just gossiping!!] > > \*\* I also switched to the ATT $5 service. It still has an adbar but it’s enough of a savings that I don’t mind. I had to delete NetZero because they wouldn’t work together right, but I haven’t had any kickoffs or busy signals on ATT yet. ---
**Author:** ![tourbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tourbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tourbot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/7 "2001-04-12T00:36:10Z")
I have never payed for an ISP. Ever. I live in Suffolk County, NY, and the county library system runs a free ISP service. It disconnects you after 90 minutes, but you can reconnect immediately. I rarely have a problem connecting. I had been using Juno as a backup ISP, but I am unable to connect to their service at all. I get a message that my username could not be authenticated, even after creating a completely new account. I recently installed BlueLight, which did not ask me for a credit card, but did add an annoying Yahoo taskbar to IE, which I cannot figure out how to get rid of. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/8 "2001-04-12T01:01:31Z")
I completely forgot about [College Club](http://collegeclub.com/) when I posted before. It’s free and yes, it’s meant for college students, but it’s not like they check or anything. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/9 "2001-04-13T03:33:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tourbot \* > I recently installed BlueLight, which did not ask me for a credit card, but did add an annoying Yahoo taskbar to IE, which I cannot figure out how to get rid of. I also use BlueLight as a backup ISP. That taskbar annoyed me too, and I was able to remove it, but all I remember is that I uninstalled it via control panel/add-remove programs. The [Computer Gripes site](http://www.computergripes.com/BlueLight.html) had this to say: > [@](#): > > …the Yahoo companion is there all the time, even when you are not at the Yahoo web site. Its also there if you dial into another ISP. Fortunately, its easy to un-install (click on the Edit button) and it stayed un-installed, both with my regular paid ISP and with BlueLight. ---
**Author:** ![Glenoled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Glenoled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glenoled)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/10 "2001-04-16T00:19:14Z")
as we speak, I’m using Funcow… AFAIK, it’s a Canadian ISP, but it’s the best I’ve found, that hasn’t gone belly-up. Glenoled ---
**Author:** ![User\_10K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@User\_10K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/User_10K)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2001, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-still-using-a-free-isp-which-ones-are-still-working/61527/11 "2001-04-16T15:26:25Z")
I went to that site and couldn’t find it. Are you sure they still do that? Would you maybe have saved a favorites link to that site?