Hey, whats with Net Zero?

[pkbites]

I used Net zero for a while…hated it! It was slow as hell. But it was free, unlimited use.

But last night my son pointed out a Net Zero commercial. On the fine print it said “Free, 40 hours per month”. When & why did they do that? We haven’t used it for a while. So, why did they do that, and what happens if you’re on more than 40 hours a month? Do you have to pay? Get booted off? What’s up?

[Patty_O_Furniture]

Well, here’s the eviction notice I got from them a week ago (I am not making this up):

Dear Sucker:

There are some changes in your NetZero service that will most likely affect you. Our records indicate that in November, over 50% of our Internet connection costs were incurred by a small percentage of our members.

To ensure that all of our users receive the highest quality Internet access, we have adopted the following policy. Beginning in January, NetZero users will have completely free Internet access limited to 40 hours per calendar month.

NetZero users who would like additional unlimited Internet access beyond 40 hours per calendar month may do so through the NetZero Professional Service for a fee of $9.95 U.S. ($14.95 CAN). Beginning the first day of the next calendar month, that user will again have completely free Internet access for 40 hours.

OUR RECORDS OF YOUR NETZERO USAGE INDICATE THAT THIS NEW POLICY WILL MOST LIKELY AFFECT YOU:

Your NetZero Usage Record for November:

Your NetZero Member ID                  *********
Date of Membership                      26-FEB-99
Your Usage in November 2000             125 hours

Please note that the fee of $9.95 U.S. ($14.95 CAN) will be assessed by household (based on one computer and one phone line), so multiple Member IDs may still count toward your household hours. To read more details, please refer to our Terms of Service or FAQs.

Click http://www.netzero.net/legal.html to read Terms of Service

Click http://www.netzero.net/support/info/nzpro.html to read FAQs

We are pleased that you have chosen NetZero, and we value your support.

Sincerely,

Slimington R. Scumsucker
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
NetZero, Inc.
Please do not reply to this email to unsubscribe.

[sub][Names have been changed (and italicized) to protect the innocent and/or guilty][/sub]

The part I have bolded seems to indicate that you have to go somewhere & sign up for a higher level of service to be able to go past 40 hours. No matter… my DSL should be active by the end of January.

[Carina42]

On the TV ad they run, they state they’ll charge you 99cents an hour for every hour over 40 per month. My WAG is that if you go over, they’ll ask you for credit card or checking account authorization before letting you continue logging on, assuming you haven’t given them that info when signing on to their service.

[vtel57]

Yep! I got the dreaded NetZero usage limitation message also! I also received the same or similar message from BlueLight and Juno! While my other ISP’s (Altavista, Address, NBCi, and FreeLane) just completely went Poof! Thanks to the demise of 1st Up and Spinway, the two companies providing the services for these ISP’s. Aw hell, back to AOL…

[Louie]

So much for free internet for life.

I wonder if they stopped showing those ads?

[Louie]

sigh It helps to read the FAQs. Click here to get the answers to all your questions about the new NetZero billing.

So to answer the questions you all have:

The reason they put the 40-hour limit is the same reason as the other free ISP’s are saying : Running a free internet service is expensive! They realized that just having an advertisement-based internet service isn’t going to help with the costs. So, like Juno, they will put a limit on the heavier users of their services.

After you use 40 hours, a pop-up window will appear, giving you an option to pay the fee for unlimited use, or wait for the next month and get the next 40 hours for free for the next month. The fees come at a month-to-month basis. They will not charge you without your permission (let’s hope so :mad: ) If you do not choose to pay the fee, you are not allowed access online until the next month. The hours are counted on each computer and phone line, so using multiple screen names to spread out the hour count won’t work.

[handy]

There are a ton of other free ISP’s you can use…

[kenny_canoe]

WHERE MIGHT THOSE BE HANDY? I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING

[hapaXL]

i saw a commercial for AT&T internet which said something like 150 hours a month for $4.95. that would be perfect for me (not the biggest internet person really) but now i can’t find info on the web. i’m thinking it would work for a lot of us free-ISP refugees who refuse to use AOL and are tired of the ISP shuffle. does that help?

of course, after six months, the 150 hours will inevitably be cut to 30. so much for the internet being accessible by all.

[sdimbert]

kenny canoe:

Try [url=“All EZ Free Internet Service Providers! Get Free ISP - Why Pay!”]here[/url for starters.

And learn to use a search engine.

And stop SHOUTING.

And, most importantly, welcome to the SDMB!

[kenny_canoe]

Sdimbert, went there, clicked on a bunch, most either linked to blue light, spinway, or had numbers that were not local. Free and free and accessible I guess are 2 different things. I am the cheapest bastard I know and I still pay $20 a month, and it does not bug me enough to look for a good free isp.

BTW, I knew I was in caps, but I had already typed it, and I was too lazy to do it over.

Yeah Yeah, thanks for the welcome. Been reading a while, finaly decided to show everyone how many spelling mistakes I can make.

Now…wtf is a search engine again? Can you get an 8 cylinder?

[Louie]

*Originally posted by handy *
**There are a ton of other free ISP’s you can use… **

No there’s not. It’s now down to 4 major free ISP’s: Juno, NetZero, Bluelight, and Fanz.net

You can check if there’s a local free ISP right here.

[handy]

Ourhouse.net is another one.

[Glenoled]

Dear OurHouse.net Member:

As you know OurHouse.com, Ace Hardware, iWon and Spinway have worked together to bring you free Internet Service since May of this year. Unfortunately, we have recently learned that Spinway Corporation, which operates the service and pays for telephone connectivity, will be discontinuing its operations. It is likely that the free Internet service will no longer be available after Sunday, December 3rd, 2000.

end quote

then, they go on to refer you to NetZero…
basically, all free isp’s are going belly-up. Back to the pay isp’s…

Glenoled

[Tzel]

hapaXL and vtel57: It’s not a dichotomy between free ISPs and AOL. Get a real ISP.

[vtel57]

Actually, in my case, it IS a dichotomy. My AOL IS free! I’m on my Brother’s AOL account as a secondary screen name. AOL may suck, but I can’t complain! Shhh…don’t tell anyone!

PS… American Express offers a free ISP if you have an AMEX card. No strings attached… You have card, you get free access! Try it at…

http://home5.americanexpress.com/merchant/generate/generate_default.asp?generate_body=generate_free_internet_access_body

[SterlingNorth]

Well hey there, Attrayant how are 'ya. Well isn’t it a shame about all them internet companies going belly up. Internet advertising isn’t what it used to be (if you define “what used to be” not at a particular point in time, but a far out dream where the net would be just like TV!).

Have you heard of Urban Joe GALAXY.

Nope?

Me neither.

Supposedly they provide free internet acess in the Washington DC area. You want to give them a try before they go out of business, too.

Heck, I’ll even give them a test run, too. I need to break in my new cheap-ass laptop. Another link off of Louie’s post ( http://www.internet4free.net ) is http://www.dotnow.com .

But I won’t count on their survival.

[Louie]

*Originally posted by hapaXL *
**i saw a commercial for AT&T internet which said something like 150 hours a month for $4.95. that would be perfect for me (not the biggest internet person really) but now i can’t find info on the web. i’m thinking it would work for a lot of us free-ISP refugees who refuse to use AOL and are tired of the ISP shuffle. does that help?

of course, after six months, the 150 hours will inevitably be cut to 30. so much for the internet being accessible by all. **

I just checked out AT&T’s Worldnet pricing and the $4.95/month you’re talking about is not a good deal. Although you pay, you still have to put up with a banner ad stuck on your screen and get charged $1/hour after the 150 minutes. If you don’t want the banner ad, it’s $14.95/month. :mad:

[handy]

150 minutes?

No no, Hours, not minutes.

150 Hours per month is A LOT!

[Saint_Zero]

Learn something new every day, thanks guys!

I knew bluelight was going balls-up, I hadn’t heard about netzero (doesn’t surprise me, tho), and I knew about Juno, so now I’m trying out dotnow. Hopefully it’ll last until my DSL gets up.