iFreedom
Shuts Down, Refers Users to NetZero
September 17, 2000
Addlebrain.com
MESA, Arizona - In what has become an all-too-common
occurrence for free ISP users, another free Internet service has
announced that it is going out of business. After providing free
Internet access service for just under one year, iFreedom has announced
that it is shutting down its service to pursue "other initiatives".
iFreedom paid for its service by displaying an advertisement
on its subscribers' screens every twenty seconds while users were
connected to the Internet. In order to continue their connection,
users were required to click on the advertisement, and visit an
advertiser's website.
NetZero, one of the largest free ISP's, announced
that iFreedom would be referring its subscribers to NetZero for
Internet service. "NetZero is a leader in the free ISP space,
with a proven commitment to adding value and depth to the free Internet
access experience," said Spencer Piller, vice president of
iFreedom. "iFreedom users who choose to move to NetZero will
be in good hands, and we encourage all of our customers to do so
with confidence." Though details of the referral agreement
were unavailable, other similar agreements between Juno, another
leading free ISP, and other free ISP's terminating their service,
called for Juno to pay up to $40 per subscriber that signed on to
Juno's service.
Users of iFreedom's service received an e-mail message
Friday announcing the news. "As you may have heard, iFreedom
will no longer be able to continue offering free Internet access
beginning October 12, 2000. We continue to passionately believe
that the Internet should and must be free. That is why we have created
the following plan to help you transition to the leading free dial-up
service - NetZero." The e-mail went on to provide instructions
of how to create a new NetZero account, or forward iFreedom mail
to an existing account with NetZero.
iFreedom, located in Mesa, Arizona, reported that
it had 365,000 registered users at the time the service was discontinued.
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