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.