FreeInternet.com has a simple sign-up procedure,
and doesn't require too much personal information to sign up.
The service has been stable, and relatively easy to connect to,
but we've been experiencing trouble with busy signals during peak
Internet usage periods (generally after 5PM weekdays). Many of
the other free Internet services will allow you to specify many
phone numbers to be dialed to connect, in case one number is busy.
FreeInternet.com only allows one dialup number to be specified,
and this may contribute to our difficulty accessing the service.
One thing that we found annoying was the animated
buttons on the ad window. These tiny buttons flash advertisements
at you, and are meant to catch your attention. Generally, the
ads that are in the ad window of all of the free ISP's are animated,
but most aren't terribly distracting. What makes FreeInternet.com's
ad window worse than most is the 7 or so buttons all flashing
different colors at the same time. I found them distracting, and
an annoyance.
One other item to note: FreeInternet.com's e-mail
service adds the state you live in as part of your address, for
instance, yourname@ny.freeinternet.com.
I'm undecided about whether this is a good idea. One one hand,
you're more likely to get something close to your name as your
e-mail address (there can be 50 people whose e-mail address starts
with "bob", for instance). On the other hand, your e-mail
address is longer, and more difficult to speak. Of course, if
you use a free web-based service, this doesn't matter.
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