In my part 1 article How about a Free Internet Service?, reader Walter Scott wrote that he was trying out the NetZero Free Internet Service for his new notebook computer.
Walter was looking for a method to make his Internet connections when visiting family or staying in a hotel that did not a good wired or wireless network.
Walter wrote that he downloaded Netzero’s “Get Free NetZero Internet Access for 10 hours per month” package to try it out.
Of course, the purpose of any free offer like this is to get you to try, and hopefully buy, their “paid” service. NetZero would much rather you decide to upgrade to their NetZero Platinum service for as low as $6.95/month
So, the free service starts with a mandatory 7-day trial of their unlimited Platinum service.
Walter reported that the Platinum Service worked well and that he’d have to wait until the Platinum trial expired in order to report on the free service.
Walter and I both had web sites hosted at Powweb and use Powweb’s SMTP email servers for our outgoing email service. (I’ve since moved mine to HostGator). Therefore, we were very interested in making sure that the NetZero free service would let us access our Powweb inbound and outbound mailservers as usual.
This week, Walter wrote his next installment to report:
(Got my laptop back, problem fixed!) anyway, the 7 day free trial is
over. The only difference is that the ads are in a small window along
the top of your desktop, not big deal. Everything else works the same, Outlook Express sent and received POP3 email from Powweb, and Opera fired up just fine. My only gripe is the lack of any way to track your online hours, but based on the way I plan to use the service that is not going to be a big deal!Walter M. Scott, III
Senior Control Systems Engineer, retired
Digital Video Conversions & Services
http://smengineers.net
I had earlier asked Walter Is there a “use it every so often or we cancel it” requirement? He did not find such a requirement — it might be there, or might not, so watch for it if you don’t plan to routinely use NetZero’s free service.
It sounds like the NetZero Free Internet offer is a good solution for occasional use. The 10 hours per month will probably be enough for travelers to use when they’re not at home.
If that’s not enough time for the occasional traveler, there’s another option. You could use it as your main choice for travel, as a supplement to NetZero’s free 10 hours/month service, and as a backup for your regular dialup or cable ISP.
Read more my article Have a Broadband Connection? Need a backup?
Try NetZero’s Platinum service or NetZero’s Free service.
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