Mac Daniel's Advice

Free Internet for Mac Users

Evan Kleiman - 2001.02.23

Q: I've been using many different free Internet service providers, but it seems that more and more free Mac ISPs are either closing their services or dropping support for Macintosh users. I still want free Internet access for my Mac, but I can't find it anywhere. Are there any more free Internet access services left for Macintosh users? If so, where?

A: Yes, it does seem that every day another free ISP closes its doors to Mac users. First there was Net Zero, then Freei.net, and many, many others are closing by the day.

Are there still some left? The answer is yes. (At the time of this writing, of course.) However, with free Internet lately, your choices are fairly limited and not one-hundred-percent reliable.

The first free Internet access provider is an older one, called BlueLight, which is brought to you by Kmart. One of its upsides is the fact that you're presented with many different access numbers to choose from, so you're likely to find an local access number. However, this service does have some down sides. For instance, Mac users are only allowed to use the service 25 hours a month, which for some people isn't too big of a problem.

If you're one of those people who only go on occasionally, which is the larger percentage of the people who want free Internet access anyway, this is just fine. But if you want to use the Internet more than twenty-five hours a month, or actually want 100 percent reliable service, then it's probably best to go with a low-cost pay service.

Is BlueLight the only Mac-able (yeah, I know it's not a word, but just play along) ISP out there?

The answer is no, provided you live in a selected area or don't mind paying largely huge long distance bills. One of the best free ISPs out there is called No-Charge. It's not as well known as other Mac ISPs out there - or that used to be out there - because it has access numbers pretty much for only for major cities in the North-Eastern Coast of the US. But for people in these areas, it's still good, since it's fairly fast and doesn't have ads.

In the end, it seems like free Mac ISPs are becoming more of an endangered species every day, and it looks like we'll just have to see if more close down or more start up. But it looks like even the remaining few we have won't be around too much longer.

Evan Kleiman has been writing for Low End Mac since January 1999. He also runs his own site, Evansite. Evan uses an iMac, along with some vintage hardware. You can read more about his computing experience in The Many Macs of Evan Kleiman.

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