Almost every day, Marge Gockel or her husband, Galen, dip into the cyber pool. They don’t yet surf the Web or shop at Amazon.com, but they maintain a steady stream of e-mail among friends and associates. What do they pay for their connection to the digital world? Zero.
The Gockels, Oak Park residents who first logged on just seven months ago, access the Internet through Juno, an Internet service provider that offers free service in exchange for demographic information and exposure to advertising. Juno and its many competitors are at the forefront of an economy wave washing over the Internet. How can you catch this wave? Just know what you need and where to find the bargains.
It all starts by getting on-line, which may seem an insurmountable problem if you don’t own a computer or have access to one at work. However, these days, even the computerless can have Internet access.
“Libraries are a very good resource,” said Sid Bratkovich, president of Net Systems in Niles and past president of the Association of PC Users. In many Chicago-area library systems, patrons can get on-line for free.
The Chicago Public Library, for example, has connected computers at all of its branches that patrons can use for no charge. Expect lines, however, because the computers are popular. A 30-minute time limit is generally enforced when there’s a line.
Another option for beginners is an Internet cafe, where customers can rent computers for Web surfing, e-mail or other uses.
“About half the time we get new people who’ve never experienced the Internet before,” said Becky Corpuz, co-owner of the Daily Grind Cyber Cafe in Oak Park. “We help them set up e-mail through one of the free services.”
Daily Grind patrons pay a dime a minute to use one of five computers. Students get a 20 percent discount.
If you do own a computer, then Internet economizing begins with knowing your needs.
“An individual user is going to look for different stuff than somebody looking to host a professional Web site,” explained Mark Evans, CEO of automedia.com, a Web developer in Chicago. At a minimum, an individual user generally wants e-mail and the ability to surf the Web. Virtually every Internet service provider offers these basics.
Beyond that, ISPs differ in their offerings. If you want to be hand-held through e-mail and other features, sign up with one of the all-inclusive providers like America Online or Compuserve. These companies provide easy setup and all the basic services, plus a bunch of proprietary features that non-members can’t access.
“Using America Online is like riding a bike with training wheels,” Evans said. America Online costs $21.95 monthly for unlimited access. If you don’t think you’ll use it much, you can sign up for a plan that provides five hours per month for $9.95, or three hours for $4.95.
If you are ready to surf the Web without AOL’s help, you’ll probably want to sign on with a regular Internet service provider (ISP). Costs vary widely for these providers, from zero (more on that below) to the low $20s per month. Some will give you a deal if you pay for a year of service in advance, and many offer a free trial period to sample the service.
There are hundreds of ISPs in the Chicago area, and you don’t necessarily need to use a local provider to get access. You can find a list of providers and their Web sites at www.mcs.com/(tilde) wsmith/providers.html, www.isps.
com, and several other Web sites.
Of course, the ISPs are not all equally good.
“I would say you get what you pay for in most cases,” Evans said. “If you just want to check your e-mail once a week, then go for the plan that costs $6. But if you plan to be on-line a lot, then go for the $20 plan. There are places cheaper than that, but what are they cutting? You might wait for a modem, or they might skimp on tech support.”
If you dive into the Internet pool and love it, you may consider a faster connection than a normal dial-up modem. Internet access through television cables is one popular high-speed service. MediaOne Express charges $49.95 per month for cable Internet service, minus $10 if you already get cable TV from AT&T Cable Services. It costs about $100 to install.
Another high-speed option is digital subscriber line (DSL), which converts your regular phone line into a digital Internet connection. Prices for DSL vary widely, but homeowners should be able to find DSL service for about $50 a month. Costs are generally double or triple for business connections, and the service is not available everywhere.
If economy is your primary goal, then join the Gockels and go for the free stuff. There are now dozens of services providing free access. How can they do this? The same way broadcast television does: by selling advertising space.
“We get two ads that we can immediately erase by clicking the little box at the top left corner,” said Marge Gockel. “And they send us an e-mail letter about some special offer about once a week.”
In addition, in Juno’s case, each e-mail that users send out comes with a message at the bottom promoting its service to the recipient of the message.
Free services come in a variety of forms.
There are simple free e-mail services, which provide users with an e-mail address and the ability to send and receive messages. This free e-mail is generally accessed through the provider’s Web site, and offers two advantages over normal e-mail: They allow users to keep their addresses if they change ISPs, and they allow users to maintain an e-mail address separate from their regular work or home account.
Companies that provide free e-mail earn their money from advertisers attracted to all the folks who have to log on to their Web sites to check their e-mail.
Then there are free ISPs. These companies provide free Internet access, generally in exchange for demographic information. Juno and netzero.com are among the most popular free ISPs, but there are many more. For a thorough list of free ISPs, surf over to www.
internet4free.net, a Web site that lists free ISPs by area code. The Chicago area is well represented.
How do these services work? The user dials the service and logs on just like one accesses a pay service. Advertising then appears on the user’s screen, sometimes in a form that cannot be erased during the session. This advertising is separate from the ads that already appear on the Web sites.
Theoretically, the ads are tailored to the demographic info the user provided.
“If you can mentally tune that out, that may be the way to go,” says Liz Ryan, president of Chicago Women in Technology and co-founder of Chicago-based Ucentric Systems.
Other than the ads, the free services differ little from regular ISPs. Ted Suzelis, president of Internet 4 Free, says tech support and server reliability are comparable to that offered by pay sites. The goal of the free sites is to attract customers to the advertising, so it behooves them to make the service as attractive as possible.
Just as the information available on the Web is normally free, so Internet service apparently is becoming more that way. Ryan even foresees a future of ad-free, no-cost Internet service.
“I personally think it’s eventually going to be free without the ads,” she said. “Whether it will be (funded by) some kind of collaboration between the ISPs and other businesses, I don’t know. But I think there’s no doubt that free dial-up access is inevitable.”
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TUESDAY: Once you’re on the Web at no cost, there’s plenty of free stuff to download.
