Wonderful for short term web surfing.
Written: Nov 03 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Infrequent advertisements (every 20 minutes) relatively fast dial-up connections, POP3 e-mail, Usenet newsgroups, 20MB of online file storage, and 12MB of web space. Oh, and it's free!
Cons: Windows 95/98/NT only until some time in 2000
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| elegiac's Full Review: iFreedom |
iFreedom is, you guessed it, a free ISP. However, unlike most of the other free service providers (NetZero, FreeAV, FreeInet, dotNow!) iFreedom doesn't display a large banner advertisement that sits on top of your web browser.
iFreedom will start up your web browser for you when you're connected. Sponsor windows are shown every twenty minutes-- you'll need to visit the sponsors to continue surfing-- there's a short, but reasonable, grace period before iFreedom will punt you offline, approximately two minutes.
The installation download isn't excruciatingly huge-- 3.45MB, all told. Not as bloated as FreeWWWeb, but not as tiny as FreeAV. Setup is simple-- run the installation package, fill in a simple questionnaire, and wait an hour before logging in to the network. The first time I tried to run iFreedom the banner server was down, so I got kicked offline immediately. But the next time, sheer joy! I actually connected at the 33.6kbps my modem is capable of reaching! A first amongst the number of free internet service providers I've tried.
In addition to web access, iFreedom provides one POP3 e-mail account and Usenet access. They provide 12MB of space through Homestead, and 20MB of storage for files. E-Mail can be checked with your usual e-mail client, or through your web browser. Newsgroup access is a cinch with your favorite newsreader, too. An additional POP3 e-mail account will cost you $9.95 a year.
There's a small (about 40 x 40 pixels) icon that sits on the top right corner of your web browser. You can drag it around if you don't like the default placement, much like repositioning the advertising windows of NetZero or FreeAV. However, the "home", "help", and "exit" buttons actually seem to work, unlike the capricious ZeroPort or MicroPortal buttons. This is probably due to the iFreedom application not being coded in Java, like its predecessors the ZeroPort or the MicroPortal.
The help button brings up a number of features: you can tell a friend about the iFreedom service, check your e-mail, and access Usenet newsgroups. In addition, iFreedom provides links to shopping, weather, news, sports, stocks, and a search engine. Also links to chat services provided by the Palace, Yahoo!, and Talk City. Oh, and a link to Homestead's free home page service.
iFreedom assigns unchangeable user IDs, which is a bit annoying. But you can live with it quite easily, given the wealth of services that iFreedom provides in return. It's also only for Windows 95/98/NT at the moment-- Macintosh users will have to wait until mid-2000, according to the iFreedom web site. Technical help unfortunately seems to be online only, for the moment-- it's a page with links to an e-mail form and the FAQs. Not that you'll be likely to need technical help.
If you're just using the web for a short period of time, you can't beat iFreedom's service. Advertisement free web surfing for twenty minutes, after which time you'll need to visit another sponsor. Easy enough! But should you be logged in almost continuously (and be cursed with only a dial-up, like me) then try out FreeWWWeb.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
elegiac
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Member: Gregory Chin
Reviews written: 70
Trusted by: 407 members
About Me:
My family operates a computer services business. Bit of hardware, bit of webstuff. Kooky, no?
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