Free ISPs not "powered" by FirstUp -- which recently ceased operation, leading many providers including AltaVista and MyPoints Connect to discontinue their internet access services -- have gained many new users since FirstUp and the companies which had contracted with them informed customers that their service would be ending. As the number of free national (US) providers dropped by more than half, I turned to a company I'd previously given up on: NetZero.

NetZero had been the first free ISP I had heard of and used, and it served as my main ISP for over 14 months. Unfortunately, earlier this year I began having serious problems, namely being completely unable to sign on, and after weeks of trying unsuccessfully to get my NetZero access up again, both on my own and with the assistance [sic] of NetZero tech support, I gave up on them. (See my original review of NetZero below.) By that time there were other free ISPs available, and the hassle just wasn't worth it.

Having had some advance warning that my FirstUp-affiliated access was coming to an end, I spent much of the first week of December evaluating possible replacements. I knew some people continued to use NetZero, those who had beren lucky enough to avoid the problems I'd run into, and as far as I knew NetZero was still the oldest still-operating free internet access provider, so I figured it was worth checking up on them again.

I first tried to download the latest version of NetZero's ZeroPort dialup software from their site using my original login name and password. No luck; I came up as "invalid" (though, interestingly, I was informed that username was taken when I tried to use it to sign up as a new customer). Instead I chose a brand-new handle, waded through the new user registration process, and was then able to retrieve my own copy of the NetZero dialer.

One of the problems I had had with NetZero this spring was that their server no longer automatically updated connection information as the company updated its software; I started with version 1 and had been automatically upgraded to version 2 when that came out, but sometime after version 2.01 NetZero switched to manual-only upgrades that had befuddled users like me tearing our hair trying to find, download & install the correct files, especially since we received no notice of these upgrades. With version 3 (Z 3.04 as of this writing), NetZero has thankfully returned to the much more sensible automatic upgrade system, and over the weekend I got to see this feature in action as the new-and-improved ZeroPort bar instructions were downloaded as soon as I connected to the server.

The ZeroPort was a floating bar last week, similar to most free ISPs' advertising/navigation bars, with a prominent ad banner surrounded by buttons leading to various NetZero features and sponsors. Now it has expanded laterally to stretch the width of my monitor screen, and can only be "docked" at the top or bottom of the screen. This is only a minor annoyance, however; most of the time, like most free ISP users, I don't pay any attention to the bar anyway.

Unchanged is the system of polite warnings NetZero's server will issue to users who stay on "too long." Two different windows pop up, with different wording but essentially the same message: first there's an amusing advisory that users can "get more information" by clicking on ads, and then goes on to explain where in the ZeroPort bar these ads can be found (misspelling "ads" in the process) -- as if anyone who uses the internet these days could have gone unexposed to ad banners and not know what they were! The other version is a "Warning!" that connection will be terminated in 30 seconds; the seconds count down in red, but all you need to do is click on the button which, as with the "ads" notice, mainly serves to let the system know you haven't fallen asleep at the keyboard or gone out to dinner.

The longer you stay connected, the more frequently you'll see these messages, and eventually your connection will be dropped. Actually what happens is that another WARNING pops up saying Zcast "cannot continue" and giving all of 5 seconds warning before program termination, often killing the connection but leaving the program itself frozen, requiring the Windows Close Program utility to clear the ZeroPort bar from your screen.

NetZero also bills itself as a "portal" meaning that they expect users to use them as a start page and look things up through their site rather than a dedicated search engine, and also promotes its own free voicemail and other telephony services. I tend to ignore most of this non-dialup-related stuff, myself, though it might be of interest to users who really want such features, particularly those who see some benefit in bundling as many services as possible through a free ISP even knowing that such services are notoriously unreliable in the long term.

The Good News
The good news is that NetZero has provided a way to extend your online session (for when you're, say, updating a website or writing a long article & need more than 30 minutes at a go) and keep their sponsors happy at the same time. When you click on the tiny x on the ZeroPort, to close it, a logoff dialog box pops up giving three options: cancel logging off, log off, or visit a sponsor. Clicking the visit sponsor option opens a new window to display the sponsor's message, at an actual site rather than as a disembodied ad graphic. As far as I've been able to tell, this procedure a) does not sever your connection unless you click the x and choose to log off, and more importantly b) seems to reset the length of time you've been connected. (In case you're wondering, I'm judging this by the length of time it takes for the first "Did you know you can click on ads" announcement to appear, which appears to be the same counting either from initial connection or from a logoff sponsor visit.)

If you do get summarily disconnected, the server you dialed in to may refuse to recognise you the next time you log on. Fortunately there's a simple solution for this, too. Make note of which number the software is dialing, press the Change button next to your dialing location, and remove that number from your list of access numbers. If possible it's probably best to remove all numbers from that city or prefix; unlike most free ISPs NetZero has plenty of access numbers to choose from, at least in my area. And don't worry, you can always add the deleted numbers back in later.

NetZero went from a strong start through a disheartening decline, but seems to have recovered admirably. Nothing is certain in the world of dotcom business, and they may yet revive the anti-consumer policies that drove me away in the first place. For now, though, NetZero has regained its place among the stars of free internet access.

__________________________________
My original review appears below.

NetZero disappoints after a strong start
(Rated 1 of 5 stars on Mon Jun 26 '00)

Pros: Easy to get started, or used to be
Cons: Just doesn't work any more, and the customer service blows


When my former ISP was sold to a big telecom conglomerate -- it had previously been wholly owned by a company with a sterling record of customer and community service -- I was worried. Sure enough, it wasn't long before my service quality went down and the price I'd been paying went up.

A friend recommended NetZero, which at the time was just starting out. I had heard of free e-mail, but never free Internet access, so to me it sounded like a dream come true.

And for most of a year, it was. I rarely got busy signals, and when I did it was a simple matter to try a different number. I spread the word, singing NetZero's praises to friends, family and strangers alike.

Despite my apprehensions about the coy marketing survey I'd filled out when I signed up, I received almost no junk e-mail, and what I did get seemed just as likely to have picked my address without asking NetZero.

Then, this spring, the problems began. Yet another tweaked new version of the NetZero software came out, and unlike previous such upgrades, which were carried out automatically by programs that launched when I connected, I now had to seek out and install the new version myself. There was a series of little upgrades, all unannounced -- one of them I found out about by borrowing a friend's AOL account and looking up the reason for my connection problem on the NetZero site: the problem was that I hadn't downloaded the next 'upgrade', which NetZero had failed to mention in so much as an e-mail.

I finally got a copy of the umpteenth revision of NetZero's proprietary software safely downloaded on my hard drive. But the problems weren't over yet; I was still being disconnected within seconds after the call went through. By now I'd found an alternate ISP, and again I went to NetZero's site to try to determine the problem.

This time, according to the symptoms I described, NetZero tech support came up with the startling suggestion that my modem, the same modem I'd always connected through and was in fact then connected through, a good, US Robotics 33.6 speed modem, was causing the problem. Note: I have since upgraded to a 56k modem, which may or may not have made any difference. I modified a few system settings and tried again -- still no good. Now, I was told, I would have to modify system files, reinstall all my NetZero software, reinstall parts of Windows. All to get NetZero to accept transmissions to & from my perfectly good modem which they had used in the past, for months, without problem.

I found it much easier just to uninstall NetZero from my computer.





Recommended: Yes