Compromises Worth The Price
Written: Dec 24 '99 (Updated Jan 27 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: FREE! Large EMail Capacity
Cons: Unexplained Disconnections
The Bottom Line: Even though a 40 hour limit has been implemented (Jan. 00), it's still a good deal!
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| Hard_To_Please's Full Review: NetZero |
UPDATE as of Jan. '00: NetZero has now implemented a limit of 40 hours a month free connection time. If you wish to surf for more than that, you will need to pay $9.95
I've been with NetZero for six months and have seen major improvements in this relatively short period of time. While I would not have recommended this ISP last summer, I can now offer an endorsement with a few qualifications.
First of all, as you are certainly aware, the "price" of NetZero is having a 1" x 7" ad bar on your screen at all times. If you take down the bar, you lose your connection - period. Fortunately, you can move the bar anywhere you wish by simply dragging it across the screen. The whole concept of an Ad Bar is repulsive to many, but I've discovered that I barely notice it now- kind of like learning to ignore the sound of traffic outside your window - after awhile, you don't think about it even though it's ever-present.
The ad bar is officially known as The ZeroPort and offers a few perks such as one-click access to Searches, Services, Shopping, Auctions, Weather, etc. Nothing that you can't do without The ZeroPort, but still convenient. I occasionally even oblige NetZero by doing what they want me to do and click on some of the more interesting ads. This opens up a web page, which usually irritates me because it interrupts whatever I was doing before the ad caught my eye.
My title mentioned compromises so it's time to tell you what you'll have to put up with to save $20 a month. Occasionally, (once every 8 hours or so), you will receive a message stating that "ZCast Cannot Continue" and you will be out in the cold in 5 seconds. This seems to happen with no rhyme or reason and at unpredictable times. It's a pain, but I've always been able to log back in and chalk up the 2 minutes it takes to reconnect as a chance to go to the bathroom or grab a beer from the fridge.
Another irritant is a window that pops up more often (once every 30 minutes or less) which says "Due to inactivity, NetZero will log you off in 60 seconds". It is easy to hit resume and cancel the countdown, but I hate the fact that it so wrongly accuses me of 'inactivity' when I'm surfing my butt off at the time! If you're out of the room when the window pops up, you will hear chirping if your computer has sound. The warning chirps are spaced at every 10 seconds until you have only 10 seconds left to hit resume- then the chirps become more frantic and sound every second. I've twisted my ankle on more than one occasion to run back and hit resume before NetZero boots me!
My EMail account is of major importance to me so I have a low tolerance for problems in this area. There have been only three occasions in which my email was not accessible for a few hours. When this happens, it does seem to be a major crisis, but like child-birth - you forget the pain when things are back to normal. I am very impressed by the amount of space in my NetZero Email account. Most of my friends complain that their non-NetZero mailboxes fill up after a few pics or exe.files, but I have NEVER had a storage problem. I literally have over a hundred emails in my box right now, many of which contain large exe.files or pictures.
Is NetZero perfect? No. Is it worth the compromises? Yes.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Hard_To_Please
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: St. Louis, MO
Reviews written: 47
Trusted by: 741 members
About Me:
MARK IS MISSED!
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