Date: Fri 05-Mar-1999
Date: Fri 05-Mar-1999
Publication: Bee
Author: CURT
Quick Words:
iinfo-Netzero-Brand
Full Text:
INTERNET INFO FOR REAL PEOPLE: Free Surfing -- Netzero
By Bob Brand
Free!, one of those magic words found in the advertising realm takes on a
whole new meaning as a result of recent events on the Net. Here is why.
Several months ago, I learned that totally free Internet access was available
from Netzero. Unfortunately the listed Connecticut access phone numbers were
long distance calls from my home. That changed in early February. Now a
Danbury POP (point of presence) is available. This brings the total number to
20 local access numbers statewide.
After a 3.3MB ( megabyte) download of Netzero.exe from the website, a
double-mouseclick expands the file into an executable form. An icon is
inserted on the desktop of Windows 95/98 users. The remainder of installation
is just as simple. Next, answer a few personal questions, enter the suggested
User ID/password, and click one of the POP (point of presence) phone numbers
supplied by the software. You are in. Welcome to the world of free Internet
surfing!
My Experience
When bringing up the dialer (the program needed to attach your computer to the
Internet via the provider), the Danbury phone number was not one of the
choices for local access. I chose the Bridgeport POP and replaced the phone
number with the Danbury exchange supplied from the website. (It is not unusual
for the website to be ahead of the software. This has since been corrected.)
After a click on "LOGIN", I was rewarded with "Internet dialtone" -- the Win
'98 dialer on the taskbar indicted that a V.90 connection had been
established. A click on the MS Internet Explorer browser, and I was surfing
free of charge. Impressive!
Within a minute of connection, the default browser (Netscape V 4.5) appeared
and loaded the website Netzero.guide.com along with a small, permanent
advertising window. I immediately minimized the Netscape window and continued
surfing. At first, the ad window caused a distraction. However, I dragged the
window (place the cursor on the top of the window and hold down the left mouse
button pulling the ad area to a new position) to the bottom of the screen.
Tip: resize the browser window so that the ad viewing area resides completely
outside the browser. With a 17" (or larger) monitor, the annoyance is small.
With Netzero, the user inherits another e-mail account. Configuring a browser
for Netzero cybermail is clearly explained. Just click the Support icon at the
top of the screen. This opens a window offering hotlinks to detailed e-mail
setups for the following browsers: Eudora Netscape Mail (3.x), Netscape
Messenger (4.x), MS Outlook 97, MS Outlook 97 SR-1, MS Outlook 98 and MS
Outlook Express. After configuration, I sent a test message from Netzero to my
Juno account. All is well in Netzero-land. Since there are no instructions for
a Newsgroup setup, this service is not available at present, or so it appears.
Technical support is handled via e-mail to support@netzero.net or an actual
real person can be reached at: (818) 879-7255. For most people this will mean
a toll call to California.
Performance
After four weeks of daily connections to the Danbury POP, I have received no
busy signals. All connections were established on the first attempt. There was
no evidence of POP saturation. All connects were high speed at 50-plus kbps
(thousand bits per second). There is perhaps a minor slowdown when the ads
come through the phone wire. I have used Netzero for FTP (file transfer)
uploads of webpages to the Connix server (file sizes in the range of 40-80 KB)
with no problem. The packet speed for Spinner.com music has been very good.
Downsides
The Netzero software is a Java application. If the ad window disappears for
any reason, the connection breaks. The Netzero software does not recognize
streaming packets coming over the wire for Spinner.com as user activity. As a
result, 60 second warnings that the connection is about to break pop up
periodically. Usually a click on the "Resume" command button keeps the
connection active. However, sometimes the connection breaks anyway.
There is a non-trivial personal annoyance. Java Netzero software interferes
with PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) ver 6.0 software used for encryption of Juno
e-mail. E-mail to the developers has been sent.
Is It For You?
Netzero makes an excellent emergency ISP (Internet Service Provider) backup to
the Internet for power surfers. When used in combination with Juno, casual
Internet users have a low cost access. In fact, Juno Gold subscribers (e-mail
with file attachments) can save $2.95/month charges by switching. AOL
subscribers should find a lot to like in Netzero. In England where Internet
access is significantly more expensive than in the US, free Internet access
has put AOL under considerable pressure to reduce prices. Netzero could easily
cause a similar result on this side of the pond. Give it a try. The price is
right!
URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:
http://www.netzero.com/
http://www.free-pc.com/
http://www.wired.com/news/print_version/business/story/17962.html
(This is the 144th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the
Internet. Next, Happy99.exe Worm is the subject on tap. Stay tuned. Until next
week, happy travels through cyberspace. Previous issues of Internet Info for
Real People can be found: http://www.thebee.com. Please e-mail comments and
suggestions to: rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)