Worldspy Is Dead

07/08/00

  In the last week I received a ton of e-mail concerning Worldspy free Internet services.  People using the service were greeted by a note telling them that they're no longer accepting sign ups and now all accounts "Good News" would be handled by Juno. The main benefit of Worldspy was that there was no ad banner.  Now we're subjected to Juno's ad banner?  I don't think so.
  What about e-mail? You're getting screwed there too. You can forward it to your new Juno address but that's not much of a solution.  Juno's ad bar is floating and as obtrusive as ever. They advertise for $9.95 you can get customer support, no ad bar and fewer ads. FEWER ADS??? Well, I guess AOL customers pay more and are bombarded by ads.  Whatever

Protect Yourself

  Don't trust that any Free ISP will be around forever. Whether they do well or not is not always the deciding factor.  They will go out of business, they will be bought out by larger companies and they will merge with other ISPs.  So don't put all your eggs in one basket.  Use one e-mail service (I recommend Yahoo! e-mail) for everything and use whatever free ISP for just browsing (I recommend Blue Light).  This way when a free ISP slows down in your area or goes out of business, your e-mail will be unaffected. Yahoo! isn't going anywhere for a while so I recommend that for casual users. For serious and business users, NEVER use a free e-mail service. Join a real ISP like Earthlink.

Be sure to check out my old article on free Internet Service Providers

Security Issues

  Remember all that information you gave up when you signed up for any of these ISPs?  Did you give them your home address and phone numbers? The ISP you signed with may have had a privacy policy that said they wouldn't give away your information but when they went out of business and they sold your information to another company all bets are off! The new company can sell your information (and this will start happening!)!) to phone companies, telemarketers ad infinitum!
  Especially in this day and age you must be careful not to give away too much personal information online.  It doesn't matter how much you trust a site, once you give up information, everyone has access.  Am I being paranoid?  Yes.  But you'll see more violations in the next year. Don't make it easier for solicitors to get your information.

Shop Around

  New Free ISP services are popping up all the time.  I've found several like FreeAtLast that have no ad banner.  In fact they don't even have any connection software, you have to create a Dialup Connection manually, so it's not for beginners.
  Keep looking around, for every WorldSpy that disappears, a new, better ISP will be created. Check back on my site and I'll keep you updated on the new ISPs.

Bottom Line

  This is a great time for Internet Surfers. Back in the dawn of the World Wide Web you had to pay anywhere from $2 to $10 per hour to be connected.  Now with all the free ISPs, I know I'm saving money every month. Just be careful to not put your faith in just one or to give away too much personal information. If this makes you nervous, Earthlink is the way to go!