Internet access for $9.95 / month
Promotion: $4.97 (total) for first 6 months!
Almost everyone pays too much for Internet access. It's more than a price issue, though. Some people feel more comfortable staying with a provider that has served them well (albeit charging twice or triple). Others think that a cheaper price means less reliability and fewer services, such as personal email and no timeouts. In some cases they are absolutely right. I have personally tried numerous providers in the search for lower costs. At times I had to forego certain desired perks, such as total control over the connection settings or timeout parameters, and with others I was faced with an annual subscription that locked me into their provider plan. Mostly, though, I would find a good provider only to find my monthly costs steadily increase and a $9.99 deal would turn out to be a $12.75 or $16.99 deal by the year's end. Never one to quit, I persevered and at last found an ISP that has come through on every promise: Copper.Net
I know this may sound like a salesman infomercial, or some lame food processor gimmick on afternoon cable networks with an attractive male and female chef touting the "ease and comfort of baking with chopped walnuts as finely ground as these", but seriously, I've been really impressed with this particular ISP over the past five years and I feel my readers deserve an honest opinion.
Why choose dial-up in this day and age of cable/dsl dominance?
- Price - A fixed rate of $9.95 per month is a huge cost savings over the typical monthly costs of $34-$60 for broadband.
- Security - Your I.P. address is a digital signature that singles you out from every other user on the Internet. If you currently have high-speed Internet access, you may have noticed that this number rarely changes (less than once a month) whereas dialup users get a fresh I.P. address every time they connect to the Web. Hackers (and some trojans, spyware, viruses, and worms) use your I.P. address to 'keep tabs' on your machine for reconnaissance and/or attack purposes. In addition, cable/dsl connections are always on, leaving you wide open to attack even when you're not using the Internet! Dialup offers the peace of mind that attackers will always go for the easy targets (broadband users) before the inhibitive task of tracking and exploiting a dialup connection.
- Do you really need the speed? - If you're just connecting to the Internet to check your email and do some online banking or homework research, you don't really need the extra speed of cable or dsl. You could even use the money you're saving towards a family fun night each month or a splurge gift for yourself every now and then - you certainly deserve it!
- Availability - If broadband isn't an option in your area, save money with an excellent dial-up plan.
Copper.Net Benefits:
- $4.97 (total) for first 6 months!
- Fast and Reliable Nationwide Access Numbers
- V.90/V.92 Compatible
- Toll-Free Technical Support - (888) 336-3318
- Internet and POP3-based email (Outlook/Thunderbird compatible or you can use a web browser) with SPAM and Virus protection
- No Contracts
- No Setup Fees
- Unlike many other ISP's that sell your information to advertising giants, Copper.net keeps your account information private
- No banners, toolbars, spyware or advertising
- Affiliated with the Online Better Business Bureau that assures the highest standards of security, privacy, and business practices
- 100% American owned AND operated (that's right, tech support personnel that speak your language!)
Need a second opinion? Check out C|Net's review.
Copper.Net Setup:
Copper.Net gives you total control over your email and connection settings. Some ISP providers require that you download a "dialer" and use their interface to connect to the Internet. They often throttle down your connection speed or limit your connection time to 20 minutes of inactivity. Copper.net, on the other hand, gives you the option of setting up the connection manually (for technical users) or using a connection setup wizard (for beginners). The wizard can help you set up your email or it can create a 'CopperNet.ins' file that you double-click and relax while it sets up everything for you!
Use this tip to avoid being disconnected from your ISP:
If you find that your dialup often disconnects when you leave your PC, try changing the idle time.
Here's how:
- In the Start menu, open Settings > Control Panel
- Click Internet Options
- Click the Connection tab
- Click the Settings button Note: some ISPs deny you access to this area - Copper.Net does not.
- Click Advanced
- Uncheck the box next to "disconnected if idle for (blank) minutes"
Your ISP shouldn't disconnect you again without your permission. The only way this won't work is if your ISP is doing the disconnecting. Many ISPs will disconnect you for an idle connection whether you want them to or not. To avoid this, try using KeepALIVE!