Save 57% Each Month over What AOL Charges-- And Avoid Ads from Juno-like Services
Written: Apr 18 '02 (Updated Apr 18 '02)
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Pros: US$9.95/month; no ads; uses Windows' Dial-Up-Networking; great selection of access numbers for Canada and USA
Cons: Not Free; One of the few Internet Service Providers which doesn't provide special software
The Bottom Line: Copper.Net is affordable compared to AOL, spared the ads endured by Juno customers, free of downloadable software for connecting and viewing ads, and nearly always accessed on the first try.
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| neomartin's Full Review: Copper.net |
FreeAtLast.com was the best free access Internet Service Provider I used during the Free Internet Access period from about 1997 through 2001. My only complaint about FreeAtLast.com was the fact that it ceased to exist. AT&T WorldNet Service worked well for my mother in Queens, NY, but it was unavailable to me in Jersey City, NJ. NetZero drove me crazy with buggy software and its ad bar. Juno restricted my free access to 4:00am until I upgraded to its US$9.95/month package. Along the way NetZero and Juno merged to become United Online, and I may write about UOL at a later date. Today I write about my discovery of Copper.Net.
While searching for Internet Service Providers via Google I encountered a number of usual suspects and some local-level ISPs. I wanted to find a local ISP for my mother since I already knew of an ISP for my local area. Although I never found the local ISP for my mother's area, I fell into Copper.Net. I decided to visit the Copper.Net web site so I could see what it had to offer. All the information was presented in a straightforward manner, and I determined that Copper.Net fulfilled all my needs (and then some).
What Does Copper.Net Offer?
Copper.Net immediately has two things going for it:
• Substantial Savings Each Month over AOL and MSN
• Ad-Free Internet Access and Web Surfing
When I checked AOL's monthly rate a few days ago, I saw that AOL charges its members US$23.90 each month. Even though AOL offers its members everything except the kitchen sink, I still don't understand why Internet users or web surfers would want to bind themselves to a service which maintains its proprietary mentality from the GeoWorks Ensemble days of 1990. In any case, AOL members are willing to pay US$23.90 each month for access to its community and world along with its Internet access.
Since the days of Free Internet Access are gone, the next best thing for us is affordable Internet access. Copper.Net fits the bill here. By charging its customers US$9.95/month, Copper.Net's customers save 57% over the monthly AOL rate. (If someone switching to Copper.Net wants to pay the yearly rate of US$99.00, then that breaks down to an average rate of US$8.25.) While Copper.Net doesn't offer its customers all the bells and whistles AOL provides its members, there is no need for Copper.Net to do so: once a connection to the Internet is established, a universe of options becomes available to the Copper.Net customer-- the closed community model of AOL and MSN is bypassed in favor of open access to everything else the Internet and World Wide Web have to offer.
Juno/NetZero/United Online, like Copper.Net, charges its customers US$9.95/month. Juno/NetZero/United Online, unlike Copper.Net, forces its customers to put up with ads through its proprietary software. Copper.Net has two advantages over Juno/NetZero/United Online: Copper.Net is ad-free, and Copper.Net uses software already available on many systems.
According to Copper.Net, it doesn't sell any advertising. Since this is the case, it only makes sense that no ads are posted to be viewed. Ads tend to be shown in ad bars or viewbars, and since Copper.Net doesn't sell advertising its customers are spared the need to download ad bar/viewbar software. Since some of these ad bars/viewbars tend to affect some computer systems adversely, Copper.Net customers have one less issue to worry about.
Without special software, how does a Copper.Net customer connect to the Internet? The dial up networking software is already present on the computer system, and if it isn't a dial up utility can be downloaded from your favorite software repository. According to Copper.Net, it "is compatible with all mainstream operating systems. We recommend and can offer tech support on Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000/NT, XP, and Apple Mac OS 8 or greater. Copper.Net is also a good inexpensive option for AOL bring-your-own-access and Web TV." I have used the Dial Up Networking software provided by both Windows '95 and Windows 98, and I would guess that it is very similar to what is available on Windows NT 4.0 systems. Copper.Net provides instructions for making connections to it via the software present on the computer system. This is done once for each connection. For my mother I made seven connections because she has many access numbers she can use. For myself I made two connections because calls to other access numbers within my area code are considered long distance calls.
The combination of affordable Internet access and an ad-free experience is was attractive to me. Instructions for creating my dial up networking connections were straightforward. While I can't speak for people in Canada and in other parts of the United States, the number of access numbers I saw was far greater than what I expected for my area. The 56K modems that Copper.Net uses allow me to connect to it with my 33.6K modem.
Other Advantages
Besides affordability and silence (no ads), Copper.Net has these other items in its favor:
• No Setup Fees
• email account @copper.net
• Access to Mail and News
• Get Paid For Referring Copper.net
Other services exist which provide Internet access, and many of these are as affordable as Copper.Net. However, a number of them charge a one-time setup fee. While the setup fee is affordable and charged only one time, Copper.Net customers have one less thing to worry about (so they can use that money on other things in their lives).
Registration for Copper.Net service is easy and takes only a couple of minutes. It uses standard Internet security protocols (Secure Socket Layer) for processing payment data. After registration is finished, the Copper.Net account can be used. An e-mail account in the form of <CustomerName@Copper.Net> is created, and this account is accessed through e-mail clients such as Outlook Express, Eudora, IncrediMail, other similar programs. The mail server used for accessing e-mail handles both POP (for incoming)and SMTP (for outgoing) e-mail, so the same server name can be used when configuring the e-mail client software to access the account. A similar procedure is followed when configuring appropriate software to access Usenet Newsgroups through Copper.Net's NNTP server.
As a customer of Copper.Net, I must disclose that I recently began to participate in its referral program. Copper.Net gives its participating members US$15.00 for each referral. By either calling the telephone number provided for this purpose or by sending e-mail, anyone wanting to participate in the referral program is given a promotional code. Upon request a web page is created which incorporates the promotional code. Copper.Net says on its web site that a starter set of CDs will be sent to the referral program participant for distribution. I was given my promotional code, and I was given a hyperlink I can use to promote Copper.Net; at the time I write these words I await the starter set of CDs. I must also note that Juno (my former ISP) offers its members US$20.00 for each referral; however, after rediscovering how it is to connect to the Internet without special software and ad bars/viewbars, I cannot see myself promoting Juno through its program. After all, if I'm happy about being free from ads, why would I want to have others continue to endure them?
Many people who connect to the Internet or surf the web belong to communities which provide them everything; AOL and MSN are two of the larger communities. Many people also use their Internet connections without belonging to communities since they are happy with the other services (e-mail, news, gaming, other things) they use. Since I already had independent e-mail services, software for accessing Usenet Newsgroups, and chat utilities, all I needed was a way to connect to the Internet (joining a community would have been overkill for me). Copper.Net-- while not free-- is the best alternative I have found to the usual suspects on the ISP scene (AOL, Juno/NetZero/United Online, MSN, etc.) since my brief fling with the dearly departed FreeAtLast.com. Copper.Net is affordable compared to AOL, spared the ads endured by Juno customers, free of downloadable software for connecting and viewing ads, and nearly always accessed on the first connection attempt (something I forgot about when I used other services). I'm happy with Copper.Net.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 9.95/month
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Epinions.com ID:
neomartin
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Location: New York, NY, USA
Reviews written: 117
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
Single Native New Yorker, 34, who returned to NYC after several years in NJ.
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