Executive Summary

            Much of the early success of the Internet can be traced to the fact that users received many services for free. While the Internet shake-up on the stock market has caused many Internet companies to rethink their marketing strategies, you can still find many free services and products on the Internet. There are two important things to remember as you read this paper: if you subscribe to a free service, you generally get what you pay for and any information found in this paper may be obsolete by the time you read it. Since having web access is imperative to doing anything on the web, this paper will begin by exploring the opportunities for free and discounted Internet service. Once users have Internet access, they can search for other free and discounted services, such as long distance, email, web hosting, fax services, etc. Only Internet service and long distance service will be explored in this paper since the other services are generally available with either Internet access providers or long distance providers.

            Free or discounted Internet access and long distance service providers generally offer the same services as providers who charge for those services. The Internet offers users unlimited opportunities to save money on such services if they are willing to sacrifice a little privacy, speed, and reliability. Users searching for free services need to evaluate providers on factors such as availability of local access numbers, quality of technical support, speed, and sustainability. Sustainability problems are causing many free service providers to leave the market or switch to a fee-based business model.