I just started using one of the free services and have used it to access my email as well as theirs through Outlook without any problems. They have one banner that runs across the screen at the very top with the IE browser expanded below it. I haven't had any problems and very little annoying ads. You might want to check them out. They were referred to me by someone who has used them for 2 years. Their url is www.netzero.com

Pat.


>I have a friend who is thinking of switching from a dial-up ISP to cable modem. This would be perfect for her home office, but she still needs occasional dial-up access from another office. This really is very occasional, and will be primarily for checking e-mail on the cable modem ISP's account(s).
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>I was thinking of setting up one of the "free" ISPs (AltaVista, Yahoo! etc.) at the secondary office, and giving it a test. If anyone has had any experience with these ISPs could you please comment:
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>1. Do you need special access software, and does that interfere with any other preconfigured dial-up access with other ISPs?
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>2. Can you access e-mail accounts other than those of the free ISP?
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>3. Realistically, can you get a connection at the local access number(s)?
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>4. Any other limitations/restrictions/gotchas/comments?
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>TIA.