Voting Station

NetZero Internet

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Internet Service Provider

The Resume

    (July 1997- )
    Owned by United Online
    Free ISP (October 1998)
    Platinum service (March 2001)
    Merged with Juno Online Service (September 2001)
    2006 Prices:
    10 hours per month with ads - free
    Unlimited access $6.95 per month
    NetZero Platinum: Unlimited 5X accelerated access $9.95 per month
    NetZero 3G: Unlimited access $14.95 (Claimed as fast a broadband) per month
    Slogan is 'Get connected for half the cost of AOL - America Online'

Why NetZero Internet might be annoying:

    They ran commercials claiming that Internet Access should be free (albeit with advertisements), but they charge.
    They claimed to be 'Defenders of the free world.'
    After cutting from unlimited to 40 hours per month, they cut to 10 hours free per month (January 2001).
    The free service forces you to click an ad every 20 minutes.
    It charged $9.95 for an installation CD (it could be downloaded for free).
    When they did not get enough revenue from the ads, they offered an alternative monthly fee service with few or no ads.
    Despite the huge ad banners built into their free browser, they eventually limited free users to only 10 hours per month (averages out to 20 minutes per day).
    They are owned by the same company that owns Juno Online Service.
    It requires divulging tons of personal data if you wish to sign up.
    It displayed a misleading button labeled 'Hide Banner,' which was an ad to pay for their premium service.
    They charged for tech support, $14.95-per-incident.
    CNet reported: 'Incredibly crowded home page; persistent banners and distracting animated ads.'

Why NetZero Internet might not be annoying:

    It grew to be the second largest ISP behind AOL - America Online.
    It developed a faster service using compression and caching that made internet access as much as 5X the speed of 56K dial-up.
    At one point, they were the fastest growing Internet Service Provider in the U.S.
    The service was absolutely free until January 2001.
    It added a dial-up accelerator system called NetZero HiSpeed (April 2003).
    It offers a dial-up service they call 3G (Third Generation), claiming: 'you won't believe it's not broadband' (July 2005).
    Although 3G Dial-up is limited to FCC speed limit of 56K, it uses a fetching and compression technique that appears to speed up the connection.
    QUALCOMM invested $144 million in them (April 2000).

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 76.92% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 15 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 16 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 90 Votes: 67.78% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 28 Votes: 89.29% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 34 Votes: 58.82% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 110 Votes: 75.45% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 105 Votes: 74.29% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 43 Votes: 81.40% Annoying