Free Surfing

Instead of paying $10 to $22 per month for e-mail/Web access, we find a growing number of services costing $0.00 per month. The most well known site is Netzero (www.netzero.com) but other sites like FreewwWeb, JUNO, AltaVista and numerous others provide reliable e-mail and an onramp to the graphical world of the World Wide Web. The hidden cost, of course, is not only the loss of some privacy but the exposure to a changing, non-removable banner ad bar affixed to the desktop. Spreading surfing activity across several free providers camouflages surfing patterns (protecting privacy a bit) and quickly allows for finding the best of the free offerings.

Getting Paid To Surf

AllAdvantage (AA) pays surfers $.50 per hour (to a maximum of $12.50/month). A permanent banner ad remains on the desktop as the hours accumulate. Once the credits exceed $20, a check is delivered by the postman. In fact, when your friends and relatives join AA, a fraction of their payments are credited to your account – pyramid style. It remains uncertain how long AllAdvantage will continue the cash payments; however, offers are now made internationally. This may be a harbinger that the program has found success. AA is just one of several pay-to-surf sites.

Roll The Dice

Many games of chance exist that potentially produce cash pay-outs. For example, Greenfield Online is one of many “survey sites” that offer drawings for cash prizes to qualified survey takers. So far, I have received one small payment of $57.50 from Greenfield. It is a start.

Instead of purchasing lottery tickets, frugal surfers can satisfy a lottery itch at WebMillion.com. On a weekly basis, surfers get a shot (although a small one) at $3 million by filling out cyber-lottery tickets. Other games such as Trivial (trivia questions), Click 3 (guess location of hidden treasure), and HangMillion (cyber-Hangman) pay out weekly prizes ranging from $5 to $1,000. While I have not won anything here yet, there is always tomorrow.

CBS, attempting to break into cyberspace, runs the iWon site (www.iwon.com). Just by using the site (search engine, news articles, shopping and more), a surfer qualifies for drawings of $10,000 daily, $1 million monthly and $10 million annually. A cash prize, even a small one, would supplement a fixed income.

Free Long Distance Phone Calls

While free faxing (sending and receiving) has become a permanent part of the Internet landscape, the latest offering is free long distance telephone calling. With a soundcard, a headset (earphones and microphone, I-cost: $12), a visit to DialPad.com and a surfer can telephone anywhere in the United States free of charge. Competition is bound to appear shortly. The experience can be best described as “cell-phone quality” – not perfect but acceptable. However, quality is negatively impacted by high Internet traffic and low connection speeds. Nevertheless, not only could this be a cost savings for people on a fixed income, it could extend the range of out-of-town calling to doctors, relatives and other important contacts.

Free T-Shirts

While I have not tried this personally, the Web site: http://www.topica.com/lists/freetshirts allows a surfer to find out where free t-shirts are available. Not everyone wants to turn themselves into a walking billboard; however, some shirts can become classics and collector items.

We Eat To Live

Priceline.com (through the WebHouse Club) offers discounts up to 50 percent on grocery purchases. With many supermarkets (especially on the East Coast) in the program, this service can easily save a buyer $10 to $30 per week. One drawback is that a credit card is required for all purchases. Nevertheless, PriceLine offers a nearly painless method of stretching scarce monetary resources.

Just Scratching The Surface

Some of the ideas mentioned verge on “too good to be true.” They all work. While the Internet can be a potentially dangerous, almost scary place, it also offers many opportunities for careful, diligent shoppers to save a buck or hit it big. Give them a try.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

http://ohioline.ag.ohio-state.edu/ss-fact/0159.html

http://www.iwon.com

http://www.Webmillion.com

http://www.dialpad.com

http://www.priceline.com

(This is the 193rd of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the Internet. Next, Software Installation - Windows 98 is the subject on tap. Stay Tuned. Until next week, happy travels through cyberspace. Previous issues of Internet Info for Real People can be found: http://www.thebee.com. Please e-mail comments and suggestions: rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)