PeoplePC

You can get free dial-up Internet service from NetZero or Juno if you need it no more than 10 hours per month, but reviews indicate PeoplePC offers the best unlimited dial-up service at about $11 per month. One caveat is that it doesn't work for those on Mac systems. The basic plan gives you two email addresses and some Internet security features like virus protection. Customer satisfaction surveys based on thousands of people indicate a reasonable level of approval and are more scientific than individual user reviews at Epinions.com. But the latter includes some angry comments about customer service, specifically difficulty in canceling. If you can afford an extra $9 per month, AT&T Basic DSL (Starting at *Est. $25 per month) won't tie up your phone line like a dial-up.

J.D. Power and Associates surveys 16,000 people about their happiness with their Internet service, reporting results by region. ConsumerReports.org also asks readers to rate their ISP, and in this case the results are based on 34,000 responses. We found helpful user reviews at Epinions.com, but they're anecdotal and from a sampling of just more than 100 people rather than thousands.