$ Money saving tips for internet users $ (hope this helps for you, especially in parts where there are only OUTRAGEOUS hourly rates charged) (visit our sponsors' sites, some can help you make money to cut down on your internet bills!)

 

• If at all possible (or reasonable in terms of price), given a choice of hourly rates or a flat rate, go for flat rate pricing. This rate won't fluctuate no matter how many hours you log on, and it'll remain steady. Hourly rates, while sometimes attractive, can be a real pain especially in cases where you NEED to download large files, or even mail.

If you can avail of a flat rate at a reasonable price (anything above $20-$25 U.S. or its equivalent, I would consider too expensive), then hey, the world (wide web and it's components) is your oyster! However, if you have no choice but to go at an hourly access rate here are some great pieces of advice which I hope you'd find useful;
 

• Use an OLDER version of a popular browser! Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.XXX and Netscape's Navigator 4.XXX, while opening up to a lot of razzle and dazzle graphic shows on the internet, are painfully slow, and eat up lots of valuable time even when it comes to accessing pure-to-mostly text web pages. Version 2.XXX of either big-time browser, while unable to access some page effects, and in some cases entire sites, fly like the wind in comparison. Another justification for downgrading to save money is that practically every major site in the world can be accessed by an older browser, or offer a site version free of essential Java effects, frames, etc, because they generally want as many page views as possible, and won't close themselves off to the old browser fan clubs.

• For e-mailing, use an offline capable e-mail program. Netscape's Communicator 3-4.XXX, and Eudora, would be my personal recommendations. This way, you can compose full length novels and send them to your audience, for a cost of a couple minute's online time, as opposed to spending a few hours of time online while composing your things.
• If you plan to go online, try grouping online activities together to save on phone usage (wherever flat rate pricing is unavailable for phone charges) and online time. Example: checking on your favorite sports team's scores on a web site with your browser while sending/recieving e-mail with your email program.
• Setting your browser to not show images, and putting them on display on-demand, is another small but significant way to save on online time, because web pages will naturally load faster with images not being downloaded automatically.
• Avoid getting online chat programs, or even getting into real-time chat groups! They burn significant amounts of time, and besides, email is a much more time efficient and convenient means of communicating.
• If you have the right interests/hobbies, subscribe to mailing lists. They can save you online time by means of information/opinions going right to your e-mail inbox as opposed to you having to search for them on the web, chatrooms, or usenet. A good source for mailing lists and their respective procedures can be found from Vivian Neou, or from Catalist. The procedure for signing up to the listed mail lists will be given at those respective sites.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you've found some info/advice you can put to good use! Why not visit the Melting Igloo???