http://volker.orcon.net.nz/doc/freeisp.txt 02 Jan 2002 Update: freenet: Accounts were terminated unless paid up. i4free: Although it doesn't say that no new customers are taken, the signup page only allows to sign up with another non-free service. Download speeds (ftp) less than 500 bytes/sec, many errors. Max connect time 4h. zfree: Still not taking new customers. SMTP, POP of any kind is blocked (as was before). Download speeds (ftp) less than 300 bytes/sec. Bottom line: free internet access in New Zealand is a thing of the past. The remaining free "services" are a joke. http://volker.orcon.net.nz/freeisp.txt 24 Jan 2001 Recent changes are: freenet: existing customers have to sign up for their new plan $14.75/month unlimited with 10h free, 1 month to be paid up-front, or account will be terminated by 26 Jan 01 SMTP out (to remote port 25) is intercepted and always relayed by freenet i4free: accounts suspended except for http existing customers must choose between 1) as before but slower speed and more busy signals; max connect time 4h; must provide contact email address (also used for "interesting offers") 2) unlimited connect; speed as before; $14.95/month taking new customers (for either 1) or 2) above) access to remote port 25 is not blocked, i.e. SMTP is possible zfree: not taking new customers SMTP, POP of any kind is blocked (as was before) http://cantua.canterbury.ac.nz/~vku10/freeisp.txt 17 Aug 2000 > Please don't depart until you have told us the pros and cons of free.net.nz > Is the connection speed any good? > Do they have proper mailboxes? Well, as this seems to come up more and more I'll type up some answers. Sample configurations for wvdial and fetchmail at the end (which include more useful details). all: 56k modems connection speeds are approximately equal and vary a lot over the day, things grind to a halt in the evenings I don't think it's possible to make any accurate statements on speed without doing an extensive survey dynamic IP allocation the list of available newsgroups of i4free, freenet, and Clear is roughly equal (given daily changes...); I'd say there is no censoring there In comparison, the university has only about 9000 of the 59000 proxy configurations are not needed - they provide real internet service! (some exception with zfree) configuration for linux: It's either pap or chap, I don't know/care as wvdial + pppd figure it out by themselves In combination with my ip-up/down scripts (SuSE 6.3), DNS is configured automatically, likewise for the routing There is no need to know the DNS of any of them None support linux directly, but who cares - it works i4free: all ports open in both directions (1) newsserver: news.i4free.co.nz pop3 server: yes smtp server: ? web based email available: yes local number: yes local 0867 number: yes freenet: all ports open in both directions (1) newsserver: news.free.net.nz pop3 server: yes smtp server: ? web based email available: yes local number: no local 0867 number: yes zfree: all access to remote ports 25 (smtp) and 110 (pop3) is blocked; I don't know for incoming to local ports 25 and 110 all other ports open in both directions (1) newsserver: no (only web based) pop3 server: no (only web based) smtp server: ? local number: yes local 0867 number: no (this will become expensive - 2c/min, after 10 hours per month) (1) As far as I can tell. Everything I tried worked, but I did not systematically check. The following works (i in, o out): telnet i/o, ftp i/o, ssh i, smtp o, pop3 o, ntp o Disclaimer: no warranty. I might have made a mistake. Things might have changed since I tried. I have to say that all 3 free ISPs work well, and out of the box after plonking the connection info into wvdial.conf. It's very impressive how much service one gets for free. I wonder whether the bandwidth will suffer drastically if more and more people use it... Volker wvdial configuration: ----- /etc/wvdial.conf ----- [Dialer Defaults] Username = blank Modem = /dev/ttyS2 Password = blank Area Code = Force Address = Init1 = ATZ &F1 Z4 Init2 = AT Q0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 L0 Tonline = 0 Compuserve = 0 Dial Command = ATDT Phone = 0123 Baud = 115200 Auto DNS = 1 Stupid Mode = 1 New PPPD = 1 [Dialer ITS] Username = user Password = pass Init3 = AT X2 Phone = 364 2805 Stupid Mode = 0 [Dialer i4free] Username = user Password = pass Phone = 0197, 0867 30000 [Dialer i4free-local] Inherits = Dialer i4free Phone = 0197, 961 0401 [Dialer freenet] Username = user Password = pass Phone = 0197, 0867 67 000 [Dialer zfree] Username = user Password = pass Phone = 0197, 961 0289 ----- /etc/wvdial.conf ----- fetchmail configuration: ----- ~/.fetchmailrc ----- # Configuration created Sat Jul 22 20:45:53 2000 by fetchmailconf # And hand-edited afterwards # # DO NOT RUN FETCHMAILCONF ON THIS AGAIN! # # Useful command: fetchmail -d0 -v -c # # Volker 25 Jul 00 set logfile "/home/LOCALUSER/fetchmail.log" set postmaster "LOCALUSER" set nobouncemail set properties "" poll i4free via "pop3.i4free.co.nz" with proto POP3 user "user" there with password "pass" is LOCALUSER here options keep fetchall warnings 3600 antispam 571 550 501 554 poll freenet via "pop3.free.net.nz" with proto POP3 user "user" there with password "pass" is LOCALUSER here options keep fetchall warnings 3600 antispam 571 550 501 554 poll gmx via "pop.gmx.de" with proto POP3 user "user number" there with password "pass" is LOCALUSER here options keep fetchall warnings 3600 antispam 571 550 501 554 poll ITS via "cantva.canterbury.ac.nz" with proto IMAP user "user" there with password "pass" is LOCALUSER here options keep fetchall warnings 3600 antispam 571 550 501 554 ----- ~/.fetchmailrc -----