Hi Mair, $23 US seems reasonable. I pay that (for dialup) in Cdn funds.

What I did for a friend is go to both web pages and wrote down a list of
features, prices, pros and cons.
The one she was looking at advertised $9.95 but that was only if she paid for a
year up front.
Also it had a "blurb" in it's Terms of Service section that during "high volume
times", there was a queuing system and high users might get bumped off. Also the
cheapie only had one email address. No mention of newsgroups at all.
It also had a blurb about no refunds.

So I asked her:

when will you be using this service? A: peak times (6 pm - 10 pm) ie chance of
getting bumped off right in the middle of a chat or composing an email or
newsgroup message.

will you be using newsgroups? A: no (so no need to ask them if they carry
alt.support.lupus on their server or if they care at all about newsgroups). My
ISP blusters "don't ask us about newsgroups, they come bundled with the service
and you get it for free, so "deal").   - I don't see mention of newsgroups at
NetZero

web space - are you planning on a webpage?  A: no...if you are, you want to find
out if they're equivalent to what you now have. Or if extra is charged depending
on how much webspace you would be using.

support? - do you use their support service? Will it be the same as you have
now?
http://www.netzero.net/
* Please note that, depending on the numbers you choose, your location, and your
calling plan, you may incur long distance or toll charges in excess of your
local service charges on your telephone bill. For a list of access numbers and
their locations, click here. To find out whether or not you will incur any
charges, and if so, the amounts of such charges, please contact your local
telephone company. Live telephone technical support is available for a fee of
$1.95/min ($2.95 CDN/min in Canada). You are responsible for all telephone
charges and any technical support charges incurred even during any free, trial
or discounted periods. You will be charged the applicable subscription fees
unless you cancel your service before the end of any free or trial periods.
NetZero reserves the right to impose hourly usage limitations. See Terms of
Service for details. Service not available in all areas. Unless otherwise
indicated, all prices are in United States dollars."

http://www.netzero.net/legal/terms.html
http://www.netzero.net/signup/faqs.html

Poke around there and be sure you know what you are getting and not getting ok?
Hugs
J

Hi Mair
My sister in Toronto is using netzero... and she is happy with
it.
So maybe try it and good luck to you!
fwiw.........hugs from Shelagh

Is there a reason that you use dial up service? Because I have found that
DSL has been great for me. Yes it is a teeny bit more but I sure like the
fact that I can get online anytime with a fast connect and stay connected
without using my dial tone. I pay $29.00 a month for my DSL service. I can
not remember what region of the country you live in but around here we have
some pretty inexpensive dial up servers.
http://www.dslreports.com/ this website is neat for comparison of different
plans I even think they have a section for dial up prices.

RhondaM