A few years ago, my TV cable company announced it was going to raise my monthly rate to cover the addition of a bunch of channels I didn't want. At the time, I was paying $30 a month for cable, and $48 every [u]three[/u] months for unlimited 56k dial-up access. I was online for a couple of hours every night, and watching maybe two hours of TV a week. It took me about a millisecond to make my choice. I haven't had cable TV in years. And I now get ADSL net access for $35 a month.

As for free content on sites, you only get what someone pays for. When I was first venturing onto the Web, I joined Ottawa-Carleton FreeNet. It was one of the only truly free ISP's in the world, based in Carleton University. It was able to operate on volounteer labour and donated equipment. I don't know if it still exists. I do know it was forced to start charging members a few dollars a year. Sites cost money to operate. The costs for server space and bandwidth can add up in a hurry. Those pop-up adds that drive us crazy on this site are put there by companies that help pay Jon's operating costs.

There ain't no free lunch.