Its important to make a distinction between hardware and content. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) looks after your hardware by charging you for access and/or selling advertising to other businesses. The content is provided by the people who operate the sites we visit.

The content on this site, for instance, is provided by members who contribute. The hardware that the site resides on is provided by Jon, who recovers his costs by selling advertising space to other businesses. Without financial support from outside sources to cover the hardware costs, Jon would have to charge us for the content.

Other sites, where the owners provide the content, must cover their costs for both hardware and content, by tapping either, or both, of these revenue sources. Merchants offer 'free' access to their online catalogs, but you can be certain that the operating costs for the hardware and the content, are included in the prices of the merchandise being offered.

If Yahoo et al, are looking at charging their clients for access, it probably means that the revenue from other sources, like advertising, is not covering their operating costs. I'll say it again: There ain't no free lunch!