PeoplePC Accelerated ISP Review

Special Note: Updated July 11, 2005 -- People PC has been running a special promotion for their Accelerated service. The discount offer is $7.97 for three months, and then $15.95 per month after. At first glance this "special offer" may not seem so special. However, it's important to know that People PC is including a FREE call alert service with their accelerated ISP plan. Here's how you save money: if you have a dialup service and don't have a second phone line, you're going to miss calls. Call alerts or internet call waiting that are included as a free bonus with your People PC service and allow you to be online and receive incoming calls. The service is powered Callwave -- the leader in call alert services. This service is $5.95 per month. You get it for FREE with your PeoplePC service. This is a HUGE benefit since most dialup users eventually go out and pay for the service anyway or pay to get a second phone line which can be very expensive. This PeoplePC ISP package is our TOP ISP PICK.

But there's no question that the service is definitely faster. In fact, PeoplePC says its Accelerated service can make browsing most pages up to five times faster. Do the math, and you'll see that that makes dialup about as fast as digital subscriber line broadband service.

Not too shabby! This comes at a price point that's still lower than the major dialup Internet Service Providers, and well below the cost of full-fledged DSL access providers or cable broadband.

It's also important to note that PeoplePC Accelerated also comes with thousands of local numbers, similar to larger ISPs. The plan also gives you email spam filtering, and Webmail access to your mail.

It also offers an instant messaging center, where its users can chat with friends on AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, or other services.

PeoplePC Accelerated also has the "smart dialer" technology of its regular service. Smart Dialer makes getting online easier by simplifying the procedure of finding and dialing local access numbers.

Like with its basic service, PeoplePC Accelerated is a bit more expensive than some of the accelerated dialup Internet access services offered by rivals. However, it's significantly cheaper than getting DSL service or cable, and is even competitive with the "regular" dialup services offered by some of the bigger Internet access providers.

PeoplePC Accelerated remains a value ISP, though, so that means cheap access with few frills. If you're looking for tons of built-in multimedia, free content or downloaded programs, you should consider one of the more expensive Internet Service Provider packages. Instead, PeoplePC delivers a basic Internet experience without requiring you to pay for features you may not need. And with Accelerated, you've got a lot of what makes broadband so appealing without that cost. To me, that sounds like a really cool deal.

Great-ISP-Deals.com gives PeoplePC Accelerated ... four stars! A great value!

• $15.95 per month.