Nothing beats broadband; having experienced both DSL and a cable modem, we're not going to deny that. But people who blithely claim that dialup is dead are just a little premature with their pronouncements. There are plenty of people for whom broadband simply isn't an option-- they live in areas where the cable companies don't yet offer Internet access, and maybe they're too far from the local CO to qualify for DSL (assuming it's even offered in the first place). So plenty of poor souls are still stuck with dialup as their best or only option for Internet access. And what about road warriors who need to connect from the hotel? It'll be a while before every HoJo's offers an Ethernet connection to a T1 in every room. There's a reason that all PowerBooks and iBooks still come with built-in modems.

And there's yet another factor that many in the "dialup is dead" camp have overlooked: price. Cable modem access is typically $40 a month on top of the cost of cable TV service; basic-level DSL seems to cost about the same. (We don't know much about these so-called "free DSL" offers, but we admit to being suspicious; we've yet to see a "free offer" without some pricey strings attached.) Compared to the standard $20-a-month for, say, an EarthLink account, the price of broadband can be unjustifiably steep for budget-conscious surfers. So there's still a market for cheap dialup access.

Dialup customers rejoice! AltaVista Free Access has just announced that their no-cost dialup Internet service is finally available for Mac users. There are a few strings, of course... for one thing, the service is PowerPC-only, so users of older Macs are out of luck. You also have to deal with giving up a chunk of your screen real estate to AltaVista's advertising portal, which shoves ads in your face while you're connected, but unless you're the intensely optimistic type, you probably expected that. The bottom line is, now there's another free dialup option for Macs (we're told that FreeWWWeb also works if you don't mind tweaking all your settings manually), and more choice is always a good thing. On the free-with-ads front, though, we have to wonder at which point viewers hit maximum density. Let's see... how about connecting with AltaVista, using the ad-driven free version of Eudora for email, chatting with AOL Instant Messenger, and surfing lots of banner-heavy sites? Soon we'll find out what the human capacity for advertising is-- when some poor surfer's head pops after seeing one too many offers for affordable term life insurance.