Dropbox - Are you using email or USB drives to back up, transfer or share files? Do you want to sync files across multiple computers? Get Dropbox.

Internet radio - Listen to music over the Internet, and get recommendations based on your tastes or what your friends are listening to. Check out Pandora and Last.fm.

Skype - Instead of Vonage or MagicJack, consider Skype. You can make phonecalls from your computer using a headset, or you can get a WiFi cordless phone. With an inexpensive webcam you can make video calls. Calls are free to other Skype users, and inexpensive to regular landline and cell phones.

Fake emails about security settings - Starting around October 12, 2009 some customers are reporting fake emails directing them to click on a link, and then download and install an executable file. The purported reason is a security patch or settings change to their email. The intent is to infect your computer with malware. If you receive an email to "user of the kwom.com mailing service", delete it and do not follow its instructions. For more information see this article.

Dialup - You may want a dialup account even if you can get broadband. Your dialup account can be used anywhere there is a phoneline (home, work, travel) unlike cable and DSL which only work at one location. With dialup you are free to switch your phone company, and we don't hit you with teaser rates, annual contracts, or early termination penalties. Unlike AT&T we don't block port 25, so you can send mail through your company or webhost mailserver. And if you just want dialup as a backup when your DSL is down, we have $4.95/month occasional use accounts.

Free Phone Support - Read the fine print before switching to a discount dialup service that may charge $1.95 per minute to your credit card for "live" customer support. We still offer free phone support from techs who don't read from a script. Unlike the national ISPs we haven't outsourced our tech support overseas, you'll be talking to a KWOM employee right here in Chicago. Unlike virtual ISPs reselling wholesale dialup, we still operate our own dialup servers, so our techs don't have to guess what is going on and waste your time.

Local, National and Toll-Free Access Numbers - We have 44 local access numbers in the Chicago area on our own dialup network. For occasional travel, we have toll-free access in the US and Canada. And we support both POP mail and webmail so you can access your email from any computer with Internet access.

We may not be the cheapest but ... Unlike many large ISPs we don't have hidden charges, and we don't make extra money off you through advertising or selling your information. For example, when we say "free modem", we don't mean a mail-in rebate after 3-6 months and you still pay sales tax, shipping and handling. We mean we ship you a modem at no charge. We don't show you ads, or sell your "clickstream data", or sell your contact information to advertisers. We don't use "DNS redirection", which shows you ads if you mistype a URL. And we don't jack up your price after the first few months, or add charges to the bottom of the bill disguised as taxes or fees.

Pay by Check or Credit Card - The national ISPs typically want your credit card, but you may want to receive an invoice and pay by check. We will send invoices for quarterly, semiannual or annual renewals. You can mail a check, or authorize a one-time charge to your credit card. Of course we can charge automatically to your credit card if you prefer.

Email Filtering - We offer optional spam and virus filtering, which will quarantine about 95% of unwanted email before it gets to your mailbox. This premium filtering service by Postini is highly configurable and allows you to check your quarantined messages for the past 2 weeks in case you think one was falsely blocked. No software or configuration changes are needed on your computer, we do everything at our end.

* monthly cost when paid annually