One of the Internet’s leading free e-mail providers, Juno Online Services,
today appears to be in trouble.
Last month, Juno implemented a new policy for its ad-supported, dial-up
e-mail service. Effective January 22nd, a small number of its 6.5 million
users are permitted to sign on only once per day to access their mail.
A Juno spokesperson Wednesday declined to comment on the new policy.
But President Charles Ardai told the New York Times that the restrictions were
necessary because of the high cost of telecommunications in some regions of
the country. Users in the restricted regions can check their e-mail more
often if they upgrade to one of Juno’s premium services, which start at
$2.95 per month for the Juno Gold service.
The paper reported that Ardai did not rule out the possibility of expanding
the limitation to all subscribers of its free Juno service nationwide.