Do you find yourself using broadband everywhere and thus, not really needing a dial-up account? Wherever you go, there’s wi-fi or an ethernet jack you can plug into, right?

But what about the times that’s not available, and you could use a 56K dial-up service? You don’t want to pay $30, $20 or $10 a month for something you’re not going to use more than a few hours the entire year, right?

So what do you do?

I signed up with Crosspaths Internet. They have a dial-up plan with nationwide numbers (across the US only) like all the big boys, but they only charge you $1 / month. That’s no typo. With that $1 a month, you get 60 minutes of connection time. Need more? It’s only a $1 each hour more. So if you use dial-up for 3 hours one month, you get billed $3. If you don’t use it for a month, you just get billed $1 for that month. It’s a great pay-for-usage type plan.

They no longer advertise it on their website home page, but if you want it, you can sign up via the telephone number for their sales department. I’ve found this service invaluable – but only if you’re in the US (apologies to my Canadian readers!).