Free World Dialup No Longer Free

They don’t call it Free World Dialup for a reason–it’s no longer free! Jeff Pulver sent out an email this week informing subscribers to FWD (formerly Free World Dialup) that now access to FWD is going to cost you–$30 a year, to be exact. Existing members will be able to keep their accounts by paying $30. Those that don’t pay up will be removed at the end of August.

FWD has always been about creating new, more open ways to communicate. While a lot of communication happens peer-to-peer, there needs to be some infrastructure in the middle to ensure that communication happens. That infrastructure costs money to provide. It’s nice to see the FWD folks putting a value on that, though I wonder what the membership is going to be like.

With actual coming in, perhaps FWD can accomplish it’s goals of creating new opportunities and modes of communication. I certainly hope so.