If you think you may spend a lot of time chatting with others online and playing games over the Internet, then try to find someone who already uses the Internet in this way. How much is the extra telephone charge and can you reduce this by nominating your Internet telephone number for any special discounts with your telephone company?

Talking to people you know who already use the Internet, is probably the most useful thing you can do before deciding how you want to go online. You'll probably find that most people have tried out more than one way of getting online. This is because like a test drive in a new car, there are any number of companies who will let you try out the Internet for free, apart from the cost of the local telephone call you make to connect to the Internet.