Most of the major isp's who supply DSL service also give you a limited amount of dial up access. Earthlink/Mindspring for example give you 20 hours/month dial up access to use in the event of a dsl outage or if you are traveling. If you have cable or some broadband service that doesn't offer this then check out netzero. It only gives you like 10 hours per month but it is totally free. As for the computer go ahead and splurge for a new one if you have or know someone who can load the OS for you. A new machine with an AMD 1800 with everything integrated in the motherboard will only set you back about 250.00 for everthing but the monitor. At least this way you should have something that is dependable and under warranty for a year.