Here in Las Vegas, there are a number of FREE INTERNET ACCESS ISP's and most have phone numbers in major areas all over the country. You can check the availability of numbers on each of their web sites.
You can choose from the following:
My favorite for ease of use - Juno. Then there is Netzero that has been around for some time.

Juno and Netzero are available on CD.

With these FREE ISP's, the price you pay is an ad banner on the screen. It can be moved around but gets a little irritating. See my other page on Free stuff for more discussions on free ISP's. Or just do a search for free ISP's.

Click here to review a discussion of the ads collected by Juno e-mail and ways to reduce them.

These are the sites for just free e-mail and I haven't verified them for a while. All of the free access sites above provide an e-mail address. You can choose to use it or get a free e-mail with another site as well. It is actually useful to have 2 addresses
I really like Yahoo and have been recommending it. It has some nice features. The best is that your address book is stored on Yahoo's computers. This means you can go to any computer that has Internet access and check your mail and address book. One nice feature is that if you buy a new computer or upgrade, you don't have to worry about transferring the address book from old to new. Yahoo also checks for virus' making it safer to use. They have a spell check which some do not.
Here are links to some of the free e-mail systems.
Yahoo   Netscape  Hotmail   iname   starmail

Go to http://www.bigfoot.com/ and select "Sign up"
Go to http://www.mauimail.com/ if you want a Hawaii address

Check my Websites list for additional sources
CAUTIONS
A couple of disadvantages to the free on-line E-MAIL systems are:
1. You must be on line and the operations can be a little slower waiting for actions on line.
For example, adding an entry to the address book takes longer than using an address book in your own computer.
2. Mail is stored on the host computer (Yahoo) and space may be limited. Yahoo now gives unlimited storage and allows 10 MB attachments.

With free e-mail on line, you can go to any coffee shop, library or school with Internet access and send and receive e-mail. Even many RV campgrounds are offering Internet access now, so you don't need to own a computer or take it with you on a trip. If you have a laptop with a wireless modem, most travel places have free Internet access.

CABLE MODEM vs DSL
I have had cable and now have DSL at home and a wireless service at work.

Here are my observations so far. Most of these apply to either DSL or cable modem as they are similar.
1. Cost is about $30 to $50 per month. You can save by dropping a second phone line and any ISP cost.
If you want to keep AOL, you can drop the cost to $14.95/mo by not using their dialup. 2009, I'm told you can keep AOL for free.
2. Speed is about 10 times faster. 30 MB on DSL loads in a few minutes.
3. Convenience is amazing. You are connected 24/7. I leave my e-mail program on constantly and surf instantly.
4. Security is a problem. You must learn to protect yourself from intruders. Being on continuously leaves you more vulnerable.
5. Be sure to password all your drives to block intruders. See my discussion on Passwords.