Say what? Well, cellular phones are free, as long as you sign up for an extended service contract. It's an old marketing idea - give away the razors and sell the blades. My favorite e-mail service, Juno, is free, and you don't even have to sign a contract.

Here's a business opportunity, free for the taking by any Internet service provider: give a computer, free, to anyone who signs a long-term service contract. PCs are getting so cheap that they're tending towards free anyway. Most personal computers sold today are priced under $ 1000, some under $ 500. With continued integration of functions into fewer chips, the $ 250 price point is possible within a year. At that point computers are disposables.

Does this mean that when computers cost less that they are worth less, or even "worthless?" Far from it. Five years ago the Internet was exotic technology, inaccessible to most people. Today it is, if not free, very inexpensive, and freely available. While some large Internet service providers are raising prices, local ones like MegsInet, 225 W. Ohio, charge under 10 bucks monthly for unlimited access.

It's tempting to take a selfish view: the fewer folks crowding the already clogged pipes of the Internet, the more space there is for me. Let the uninitiated remain innocently Internet-less. But enlightened self-interest, and history, sheds a clarifying light. The 1st telephone or fax machine produced was worthless, because it could not be used for its intended purpose, communication. When the 2d rolled off the assembly line both machines became instantly valuable. Similarly, the Internet began to be valuable when its 2d user was connected, and each new user makes it more valuable.

Personal computers made their mark originally as number crunchers, then as word processors. Today they are becoming communication appliances. E-mail is the primary use of the Internet. Even the technophobic, via WebTV, and soon via competing tv set-top boxes, can have e-mail access. A recent Harris poll says that more than one-quarter of U.S. adults have electronic mail addresses.

The telephone was a liberating device, as was the fax machine and the automobile. Each, of course, carries with it some negative effects: dinner is interrupted by telemarketing calls; cars can be dangerous. Computers, and the computerization of common devices, also carry the baggage of dangers along with advantages. They make it easier for our movements to be tracked, and our privacy to be invaded, by intrusive governments, businesses or individual snoops. But just as the phone, fax and auto are seen as indispensable enhancements of our personal and business lives, despite their inherent problems, so computers and the Internet are embedding themselves in the social fabric.

Some people may be better off without the frustrations of dealing with immature technologies. And some people should never be left alone in the same room with anything electronic. When PCs were expensive there was some rationale behind the question, "Why do I need one?" But just as we don't always know what we think until we say it, we don't always know what we need until we have it.

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