The “free” internet died with the death of Usenet and analog phone systems.
Most of Grand Prairie is still served by an analogue phone system. Regular dial-up only gets to 31200 bps, on a REALLY good day. DSL tops out at 3 Mbps, inexplicably. I’m not even sure HOW they even wired it. Around here, most people have cable internet, or wireless 4G dial-up.
Usenet still exists.