I don't think that's the case. All of Infopop's products are ridiculous when compared to any free alternative. I don't see the advantage, personally. You could do a lot with the money you save on setting up your own boards.

It took a couple hours for me to set up phpBB the first time (mostly working with my web server, something you'd have to do with Infopop's products), and gets easier every time.

If you're making a board for your friends and/or family, or a small web community, I can't see why you'd go with them.

But I seem to remember hearing that phpBB isn't as great with a large community and larger tables, that it slows down too much.

*edit*
The first time I signed up for web hosting, I signed up with Infopop and got a working message board right off the bat. I hated it. Its control panel was unintuitive, the interface was clunky, and the charge was astronomical (relatively speaking). I think I was paying $30 a month for merely fair hosting privileges and a set up BBS. Doing the math that's $360 a year. I dropped the service in less than 5 days, went with another hosting company, and now I pay $70 a year for a better BBS (IMO), and better hosting.