One of the cool things about Jabber is that it allows you to host your own server, which gives you an IM address like name@host.com.
The webhosting company Dreamhost has taken advantage of this and now offers to host your own Jabber server in any of their hosting plans. I haven’t tried the Jabber hosting, but it seems like a pretty good deal - plans start at $7.95 per month for unlimited domain name hosting, SSH, etc as well as your own Jabber server.

UPDATE: During April, the code 30OFFER will get you a $30 discount on any plan from Dreamhost. Just enter it as a promo code during the sign-up process and the discount will be applied.