Free hosting is never going to be as reliable as paid but x10hosting.com has cpanel and no ads. Some more without forced ads www.thefreehosts.com.
I would not recommend free hosting.However, keep an eye on upcoming cheap hosting offers in"freebies" section.For you I suppose dedicated hosting would not be a pre-condition.You may even get a hosting with $5 for entire year or so.
I am trying to get a new site of mine going called compspot.info, if you were willing to do a few posts a month there i could give you free hosting on my hosting site, deoserver.com. Open up a sales ticket at http://deoserver.com or PM me for more info!