ive noticed recently when searching that lot of sites like geocities freewebs tripod etc.. People using them as free sites and having a sub domain rank highly Noticed it whilst searching soccer players fansites do you think google views these as "authority" sites giving them higher rankings? Im thinking about giving one a try do any allow ads to be placed?
Sure. People have the right to have such high ranking websites off sites like those (although I'm sure in the PR check, the root domain is probably in affect of how high the subdomain's PR is). If those people don't want to buy domains, they don't have to, but I think that once you start going to PR5, you should really have a domain name, not a subdomain.
subdomains on geocities or tripods will be considered as whole new sites so there will be no benefit from SEO point of view. you still need to do the whole 9 yards
Places like Freewebs can be a great place to get started. However, I strongly agree with others about having your own domain. It can't be underestimated the way a top level domain enhances your site's standing in the eyes of its visitors. For instance, freewebs.com/mywebsite will not be regarded as highly as mywebsite.com. This is especially true if you are wanting to have a business website, but also true if you want your blog, forum, or other type of site to have "legitimacy" in the minds of your site's visitors.