Please just leave AOL alone! AOL is raising their dial-up internet access prices by $2 for everyone who refuses to promise not to call technical support.
From CNET:
The Time Warner division told subscribers last week that beginning July 27, it would raise its monthly dial-up rate from $9.99 to $11.99 per month. Subscribers who specifically sign up for a plan with limited technical support can keep the $9.99 rate, though, but they won’t get phone-based help unless dealing with an Internet connection issue.
Hey, mom? What’s dial-up? [CNET]
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@t325: Oh yeah, all doctors are rich. I forgot. HMOs FTW!
BTW I wasn’t just presenting a hypothetical situation. Lots of doctors I consult for use dial-up because it’s cheaper.
I wish they’d raise the price to $50 a month; my best friend might finally give up on AOL. She’s had it forever and is resisting the change but maybe she would switch if it got too expensive. Every day she calls me with Internet questions/problems, yet she just won’t make the switch!
AOL is still around? Buh?
Between the AOL and paying 50 or more for cable when they’re on a budget, my parents are stuck with dial-up. Why? Because ATT doesn’t provide DSL to my parents’ neighborhood…IN HOUSTON! According to their CS, ATT has no plans on providing either, mind you they do own phone lines and provide phone service. ATT SUX!
mannnn! Screw all you dialup haters! I pay a whopping $4 a month for my vtisp dialup that I use at work to screw around. (at home I have a neighbor’s roadrunner wifi connection)
Though it looks like my work has FINALLY put in a public/customer-use free wifi so I may end up dropping my $4 a month dialup.
But it served me well over the years!
Note: I am suprised aol is still in business after once charging $24 for dialup services.
What is this dial-up thing you mentioned?
Given their type of subscriber, I’m not surprised that they’re trying to weed out some of the calls!
@All “Who Uses Dialup” Comments:
[www.cnn.com]
You know, one second y’all are all “Internet is a luxury! You should give it up if you can’t afford it! I can’t believe Comcast is winning!”
Then you’re all, “People on dial-up? That’s impossible!”
Seriously, which is it people?
People still use dial up? The fuck?
AOL still exists?
People still using AOL remind me of those news stories from two years ago about old people still paying a hundred dollars per month for rotary dial phones. They didn’t know any better, lived in isolation and were ripped off by a failing corporation desperate to maintain revenues.
Hey, I used to LOVE my 28.8!!! Duke Nukem baby!
Yes people still do use dial up. Stop acting like dial-up users are concentrated in the center of every American city. Not everyone lives in an area that has broadband access. A lesson on network / telecom infrastructure might do you some good!
This should be less about, “OMG people still use wireless”, and more…I can’t believe they’re raising the price on something this outdated. This should be 5 bucks a month by now.
I keep AOL dialup as a backup, in addition to mobile broadband and a cable modem. I’m a newspaper columnist, and need to have fallbacks. For somebody whose livelihood isn’t connected to being on the Internet (here and in Europe), it’s probably ridiculous to have this (unless, of course, you live in the back woods).
I did complain about how AOL was putting ads at the bottom of e-mail. An AOL employee called to tell me they saw my comment and others’ in a forum on AOL, and you can now get those comments removed from your account with a keyword…except, sorry, I forget the keyword (anybody know it?)
I told him I was really ticked off that they’d been charging me while using me to advertise free and they had to give me money back for it. I asked for $50, about a half-year’s fee for AOL before they upped the price, and the guy credited to me!
Actually, just googled it: KEYWORD: Marketing Preferences
Sorry – it’s actually KEYWORD: Footer
[messageboards.aol.com]
It’s ironic that my mother still pays for dial up aol.
What other phone based help would you need other than not having a problem with your internet connection. I don’t see why you would be calling them for another reason…
@Amy Alkon: That’s good to know! I didn’t even install AOL after my last hard drive format, because of those evil hyperlinks getting added to my emails!
What I’ve been doing is sending AOL mail from Thunderbird. It actually goes out from my ISP’s server, but it looks like it’s from an AOL address…
@ShadowFalls: Issues come up from time to time, with my SO or kids using too simple of a password, and getting their screenname hacked. You pretty much have to call AOL up, to get it fixed.