When Consumerist John S. wrote us a mysterious email about the AOL Keyword Change Plan, we were intrigued:

Want to get back at AOL? Publish the existence of keyword Change Plan. That AOL keyword makes it extremely easy to change to the free price plan or the new $9.95 per month dialup plan. The good news about this? No need to argue with a retention guy on the phone. Just hit the button and, boom, you’re free or on a much cheaper dialup plan.

Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about. But Google to the rescue. Going free on AOL, or switching to the $9.95 monthly plan, is as easy as it gets. Just log-in to AOL (the application, not the website). Click on the “AOL Keyword” button at the top left of the AOL screen, then type in “Change Plan”. A dialogue box will then present you with two buttons: one to go free, the other to go dial-up for $9.95.

Easy! And no obnoxious retention monkeys to jibber-jabber with. Thanks, John!

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