Yes, it makes sense. Their customer service was a farce anyway; now that it is free, they don't have to keep up the charade of offering any customer service or tech support, so they can fire all those people. The agents are low paid, but by eliminating supervisors, managers, outsourcing directors, etc., they can save a lot.

Also eliminate a lot of their dialup infrastructure.

That just leaves the on-line advertising and forums. (Do they use volunteer moderators?)