Yeah, had me scratchin my noggin too.. but it appears to be on the up-&-up...

"AOL is now offering their service for free as long as you provide your own internet connection."
(and don't mind clogging up your 'comfuser with their software.. ?) Link to the offer

The chat-rooms are waiting !!
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No thanks... AOL could PAY me and I wouldn't use their service.

AGREED LOL!

AOL is giving away their service free - but at the same time, they're letting thousands of employees go!

Does this make sense?

At risk of ticking off people who actually like the garbage AOL offers, I could not agree more with DemonaL and IceTrojan.

They could stop sending the cd's with a gazillion free hours for the first month. I wish they would send them on RW disks, at least we could get something from them.

the_traveler: "AOL is giving away their service free - but .. letting thousands of employees go! Does this make sense?"

It worked for the airlines, no?

Noted: Time-Warner has pretty-much admitted that the AOL deal was their worst-evar. DOH!
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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?)

But you can get use out of them. I use them for coasters at parties. Admittedly the old 1.44 floppies worked better for this.

Does this work for existing customer? The link isn't working for me.

The Economist has an article detailing AOL's new business model; it's been years since I used AOL, but I would welcome trying it again.

The link farther up in this thread doesn't work because it's malformed. This link for current customers will work: http://www.aol.com/newaol

BTW, if you are a current customer with your own broadband access and you just want to switch to the free plan, you don't need to call them. You can go to AOL keyword: change plan

Edited to add: WSJ article says they may go back to forcing you to call them:
"To handle the high number of calls, AOL implemented an online switching option Thursday. By going to keyword "Change Plan," broadband members could switch to the free version in a few clicks. But the company cautioned that the option may be shut off now that call volumes have subsided, and that the toll-free number is the best way to change."
article at:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article...f_main_tff_top
(no WSJ subscription required for this article)

I cannot get this link to work either. Maybe one of those laid off has shut it down.

Thank you ^

It's possible lol

try this:
http://daol.aol.com/newaol

Actually, the best part of AOL now, as far as I'm concerned, is XM Radio. I've been with AOL since the dawn of time and had my email address way too long. I just couldn't cut the ties because of that. Of course, for the past couple of years I've had a bring your own broadband plan and paying a minimum to maintain the email account. Still, it is great to get rid of that bill after all these years.

I was not a happy Time Warner shareholder when they bought AOL; even I knew it was a bad buy.