Thor Schrock

Two of my customers in the past few days have heard a rumor that AOL is discontinuing its dial up and high-speed Internet services. As many of you know, I strongly dislike AOL, but for the sake of truth, I decided to call them and find out the real story behind the rumors.

I called AOL and spoke with Moiz Khan in Bangalore, India. He told me that while there WILL be changes to AOL's services, these changes will not include an elimination of their dial-up services.

He explained to me that AOL is making some significant changes however. Those AOL customers who signed up for AOL Broadband before AOL merged with Time Warner will see the discounted plans they signed up under disappear slowly. Over time, these subscribers will be folded into Time Warner's AOL service at the current AOL prices.

AOL Dial-up customers or AOL customers who have signed up through a third-party provider like Time Warner will see no changes to their Internet service. However new subscribers will have some decisions to make. AOL is splitting their services into two tiers - AOL Free and AOL Premium.

AOL Free subscribers do not have to pay for AOL services, and receive a free email address, access to AOL's news and advertising products and offers, as well as access to AOL's free Mcafee Security Suite and Anti-Spyware products (as many of you know, on a bad day I would rather have a poke in the eye with a sharp stick than subject my PC to AOL's Spy Zapper software).

AOL Premium users will pay for their AOL service and will receive all of the benefits AOL Free members enjoy, as well as support services from AOL staff and access to AOL's chat rooms.

In my opinion, my customers would be much better off using a standard Internet Service Provider rather that subscribing to AOL. However if you enjoy AOL's online community, the premium version of AOL offers the best way for you to stay connected to your AOL buddies in real-time.