Sad Statistic of the Day

The only thing I miss about AOL were the celebrity email notifications. I'd love to have the one with Barry White going "You've got mail baby"
 
If you're outside and it's really quiet, you can still hear the AOL zombie moaning the word "Brrraaaaaaains!" in the breeze.
 
I guess you can still sign up too:

What’s the AOL Advantage? Today, it’s not just about connecting to the Internet. It’s about improving your whole online experience. Whether you’re looking for premium support, great membership savings, fast and reliable connectivity or protection from the latest online threats, we have the right plan for you.

http://get.aol.com/plans/index.php?regtype=client&offergrp=webreg
 
You want a sad statistic? You are 2.5 times more likely to get shot in Chicago than getting shot while serving as a soldier in Afghanistan during the millitary campaign.
 
My Mother uses AOL still because she likes the interface. She doesn't know how to just launch IE and cruise the web, she thinks there's something missing(she's 70)
 
10% off Sprint plans...any idea if that stacks with the "Employee Discount"?
 
Had it free for 30 days back in 1997. Back then it was nearly impossible to connect after 7pm. Dropped it and went with a local ISP.
 
Looks like the curve is flattening out. At $10/month for dialup (their least cost option), that's not bad if AOL still has the massive dial-up footprint they used to; I used to know several people who had no other option for a local dial up number, they probably don't have a high speed option either.
 
I'm forced to maintain my ancient AOL account because of [H]ard|Forum, oddly enough...

No, seriously, no other accounts I own seem to be accepted by the forums. Every time I try to switch over to one of my other accounts, I'm told my email address is banned. A moment later the forum auto-reverts my email address back to the old AOL one.

At this point, my AOL account is used for nothing but [H] and that one annoying friend who still uses AIM and wont switch to a different IM program :p
 
I've had it since 91; my choices were aol or compuserve.

I have a 5-character aol username. :D

I have other accounts, but I can still dial in to that one using a laptop and a payphone. :)
 
Those AOL subscribers are probably all elderly, very elderly by now.

+1
hahaha, yes! The only people I knew who used it back in the late 90's and early 00's were old, very old, individuals.
Anyone 50 or younger at the time used anything else.
 
I've had it since 91; my choices were aol or compuserve.

I have a 5-character aol username. :D

I have other accounts, but I can still dial in to that one using a laptop and a payphone. :)

I haven't seen a payphone in like a quadrillion years.

No, AOL is like Windows XP; it just refuses to die.

You mean XP is like AOL since AOL has been refusing to die for a lot longer.
 
I got 1 customer that's will not leave aol (the email thing is only slightly annoying)
 
Unfortunately, not every part of the US has highspeed internet let alone broadband. And out of those areas with either dialup or Hughesnet as your only options, AOL is the cheapest dialup provider.
 
I work on a lot of machines and a lot of middle aged/older people are the ones that use AOL. In their minds its the internet and AOL are one in the same word. Once that generation dies AOL will die also.
 
Unfortunately, not every part of the US has highspeed internet let alone broadband. And out of those areas with either dialup or Hughesnet as your only options, AOL is the cheapest dialup provider.

isn't Juno still free...? lol
 
if you had dell PC (back in 2003) you could have gotten AOL for free for like ever. (i can still get the services for free if i want to/have to go back to dial up)
 
Here in north texas (DFW) the few times you DO see a pay phone it's always in the crappiest part of town, and in use by a very questionable looking mexican.

Yeah maybe that's a bit racist, but I swear it's freaking true. The only good thing pay phones seem to be used today for are drug deals or using those special calling cards to mexico I see being sold everywhere.

I remember the days of dial up, where it literally took 10 minutes to download a single megabyte over 28.8, and all it took to mess up the transfer was my whore sister picking up the phone - didn't get my first taste of broadband till college.

I can easily see why there are still subscribers -- it's just people that are so old, and so set in their ways they just don't know any better.
 
+1
hahaha, yes! The only people I knew who used it back in the late 90's and early 00's were old, very old, individuals.
Anyone 50 or younger at the time used anything else.

I used it for a few months because I got it completely free. I think I was 10 or 11.
 
And out of those areas with either dialup or Hughesnet as your only options, AOL is the cheapest dialup provider.
Both halves of your sentence are false.

(1) "dialup or satellite" would be more correct. There are more providers (i.e. Wildblue) than just Hughesnet. Between satellite providers, there isn't a difference in latency, and bandwidth quotas aren't that much different either. Ultimately it depends on what "style" of service you prefer. If I recall correctly, Hughesnet has some set periods of time where your usage doesn't count against your bandwidth quota (aka free bandwidth).

(2) AOL is as cheap as 99.99% of all other dialup providers out there. There are at least a dozen other dialup providers in the US that are nationwide. I used to live in the "boonies" of Missouri, and have done tremendous amounts of research out of desperation for finding internet better than satellite and dialup (and not having any success because of my remoteness -- even cellphone-based internet wasn't available or a signal better than 0/5 bars) have had to research satellite and dialup providers since they are the only mediums available.

What you will find from your research on dialup providers, ALL of them will offer dialup for NO LESS than $10/mo ultimately ($9.99/mo is basically $10/mo). See a deal for $5/mo dialup? Read the footnotes. In addition, they lie when they say "unlimited dialup" which is 100% BS. "Unlimited dialup" means you can dial-in or access dialup any time within a 24-hour day. You are generally limited to 8-12 hours a day. If you consecutively use dialup for too many hours a day, they will notice. I know these things from years of experience. They will also boot you off and add you to their customer blacklist.

There will be a few providers out there that will offer dialup at $15-30/mo, but the majority of providers are price fixed at about $10/mo. You really won't find it for less, and not only that but it is only worth using with images/javascript/java/flash disabled (aka text/CSS/html-only) + OpenDNS. Depending on where you live, you may also find that you get dropped connections a lot (and sometimes there will be slightly better days).
 
I don't see why this is so shocking. Many people started with AOL and continue to use the software with whatever High Speed service they have. Hell, I still have an @aol.com email address that I got when I first got online back in 1994 when Windows was only 3.1. AOL Desktop is free and people like the ease of use. Now, if people are referring to folks who buy dial up internet through AOL, now that would be shocking. I don't know of to many who don't have access to DSL or other means of highspeed service, but I do work with a few who live out in the country who still have old school dial up. I think this article seems to just refer to people who use the AOL Desktop software that is up to 9.7 now. This is an easy all in one environment with your browser, email, and instant messaging. For many "non-techers", such as our Mom's, Dads, and Grandparents, this makes for a good stable solution they are familiar with. I tried to convert my folks to Outlook or even using Gmail, but ultimately they rather use AOL and don't want to break their habits and learn "our way". If it works, why change it?
 
*** can't edit previous post. I now see the article is about dial up users and not just users who use the software. ... Even still, there are a lot of rural areas who don't have many options like Cerulean said above.
 
Here I am trying to buy a new house based on the coverage area of the cable companies 100 Mb/s internet, and some people are still on dialup. Amazing.

I remember trying to "shotgun" two dialup accounts back in the day so I could get 112 Kb/s. :D
 
Is it considered a form of Identity Theft if AOL keeps billing you long after you've stopped using the service?
 
When I look over our Capital and IT Operating expenses at work I see AOL on it. One of the owners still uses it.

:(
 
Sadly I know someone that uses AOL. I think it's mostly older people that do this.

I used to have earthlink so that when my ship pulled into port, I could steal a phone line if we were in the US and get internet in my shop haha.
 
One of my customers uses AOL for their e-mail. I think they even have the AOL program still installed.. on their new computer. I don't know why they still use it, never had the guts to ask.

AOL is a PITA when it comes to e-mail, because they block domains very easily and it is incredibly difficult sometimes to get unblocked by AOL.
 
Those AOL subscribers are probably all elderly, very elderly by now.
Hey wait, my grandmother uses AOL! Hmm, point taken...

My grandmother has it, because she was using it for years, is legally blind and knows where everything is on the software. Of course, now the software doesn't work so she is being forced to move to the browser-based mail, which effectively negates her reason for having it. She would lose her e-mail address, though, so I know she would never switch.
 
Who needs that new fangled AOL stuff, I still have my Tandy PC-link disks somewhere, that and GEnie...
 
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