4 ms·

what does AOL even do these days? genuinely curious.

tartoran 1y ago
I wasn't even aware they were still around until a couple of days ago I received an email from an aol.com domain. Best bet is they're just a dead mall.
mikestew 1y ago
It wasn't until the end of last month that they finally turned off dialup: https://help.aol.com/articles/dial-up-internet-to-be-discontinued https://help.aol.com/articles/dial-up-internet-to-be-discont... And I have people in my contacts whose active email ends in "@aol.com".
- ascagnel_ 1y ago
  At least for my parents, there was a real fear of losing access to their 20+ year old email address if they stopped paying. I don't know if it was founded on anything, but it got them to keep paying through a decade-plus of non-AOL broadband.
Jordan-117 1y ago
In addition to ads on their web properties, they still have a sizeable (though aging) userbase that they milk for unnecessary services. I cancelled my mom's AOL subscription years ago and they were charging something like $25/mo when the only thing she used was their (free) email service -- though of course during the cancellation they touted things like antivirus and ID theft protection that she apparently had access to. It's a legacy of when people paid them for their internet access -- no telling how many retirees (or estates) continue paying each month.
- underlipton 1y ago
  "Unexamined legacy subscriptions paid without a thought," is another way of saying, "Has too much money." If this is a widespread Boomer phenomenon, it explains a lot. I still kick myself for spending 6x MVNO pricing on my cell phone plan with a legacy carrier whose features I didn't need.
  - nemothekid 1y ago
    >"Unexamined legacy subscriptions paid without a thought," is another way of saying, "Has too much money." I constantly see ads for services like RocketMoney which helps people find and cancel subscriptions. I could arguably be in the "too much money" camp, but I couldn't imagine seeing an unknown/unused charge on my credit card bill and not immediately cancelling it. Nonetheless, RocketMoney seems like a widely used product.
    - plorkyeran 1y ago
      A surprising number of people clearly simply do not look at their credit card bills.
    - IncreasePosts 1y ago
      Doesn't help that sometimes the charges are coded like *TST VENDOR ACCT #1541* I don't go over my bill every month but get a notification upon every new charge, and sometimes the only way I know that a charge I just put on at a store is the same one I got a notification for is because the charge amount is some relatively unique number.
  - palmotea 1y ago
    > I still kick myself for spending 6x MVNO pricing on my cell phone plan with a legacy carrier whose features I didn't need. I have a friend who tried to switch to a MVNO (Cricket, I think) to save money and immediately switched back. Even though both companies were on the same network, the MVNO customers must have had a lower priority, because their service level was noticeably worse when literally the only thing that changed was the SIM card.
    - havaloc 1y ago
      Not all MVNO are the same in this regard, some sell the same quality of service data tier.
    - jandrese 1y ago
      I switched from T-Mobile to Google Voice a few years ago for this reason. With 5 lines on the plan the T-Mo version was way too expensive. But then Google Voice raised their prices and T-Mobile offered as much better multi-line discount and I ended up switching back. Also, Google Voice tech support is absolute dogshit.
pndy 1y ago
They got own branded Chromium with extra features: https://youtu.be/z_NpZmk61Qo https://youtu.be/z_NpZmk61Qo

I wasn't even aware they were still around until a couple of days ago I received an email from an aol.com domain. Best bet is they're just a dead mall.

mikestew 1y ago

It wasn't until the end of last month that they finally turned off dialup: https://help.aol.com/articles/dial-up-internet-to-be-discontinued https://help.aol.com/articles/dial-up-internet-to-be-discont... And I have people in my contacts whose active email ends in "@aol.com".

ascagnel_ 1y ago
At least for my parents, there was a real fear of losing access to their 20+ year old email address if they stopped paying. I don't know if it was founded on anything, but it got them to keep paying through a decade-plus of non-AOL broadband.

Jordan-117 1y ago

In addition to ads on their web properties, they still have a sizeable (though aging) userbase that they milk for unnecessary services. I cancelled my mom's AOL subscription years ago and they were charging something like $25/mo when the only thing she used was their (free) email service -- though of course during the cancellation they touted things like antivirus and ID theft protection that she apparently had access to. It's a legacy of when people paid them for their internet access -- no telling how many retirees (or estates) continue paying each month.

underlipton 1y ago
"Unexamined legacy subscriptions paid without a thought," is another way of saying, "Has too much money." If this is a widespread Boomer phenomenon, it explains a lot. I still kick myself for spending 6x MVNO pricing on my cell phone plan with a legacy carrier whose features I didn't need.
- nemothekid 1y ago
  >"Unexamined legacy subscriptions paid without a thought," is another way of saying, "Has too much money." I constantly see ads for services like RocketMoney which helps people find and cancel subscriptions. I could arguably be in the "too much money" camp, but I couldn't imagine seeing an unknown/unused charge on my credit card bill and not immediately cancelling it. Nonetheless, RocketMoney seems like a widely used product.
  - plorkyeran 1y ago
    A surprising number of people clearly simply do not look at their credit card bills.
  - IncreasePosts 1y ago
    Doesn't help that sometimes the charges are coded like *TST VENDOR ACCT #1541* I don't go over my bill every month but get a notification upon every new charge, and sometimes the only way I know that a charge I just put on at a store is the same one I got a notification for is because the charge amount is some relatively unique number.
- palmotea 1y ago
  > I still kick myself for spending 6x MVNO pricing on my cell phone plan with a legacy carrier whose features I didn't need. I have a friend who tried to switch to a MVNO (Cricket, I think) to save money and immediately switched back. Even though both companies were on the same network, the MVNO customers must have had a lower priority, because their service level was noticeably worse when literally the only thing that changed was the SIM card.
  - havaloc 1y ago
    Not all MVNO are the same in this regard, some sell the same quality of service data tier.
  - jandrese 1y ago
    I switched from T-Mobile to Google Voice a few years ago for this reason. With 5 lines on the plan the T-Mo version was way too expensive. But then Google Voice raised their prices and T-Mobile offered as much better multi-line discount and I ended up switching back. Also, Google Voice tech support is absolute dogshit.

pndy 1y ago

They got own branded Chromium with extra features: https://youtu.be/z_NpZmk61Qo https://youtu.be/z_NpZmk61Qo