Anti-AOL

AOL Is LYING

I'm not going to beat around the bush: AOL is run by liars, thieves and crooks. Take this lie slapped across a cancel page on aol.com:

"If you cancel you will no longer have an Internet connection, live technical support or security software."

FACT: In the US, most of you will NOT lose your high-speed connection to the Internet if you cancel AOL.

There are a few exceptions:

1. If you use AOL Broadband in the UK, you will lose your connection to the Internet if you cancel AOL, so be sure to sign up with another Internet service provider before you cancel. A rough outline on what you will need to do to switch from AOL Broadband in the UK to another service provider is here.
2. In the US, if you use AOL dial-up, or if your high-speed connection to the Internet is through a partnership AOL entered into with the following DSL and/or cable companies: BellSouth, Qwest Communications, AT&T, Covad, Clearwire, or Charter Communications, you may lose your connection to the Internet if you cancel AOL.
   Question: "I have high-speed through one of the AOL partners listed above, so how I can tell if I can cancel AOL without losing my Internet connection"?
   Answer: Check your monthly credit and debit card statements for charges from AOL for service. If AOL charges are present, chances are good you might lose your connection to the Internet if you cancel AOL, so be sure to sign up with another service provider before you cancel.

AOL makes an inaccurate blanket statement to scare you into not canceling your account: that you will lose your connection to the Internet if you do. They don't bother explaining that if you don't connect to the Internet through AOL dial-up or through a high-speed provider that has partnered with AOL to bring you service, you won't lose a damn thing.

AOL is playing into the fears of uncomputer-savvy folks who might believe this bullshit. These are the same folks who think clicking the AOL or IE icon "starts the Internet". I'm not trying to make fun of anyone, but I'd like to point out that for many people in the US, their level of computer knowledge is no greater than that, and AOL is taking advantage of it to scare them into keeping accounts they no longer want or need. That is morally wrong and does a serious financial injustice to AOL's customers.