>"The dirty little secret," a former AOL executive says, "is that seventy-five percent of the people who subscribe to AOL's dial-up service don't need it." [emphasis mine].
The OP (at Huffington Post) very strongly implies that they do not need it because they connect to the internet through DSL or cable. I take that to mean that these customers use web services and client software that AOL offers for free or at a much lower rate if the customer does not need AOL's dial-up service, i.e., basic TCP/IP connectivity, to connect to the internet.
I believe you are correct on this. I thought AOL had a paid service for broadband access, but there is a free plan as well. The paid plans include a dial-up backup and McAfee security.
>"The dirty little secret," a former AOL executive says, "is that seventy-five percent of the people who subscribe to AOL's dial-up service don't need it." [emphasis mine].
The OP (at Huffington Post) very strongly implies that they do not need it because they connect to the internet through DSL or cable. I take that to mean that these customers use web services and client software that AOL offers for free or at a much lower rate if the customer does not need AOL's dial-up service, i.e., basic TCP/IP connectivity, to connect to the internet.