AOL not free automatically

AOL in early August announced to the world that instead of charging customers for a subscription fee it would give away its products in a bid to boost the growth of its online advertising business.

Sounds great! Anyone who has high-speed internet but kept aol simply because they like it would get it free. Not necessarily so.

Anne Bentley , vice president of corporate communications at AOL, said the company didn't want to change the service level of its customers without first receiving their approval. She noted the free service in many cases offered fewer benefits.

``We're not automatically moving people to free," she said. ``That's just not our strategy. You have to take a proactive step, but it's a simple proactive step."

Bottom line is that you need to be proactive with AOL to have them stop charging you.



Boston Globe