Jibber about switching ISPs and trying to cancel AOL

[Dina Lerret]

I got my first computer back in December 1995 and I paid $2,500 out of
my own money (savings) and in one payment--no parent of mine would
ever fork over money for me to have a computer.  It came installed
with AOL 3.0, so my first exposure to the internet was AOL and they
*milked* me for $100+ in fees per month for a short period--again, I
was paying for the internet out of my wages from an after high school
hours job.  I had cancelled AOL in mid-1996 but signed back up in the
same year.  As Wiki documented, during the 1990s, AOL was the
"internet" for many newbies, especially considering how many computers
came with the AOL software pre-installed and the 'infamous'
mass-marketed AOL CDs.

Between 1995 and now, I've gone through The OnRamp, Netcom, Sprint
'Passport', and I'm still with Mindspring, which is now Earthlink.  I
liked Mindspring [before they were Earthlink] because they had
customer service folk interacting with users on usenet groups
(Mindspring had specialty usenet groups) but they were a bit more
pricey than others at the time.  Through those ISP changes, I had kept
AOL as a BYOA ("Bring Your Own Access") or light usage--basically,
plans less than $5-10.  Up until March 2006, I was paying $4.95/month
for light usage but they increased the price to $6.95.

I called last week to cancel since I wasn't using AOL much, except to
keep a webpage as a forwarding point, one email account, and possibly
my old AIM screen name.  I did want to keep that forwarding page but
five years of paying for it and the price increase was the final push
to cancel.  I've heard and seen the 'horror stories' in trying to
cancel AOL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_Online

Thankfully, I wasn't 100% deadset on cancelling to test how difficult
it truly was and I did get a semi-okay "retention" deal because I was
with AOL since December 1996.  It's interesting to know some ISPs have
'unlisted' plans.  For example, Earthlink had a ~$9.95/month plan for
light usage.  Anyway, the AOL rep offered me $4.95/month for
'unlimited AOL' (oxymoron) via BYOA with no included dial-up... I
hadn't used AOL dial-up in years and Earthlink comes with dial-up,
which can be handy for 'emergencies'.

I've gotten extra cell phone perks via Sprint's retention codes but
hadn't tried getting a discount on an internet content provider via
cancelling... until now.

Dina