I called to cancel the AOhelL service this morning, and found that I had miscalculated. The free trial ends on October 28th, not September 28th, so I've got another month coming. The sales pitch I got was that, if I continue the service beyond October, I would get their full service for $14.95 a month, guaranteed for as long as I remained with AOhelL. This is still 50% higher than my local ISP (more reliable, quicker connection, fewer disconnects) is costing me, and, of course, AOhelL can't give me the splendid domain name chiconet for my e-mail addresses. Still, I'm letting AOhelL continue for the final month. It does have automatic redial when it (frequently) disconnects, and, in combination with Opera's automatic resume of interrupted transfers, this makes it a handy way to download large files while leaving the computer unattended. Not enough of a reason to sign up for ongoing service, I think, (not even at the discount price) but another free month, fine.
I was also informed of something I didn't know, namely that the lower-priced ($9.95 a month) Netscape Internet service is actually owned by AOhelL! Who knew they had a budget line? Sneaky.