Hi Jim,
That is some horror story alright!
We have told them every other month that we can no longer tolerate being disconnected and they keep giving us a free months of service. We get about 4-5 months a year without charge. In otherwords, they won't let go!

As you mentioned, leave your computer for 10 minutes and your bumped. So very frustrating.

AOL was and always will be geared for young adults and teens in my estimation. I really think the big draws are the shopping and chat rooms. They are constantly pushing stories about young celebrities. Now that I am 54 it is time to move on to something a little more conservative.

We don't feel at this time we need the DSL or broadband as our computer moves along fast enough for our usage. Have you heard anything about Earthlink or Teleport?

Thanks for the interesting story of your experiences. I will find out well in advance of my cancelling the special "cancel 800 #."