Only for the first time since 1994 , I ’m not one of them .
Last week , I ended my 11 - year rank at AOL , an association I unremarkably keep under wraps since no admission will make you manoeuver look faster , except for maybe telling people you ’ve spent clock time in prison house for tax fraud or that you own a Backstreet Boys record album . I will say , in my defense , that when I signed up for AOL nearly three Olympic Games ago , I was living in a one - room cabin up inthe mass of Southern California , with only a dial - up joining to keep me crochet up with the remote world . At that finical point in time , AOL offered me an easy and comparatively cheap way to detain in skin senses with friends and family too far - flung to come visit me in my Unabomber - esque pad .
And since that time , I ’ve stick with AOL because of … well , inertia , really . I kept AOL installed largely if I ever traveled to some place with circumscribed Internet admittance . But with many hotels now offering in - room cyberspace table service — for free , a lot of the time — and wireless access never more than aStarbucks T - Mobile Hotspotaway , AOL ’s berth as my Internet Provider of Last Resort has grown progressively shivering .
Really , AOL only has itself to charge . In recent year , AOL ’s updates of its Mac - base guest have bewilder increasingly sporadic — the last major one came in 2003 — and my use of the armed service has become equally infrequent . In the past six months , I think I ’ve launched AOL 10 prison term , and nine of those were because I get across on the ill-timed picture in my Dock . When I have used AOL , I ’ve noticed an unaccepted uptick in unexpected quits and appearing by the Spinning Beachball , so functioning has n’t really been up to sniff . supply to that the fact that AOL ’s most late centering has been on volunteer fixes to problems that , mercifully , do n’t affect Mac substance abuser as of yet ( spyware and the similar ) , and now seemed as good a clock time as any to sever my AOL crosstie .
The only worry is , it is easier to dump a amatory partner than it is to cancel your AOL rank — especially if the rapidity with which my ex - girlfriends handed me my walk papers is any kind of benchmark .
The most material hurdle , of path , is actually notice awayto tell AOL you ’re move on — there ’s no actual method acting of scrub your rank when you ’re signed on to the service . alternatively , AOL expect that you call them up — to preserve other disaffect Mac - using AOL members from mostly vain searches that I endured , the number is 888/265 - 4042 — or , if you care to party like it ’s 1989 , station a cancelation postulation by facsimile or escargot mail .
I translate the tokenish intellect for rout things like rank cancelations to the phone — it cuts down on the chances that some villainous - minded somebody could log on as you and end your service against your wish . But it ’s worth take note that requiring a telephone set call from pay client who desire out also give AOL one last opportunity to beg you to reconsider — which is what happened to me when the very polite inspection and repair representative tried to sell me on AOL ’s broadband service .
Still , the forced conversation with AOL servicing reps was not without its highlights .
“ How can I help oneself you have a better Internet today ? ” the serve rep need pleasantly at the start of our phone call .
“ By canceling my AOL membership , ” I respond just as sunnily . I was n’t try out to be a wise guy , but if AOL is go to hang a sales pitch aright over the plate …
I was n’t expecting the navigation of AOL ’s telephone tree diagram — seven transactions of the world ’s most irritating voice - navigation menu before I handle to reach a tangible , live human being — to be the most redoubtable challenge to leave AOL the ol’ raise - holmium . In fact , I think the crowing problem would be making sure all my einsteinium - mail would find its way of life to my novel on-line home base and that my iChat screen name would n’t fade into the ether after I attract the AOL ballyhoo .
The iChat screen name also promised to be a thorny emergence . I use iChat every day to pass on with remote colleagues , freelancers , and even co - proletarian in the same bureau when clapperclaw across the office but wo n’t do . Since my iChat and AOL name are one and the same , I imagined a significant interruption in regular communications after a vindictive AOL efface all ghost of my virtual being .
Almost . But not quite .
