America Online Inc. is rolling out a major upgrade to AOL Mail on the Web that lays the groundwork for a free Web mail service to be launched later this year. The move furthers AOL's strategy of opening its doors to nonmembers and will place the company on par with portal rivals MSN, Yahoo and Google. The new Web mail service integrates AOL Instant Messenger presence awareness, drag and drop capabilities, a new address book, and the ability to rescind unread e-mail sent to other AOL members within a revamped user interface.
News source: eWeek
Speed and Cap information
Broadband enabled STB
1Mbps Download—100Kbps Upload—3GB Monthly Cap
2Mbps Download—200Kbps Upload—30GB Monthly Cap
3Mbps Download—300Kbps Upload—40GB Monthly Cap
Standalone Cable Modem (SACM)
1Mbps Download—100Kbps Upload—3GB Monthly Cap
2Mbps Download—200Kbps Upload—30GB Monthly Cap
3Mbps Download—300Kbps Upload—40GB Monthly Cap
Business Tarrifs
2Mbps Download—250Kbps Upload
3Mbps Download—300Kbps Upload
It is currently understood that if customers exceed the monthly cap limits as outlined above, their connection will be dropped to a speed of 56Kbps, although this isn’t confirmed.

This has got to be the least respected company in the online business world at this point. Maybe when they a) release some decent products b) stop including spyware in AIM and c) open up their network... perhaps they could redeem themselves. They do seem to be wising up to their own impending demise. Who knows, maybe in a couple years I'll stop shuddering in disgust everytime someone mentions the name "AOL."
"will place the company on par with portal rivals MSN, Yahoo and Google" That's a good one! AOL certainly has a long way to go. Every ISP I know offers their clients free webmail services, this is certianly nothing new and won't attract many customers. How could this put them "on par" with Yahoo and Google who are not Internet Service Providers?
How is AOL even still around?
...C_Guy
/Sorry
i wonder how many adverts ill get for other isp's, lol
i happen to be using this regularly, and it is very nice. it is capable of working across many different browsers, you have access to store mail on aol servers. full address book is there. and it includes many other useful features like spellchecking, deep searching, etc.
most isps offer webmail becuase they do not have a client architecture like aol does. the mail there is free, it was just not offered on the web to UNSUBSCRIBED customers. can you get verizon email if you arent a verizon customer?
aol IS opening its services. if you have paid attention to the news (that you prolly posted a trollish comment in as well) you would notice that they are putting aim in outlook, opening the aim servers for other companies, and even created a free webmail service.
maybe aol would have a better image if you all actually paid attention to things instead of making these same hateful comments about them. aol is doing work to compete in the market. they are NOT forcing you to use their products. they are simply providing alternatives, ones that some may find very useful compared to other isps. many of the ideas that other isps have implemented anyways were aol firsts. parenal controls, popup blocking, etc.
does burger king get hated on for competing with mcdonalds?
does pepsi get hated for competing with coke?
please try to think of a comment that actually provides some usefulness to the topic instead of posting your bs. such comments will NOT be tolerated and posting them here will earn you a warning just as it would in a forum thread.
now please, grow up?
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