I have to agree with Joanne here.  I think you're wining over nothing
here Robbert.  From day 1 I never had any interest in AOL because I
new from their adds that somewhere down the road, these things would
start to happen.  I've been with a small locally owned net pervider
for years now, and I wouldn't have it any other way!!

Gary


On Wed, 27 Jun 2001, joanne wrote:

> Bob,
> I've got to tell you that you get no sympathy from me on this issue. There are so many ISP's out there, many with a less expensive per month fee and a much better connection than AOL.   If you don't like the service leave. Only when all those people you emailed for support drop AOL and it begins to hit AOL in the pocket book will any changes be made.
> Joanne
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Robert Mauro
>   To: [log in to unmask]
>   Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 8:05 AM
>   Subject: THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM FOR THE DISABLED
>
>
>   Dear Steve Case ([log in to unmask]),
>   AOL is presenting a big problem to people with disabilities.  First, you
>   raise your monthly rates from $21.95 to $24.95.  That alone is hurting those
>   of us on fixed incomes.
>
>   Second, AOL DOES NOT supply enough bandwidth or connections for the millions
>   who use AOL.  As a result, users are bumped offline and are required to log
>   back on -- costing us another phone call of at least 10.6 cents.  You might
>   not think this is a lot of money with your billions, but for those of us on a
>   fixed income, it ads up tremendously.
>
>   To log on to AOL just 2x a day, I usually have to log back on a minimum of
>   ten times!  That's $1.06 in phone calls in one day!  That comes to $31.80 in
>   phone calls alone in one month to connect with AOL.   Add that to your $24.95
>   monthly fee and you get $56.75 a month -- OR THE REAL COST OF USING AOL.
>   THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS!
>
>   Something must be done to remedy this situation immediately.  Will you do
>   anything?  I'd like to know, as would many of us AOL subscribers with
>   disabilities would like to know.
>
>   I have send copies of this email to other persons with disabilities.  Some
>   3000 at least.  I have also emailed copies of this to a number of disability
>   advocates and newspapers.  My NYS legislators have also been sent copies.
>   They need to know how AOL is treating its subscribers -- especially its
>   subscribers with disabilities.  I hope they will ALL email you if they are
>   having similar connect problems with AOL or are outraged by AOL's behavior.
>
>   Yes, I have already called your tech support several times and done
>   EVERYTHING they told me to do.  Nothing has worked.  The problem is obviously
>   with AOL.  You simply have too many users and too little bandwidth to support
>   us all.  You are big on getting us to subscribe, but neglect us once we pay
>   to use AOL.
>
>   I, and many other AOL subscribers with disabilities, would like to know what
>   you, Steve Case, CEO of AOL, will do to remedy this unfortunate situation.
>
>   I look forward to hearing from you.
>
>   Sincerely,
>
>   Bob Mauro - [log in to unmask]
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>