I remember when AOL was charging an hourly rate for connections, and I was spending a lot more than $24.59 per month. AOL was the first major ISP to switch to unlimited usage for a monthly fee, and the second to offer Internet e-mail. It was the first ISP to have a reasonably good user interface. In many rural areas of the country, AOL was the most economical choice, and it may still be in a few areas. The broadband era doomed AOL, but they deserve a lot of credit for being a pioneer during the dial-up age. They gave a lot of people their first experience on the Internet.
Um... I was using a local ISP when AOL announced that they would allow internet email.
I’d had an internet email address with that ISP for two years. AOL was far, far behind on internet email, not second.
Also, AOL technically wasn’t an ISP at the time, as initially, their client software wouldn’t allow other internet applications. They were an online service, but not an internet service provider. They grudgingly and slowly opened up access.
AOL was anything but a pioneer. Most of what AOL did had been done by others such as CompuServe years before.