AOL....

From the NY Times:

"
...America Online confirmed that sales representatives receive bonuses to keep consumers from leaving......According to Mr. Spitzer's office, internal office brochures trumpeted how employees could earn a bonus as high as $3,115 a month by recording 975 "saves."
"

I'm surprised that AOL has lasted this long. I've rarely used it and I can't figure out why people still subscribe to it. You can find free email accounts from various sites with tons of storage, so that can't be the reason people stay with AOL.

You used to only be able to connect to the internet via the phone line with a dial-up modem. But these days everyone has cable modem or DSL access - and those are cheaper than AOL. So that can't be the reason people stay with AOL.

What am I missing? I can't figure out why people haven't cancelled their AOL services or even why people sign up for new accounts. What does AOL have to offer that I'm missing out on?