cheryl - regarding the chat rooms, you're too smart about the internet to not know that you could find internet sites outside AOL that probably have as much if not more content regarding diabetes, and possibly even your cousin! Try playing with GOOGLE searches one day and you might be surprised.
As for Internet access, again, seek and you will find... I have Optimum Online cable service at home, and they offer Optimum Traveler for dial-up as a paid-up service. It's available even to non-Optimum customers and it offers local access numbers and 800- access as well...
get more info here:
http://traveler.optonline.net/faq.htm


of course, for Arlo.Net access, I expect in the future we'll just do that with a mind-meld!

Might I suggest empty canned moose cans and silly string for best blunder results.

I don't have AOL at the store, but we have got it at home for some years now. I didn't wanna get it, but sometimes the teenagers in your house win.

See, Arnie... I'm not paying AOL for "nothing," I'm paying to preserve my AOL account's names... and my AOL email... and my AIM names.

Yes, I could cancel the account and save myself 2.95 a month and then create new screen names. But it's a major hassle for Eric (he's requested that I not cancel the account) and my AIM name is my business name and I don't want to change it! Changing it would mean having to change my domain, my business cards, letterhead, websites (all couple hundred, along with all the "tags" on my clients' sites).... way too much hassle.

But thanks for the suggestion. This arrangement has worked well for us (we've kept 7 names this way) for several years.

As for paying you to do nothing.... I wish I could find someone to start paying ME! I'd be glad to do "nothing" also

Looks like I may be the last blunderite left on AOL lol...

Not true, Cheryl; I still have AOL for my ISP. For newsgroup access, though, I have Usenet. Will be watching the Pro Bowl next month to see your cousin, Jason.

Hey Arnie & Terrie, I thought nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's FREE! So how come you think your gonna get paid to do it!!

Sherry's still on AOL, too. She's got two of the same issues that Arlo has. She's in the same area of MA some of the time and she's lots of other places the rest of the time.

Changing e-mail addresses ain't no thing, though. I do it ALL the time. More than enough mail catches up.

Thanks for the info! We'll have to get someone to tape the Pro Bowl for us since they don't have cable out here in the hinterlands...

....certainly i agree that aol sucks in most ways.......i still use it for my email, though.....have that $15.95 access account that i don't understand why it's not $9.95.....but that's what they tell me......

....i understand what Cheryl is saying about chatrooms...if you find one that you like, it keeps people there.....very regular attendance...i have a couple of friends who stick with limited aol access just to use their chat rooms....

...i don't get why you subscribe to usenet mikey....why is it better than accessing through Google???.....

...just haven't had much luck with other emails....verizon is my broadband server...dsl...and the mailbox is too small and doesn't allow for big mailings (like graphic attachments)......i tried alot of free mail servers....but the problem is, if anything goes wrong there's no way to reach them and for free i never got much response...lost alot of mail through the years...yahoo seems to be pretty reliable.....but i'm not as brave as Pat yet.......though i'm considering taking the leap..... any suggestions on good mail servers is welcome...

...as for the inaccessibility to broadband that alot of folks have (even around boston some areas just don't have it yet)....i saw a show on tech tv.....the supercomputer tech was saying that dsl is basically a radio wave and when he travels he takes a wireless router with him and always finds a free wave to ride on the road......the firewall keeps stuff private.....well i'm no techie but it's a thought..... 8)

Gmail's still working for me, kj, and I still have invitations. It didn't work with my daughter's Mac/IE, though, although it supposedly works with Safari. Definitely still beta, though. Yahoo's up to 250 mb of storage, I think, so that might be a better option than it used to be and it's been around a long time.

I looked over at the Google group, and forum seems to be clogged with penis enlargement ads and pretty girls who want to show me their webcam.

Is there any point in signing up for it? Does the Google group offer anything I can't get here?

Sometimes Arlo & a few good folks will write on there. Sadly alot of the newsgroups are filled with spam. Yuck! You can with Google get the new messages from the newsgroup e-mailed to ya which lets you keep up with what is going on there without having to go to the site every day...