Holly:

AOL has not increased our phone bills one penny. In fact, it has probably decreased it somewhat in that we can sometimes e-mail people instead of calling them.

The fee for using AOL INCLUDES all long distance phone charges. Unless you live in some remote hermitage like Canyon Creek, the call you make to enter AOL is a local one. That is, your AOL program uses your modem to dial the local number of a carrier like Sprint or Tymnet. From there the call is automatically routed through special lines to the central computer in Viriginia or Ohio or somewhere. Regardless of how long you stay online, no charges ever appear on your phone bill. It's just a local call like any other. AOL uses part of your monthly service fee to recover these communication costs.

So when are you going to take the plunge?