There was a big announcement made last last week with regard to changes in the AOL service. The Los Angeles Times reported:

One proposal under consideration among top AOL executives calls for Time Warner Inc.'s online unit to stop charging subscription fees to users who have high-speed Internet access or even dial-up service from a rival provider.

USA Today reported:

Dial-up customers who rely on AOL as their Internet service provider would still have to pay the $25.90 monthly fee. But anyone using AOL on broadband would get the service free, including e-mail and use of the AOL software.

Question of the day: If you have broadband, can you cancel your AOL account and still access Unimatic using this new free AOL access plan that is being proposed?

There is no easy answer to this. As of July 10, 2006, there is not yet an 'official' answer to this from United. UPDATE: We did hear back from United and here's the latest information:

"This proposal has not been reviewed by the Time Warner Board of Directors and is not scheduled to go to them for a least a couple of weeks. For those employees that decided to cancel their accounts, they will be without access to Unimatic or Apollo soon."

Also: United does not know at this time whether the Unimatic users will "see any benefit if the AOL policy change is implemented."

To add to the connection confusion, F/As have reported hearing different answers from different AOL reps. Others have reported receiving nothing but problems with just being able to connect---which is a separate issue from this proposed free service.

Here are my reasons:

1. This free AOL plan is still under consideration and has not gotten final approval from AOL and Time Warner executives. In fact, it is still a few weeks away from receiving the 'official' go-ahead---if it indeed is approved.
2. Unimatic access via AOL is a special service provided for UAL employees via marketing deals with United. I'm not sure how that would be affected under the terms of the new proposed free AOL plan.
3. It's difficult to get consistent answers from AOL sales representatives when calling. Because of the Hell of Canceling AOL incident recently (recording of that phone call to AOL), I highly doubt any of them will offer much information when questioned about whether or not to cancel your account!

Again: Based on the above information, I would not try and switch over to this new proposed AOL free service account.